A strategic rethink at Ropes & Gray's London office has set the scene for the departure of four more partners, on the back of the droves to have left the firm during the past two years.

But after the firm last year dismissed a spate of London exits as "short-term fluctuations", questions are now being asked about why yet more partner departures are necessary.

The four latest partners set to leave are all from the US firm's real estate and restructuring-related teams in London but, speaking to Legal Week, Ropes' management team insists that while the firm remains committed to both practices, the departures are no reflection on the lawyers themselves.

They argue that the exits comes as the firm moves to more closely align its real estate practice with its core client base of asset managers, private equity houses, hedge funds, credit funds and direct investors, while its restructuring efforts will also be redirected to target key clients.

London managing partner Mike Goetz says: "They are the natural clients for the firm – we found our message here wasn't crisp enough."

Multiple sources suggest that excessive growth in the firm's London office, including expansion beyond Ropes' core areas of private equity and asset management, has been one of the main drivers behind the stream of recent departures.

One ex-partner says: "It grew far too quickly and had no real strategy on the special situations side. It never really got off the ground. They weren't ever big enough. Reading between the lines, they're starting to strip back the office and start again."

Ropes' London lawyer count fell by 18% from 129 to 106 during 2017 and, since the departure of office co-founder Maurice Allen to DLA last February, 10 partners have left the office, even before the four who have now been asked to go.

It's like if you have a wedding coming up – you make sure you can make the dress size you need

As well as Allen, another key loss cited by multiple ex-partners is restructuring partner James Douglas, who moved to Linklaters last summer, while the departure of disputes partner Thomas Ross to Watson Farley & Williams late last year left the firm without any commercial litigation partners in London.

Ropes says it is planning to make lateral hires to rebuild its London offering in practices such as litigation and enforcement, citing this January's hire of Clifford Chance white-collar crime partner Judith Seddon as illustration of its commitment to these areas, but multiple sources suggest that, to date, the lack of a clear London strategy has made it difficult for the City base to make its mark within the wider firm.

One ex-partner comments: "I think the issue is that a lot of the laterals who were hired met with a lot of power struggles – the consequence of that is lots of people leaving."

"If they went after private equity and distressed funds, that's a lot more globally focused, which is what other US firms are doing," adds another partner at a rival firm. "If you're going to play in the London market, you've got to completely do it or not at all. It requires profits from the US partnership, which you've got to be prepared to invest."

There is also some speculation within the market as to whether this "cleaning up" of partners could be a "precursor" to a potential merger, with a globally focused City firm cited as a likely partner.

A partner at a rival firm commented: "The firms that have done well in London have merged or have large teams… If you have a strategic objective of achieving a merger, you will look at practice areas and partners and see if it would fit a merged firm.

"It's like if you have a wedding coming up – you make sure you can make the dress size you need. You trim yourself down a bit."

Sources within the firm, however, dismissed the suggestion that a merger was under consideration.

The final word on the latest departures from Ropes is an appeal for understanding from its remaining London bloc.

"As you would expect in any well-run law firm, we conduct regular reviews of all parts of our business to ensure our strategy is consistent with the needs of our clients and the overall strategy of the firm," says Goetz.

But whether these changes will mean an end to the steady stream of partner exits seen in the past 18 months remains uncertain, as one former partner claims: "I don't know if management even know."

Ropes & Gray London partner departures since April 2017

2018

September – Four partners from real estate and restructuring set to leave

July – Finance partner Benoit Lavigne to Morrison & Foerster

January – Finance partner Matthew Cox to Baker McKenzie

2017

October – Funds partner Michelle Moran to K&L Gates

September – Investment funds partner Monica Gogna to Dechert

August – Government enforcement partner Marcus Thompson and investment funds partner Anand Damodaran to Kirkland & Ellis

June – Finance partners Mark Wesseldine and Fergus Wheeler to King & Spalding

May – Restructuring partner James Douglas to Linklaters

April – Structured finance partner Chris McGarry to White & Case