Clifford Chance has bolstered its London corporate practice with the hire of Norton Rose Fulbright partner Richard Crosby.

Crosby, who was one of Norton Rose's HSBC relationship partners, joins  the Magic Circle firm six months after it rehired former lawyer Toby Parkinson in a bid to replenish its corporate bench, following a series of departures from the group.

While at Norton Rose Fulbright, Crosby spent 15 months on secondment to HSBC as general counsel for M&A, where he advised on the $9.4 billion disposal of HSBC's stake in Ping An Insurance. He spent six years in the firm's Hong Kong office between 2006 and 2012.

His practice focuses on M&A for financial institutions, including Rothschild and HSBC.

CC's financial institutions group head Ashley Prebble said in a statement: "Our financial institutions group is going from strength to strength and the addition of Richard Crosby will further develop the team's capabilities and offering to clients. Richard holds a strong track record of strategic and global bank sector transactions and we are excited to welcome him to the fold."

Among the partners to have left CC's corporate department in recent months are M&A infrastructure partners Brendan Moylan, who joined Latham & Watkins, and Amy Mahon, who joined Simpson Thacher & Barlett. Parkinson rejoined the team in March from real estate asset manager OMERS Infrastructure.

Norton Rose said in a statement: "We confirm that Richard Crosby will leave the practice, we wish him well in his future endeavours."