Pensions.

CMS consultant and former partner Ashley Smith has joined defined benefits pension company Clara-Pensions as its general counsel.

Smith will lead the in-house team at Clara, which takes on liabilities from U.K. companies and received financial backing by U.S. private equity giant TPG last year.

He trained as a solicitor at CMS and then spent time at Addleshaw Goddard and Clifford Chance, before returning to CMS as a partner in 2003.

Smith's practice focuses on restructuring and insolvency, and his experience involves dealing with pensions issues for trustees and employers.

Commenting on the appointment in a statement, Adam Saron, chief executive officer of Clara-Pensions said: "There will be lots for [Smith] to do, given the interest we are seeing from trustees and employers in securing safer pensions for their members.

"With the attention that many are giving to the security of pension promises in the current environment, interest in consolidation will only continue to grow."

CMS is one of Clara's key advisers, alongside Eversheds Sutherland and Travers Smith.

The hire is the most recent in several private practice to in-house moves. Last week, U.K. asset management company RWC Partners hired global rival Macquarie's legal head for Europe, the Middle East and Africa as its new head of legal and compliance.