London

Former Jones Day real estate partner David Roberts has joined Wedlake Bell, several months after he left the U.S. firm following an investigation into his behaviour.

According to several sources with knowledge of the matter, Roberts left Jones Day after what Legal Week has been told were sexual harassment allegations were raised against him.

Jones Day undertook an investigation into the allegations and Roberts left the firm this summer, the people said. The outcome of the investigation is not known.

He has now joined London commercial law firm Wedlake Bell as a partner.

Wedlake Bell managing partner Martin Arnold said in a statement to Legal Week: "As a firm we do, of course, take the subject of harassment of any sort extremely seriously and we are careful to investigate the conduct of partners who join the firm. David's case was no exception and we fully investigated the circumstances in which he reached an agreement with Jones Day to leave after 31 years of longstanding service.

"Having done so, we informed the whole partnership of the outcome of that investigation and that we were satisfied that there was no cause for concern of any sort. David was overwhelmingly voted into the partnership by the partners. As one of the few firms in the top 100 law firms that has a partnership comprising nearly 40% women, it goes without saying that, had there been any cause for concern, that would not have happened."

Roberts had been a partner at legacy U.K. firm Gouldens prior to its merger with Jones Day. Following the tie-up, he was appointed U.K. real estate head at the firm and held various leadership roles within the practice during his career there.

Jones Day's press department and Roberts did not respond to requests for comment.

Several partner conduct issues at international law firms have emerged in the past 18 months.

Earlier this year, U.S. firms Mayer Brown and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe both showed the door to partners over what the firms described as inappropriate personal conduct. Ashurst asked a member of its global board to leave the firm over a conduct issue in June, while the previous month CMS sacked a London partner.

In 2018, Quinn Emanuel referred itself to the SRA following allegations of inappropriate behaviour by litigation partner Mark Hastings. There has been no outcome announced so far.