Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s U.S. head of M&A and global transactions, Mitchell Presser, has left the firm, in a blow to the Magic Circle firm’s growth efforts stateside.

A partner at the Magic Circle firm for five years and a senior partner in the firm’s New York office, Presser has led the firm’s stateside M&A offering since 2014. He was one of the firm’s highest earning ‘superpointer’ partners, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.