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. 

Before joining Freshfields, Presser spent 17 years at elite U.S. firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz before helping to found private equity firm Paine & Partners in 2007. He has experience working on high value deals including Morgan Stanley's acquisition of US oil pipeline and terminal business TransMontaigne in 2006, and the £9.1 billion leveraged buyout of Kinder Morgan the same year.

More recently, Presser had a hand in procuring the services of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton rainmaker Ethan Klingsberg—among 2019's most noteworthy lateral hires.

A spokesperson said: "We confirm that Mitchell has left the firm.  We thank him for his contribution and wish him well."

The departure represents a setback for a firm that has placed significant resource behind its U.S. expansion efforts. In addition to the hire of Klingsberg and a team, the firm brought in a former top official, Aimen Mir, of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States as a partner in Washington, D.C. Mir now leads the firm's CFIUS practice.

Read more: