Travers Smith has appointed its third new private equity head in three years, following the departure of yet another high profile partner at the firm.

Deputy private equity head Will Yates has been appointed as the new head of Travers’ private equity group following the news former head Lucie Cawood was leaving the firm.

Cawood, who was first appointed to the role back in 2023 to take over after former head Ian Shawyer, who defected to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, is “retiring from the partnership to focus on her family”, a statement from the firm said.

Meanwhile, Yates, who has been at Travers for over 17 years and first made partner at the firm back in 2015, will be picking up the mantle, leading the seven partner-strong PE group.

Travers has suffered a slew of high profile departures and defections over the last few years. A number of its ‘rising star’ private equity partners, including Genevieve Marten, Ian Keefe and George Weavil all joined rival firms last year. Meanwhile, the firm also parted ways with a string of partners to Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, including most recently Katie McMenamin, a Travers lifer.

Most recently, incentives head Mahesh Varia joined A&O Shearman just last week.