Sidley Austin London restructuring partners Yen Sum and Jennifer Brennan have left for Latham & Watkins, about 18 months after joining the US firm from Linklaters.

Sum was a partner at Linklaters for eight years before joining Sidley in early 2017, while Brennan, who was a managing associate at the magic circle firm, made partner on her move to the US firm's City base the same month.

Latham London managing partner Jay Sadanandan said: "The arrival of Yen and Jennifer is a significant development for our top-notch restructuring practice in London and Europe. Their expertise and client base fit well with our existing finance and restructuring capability, and they bring substantial experience advising on a wide range of matters across the capital structure. We are thrilled to add Yen and Jennifer to the team and our growing practice."

Sum recently took a lead role on the restructuring and company voluntary agreement (CVA) of troubled high street retailer New Look, advising a group of senior secured noteholders.

In 2012, while she was at Linklaters, Sum advised a committee of lenders in relation to restructuring talks over Yellow Pages publisher Hibu's £2.2bn debt pile.

Both Sum and Brennan also previously worked at Linklaters' Australian alliance firm Allens, while Sum spent three years in Barclays Capital's in-house team before moving to the magic circle firm.

Other recent departures from Sidley include global litigation co-head Dorothy Cory-Wright, who joined Dechert earlier this month. The US firm is gearing up to move its City operations into the 'Can of Ham' tower, taking up approximately 100,000 sq ft of space in the building when it moves across in early 2020.