Three Pinsent Masons partners have left the firm to join City rivals CMS, Osborne Clarke and Addleshaw Goddard.

Tax partner Ian Hyde is joining Osborne Clarke after 27 years at Pinsents to help the firm establish a new tax disputes practice, employment partner Steven Cochrane is bound for CMS, while Scottish-based energy partner David McEwing joins the Aberdeen office of Addleshaw Goddard.

The departures follow a spate of recent exits which included noted white-collar partner Anne-Marie Ottaway, who joined US firm Greenberg Traurig's London office; Paris-based employment partner Jean-Francois Rage, who left for Squire Patton Boggs; information law head Marc Dautlich who went to Bristows, and Christoph Maurer, the managing partner in France who exited to set up his own boutique firm.

A person with knowledge of the matter said the shift in Pinsents' overall strategy towards technology and away from grassroots corporate matters was likely to have prompted the departures.

OC-bound Hyde helped set up Pinsents' tax litigation practice and spent more than 27 years at the firm developing his tax strategy and risk specialism, representing clients across the country and in Europe.

Former Allen & Overy lawyer Cochrane developed his employment practice acting for blue chip corporates and advising on anything from whistleblowing to cross-border litigation.

McEwing spent most of his career at Aberdeen firm Raeburn Christie Clark & Wallace, transferring to Pinsents in 2010, where he acted for energy, oil and gas companies and their debt and equity funders.

A spokesperson for Pinsents said in a statement: "We can confirm that the three partners have moved on to other opportunities and we wish them all the best. Over the last three months we have welcomed twelve new partners into the business, including Elgantine Lioret, Lucy Thomas, Andrew Barber, Ann Lalor, James Harris and José Luis García-Manso, and the six founding partners of our newly opened Frankfurt office. The new partners are excellent additions to our Frankfurt, Paris, Birmingham, London, Dublin, Singapore and Madrid offices and bring a wealth of experience across our core sectors."