Eight partners have left Ashurst since the start of September.

Litigator Wilson Thorburn is jumping ship to JP Morgan, where he becomes Head of Litigation for EMEA according to Legal Week. Which the firm probably can't get too upset about, jobs like that don't come up too often...

But it will be licking its wounds over the host of other departures:

• litigator Michael Madden is off to Winston & Strawn
• real estate funds partners David Evans and Samantha Lake Coghlan to Goodwin Procter;
• construction partner Marc Hanson to BLP;
• employee incentives partner Barbara Allen to Stephenson Harwood;
• NY finance partner Alice Yurke to Jones Day; and
• real estate partner Simon Cookson to DLA Piper.

That's eight partners in under six weeks, and according to RollOnFriday scientists 42 over the last two years, nigh on a fifth of the letterhead. Granted, not all will have gone of their own volition, but that is some rate of attrition. Clearly not everyone's happy with the firm's management. Nor is it a ringing endorsement for the recently announced tie-up with Australia's Blake Dawson.

or rather woodn't

A spokeswoman for the firm said that "there are many different reasons why partners decide to move on as the firm grows and develops. Over the last two years, we have appointed 49 partners, including 26 laterals. The firm has had a strong recent performance and the combination with Blake Dawson is moving forward very well."