A four-partner litigation team from Clifford Chance’s New York office has left the firm to set up an arbitration boutique.
Disputes partners Peter Chaffetz, David Lindsey, Charlie Scibetta and James Hosking have left the Magic Circle firm to launch Chaffetz Lindsey — which officially opened Tuesday.
The new firm, which also includes former Clifford counsel Cecilia Moss, will focus on arbitration, reinsurance and litigation work.
A Clifford spokesperson said: “I can confirm that partners Peter Chaffetz, David Lindsey, Charlie Scibetta, James Hosking and counsel Cia Moss have left Clifford Chance to start their own firm — Chaffetz Lindsey LLP. We wish them well.”
The firm confirmed that it will not be replacing the group, whose departures come only days after London corporate partner Adam Signy quit to join the London base of New York leader Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Signy’s departure — after some 22 years as a partner at Clifford — marks one of the most high-profile partner appointments by a U.S. firm in London for many years.
Clifford’s U.S. litigation practice has seen a steady stream of partner departures over the last year, including John Carroll, Warren Feldman and David Meister, who left for Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom last year.
Clifford is in the final stages of a wide-ranging global restructuring that, in addition to associate layoffs, could see up to 15 percent of the firm’s partners leaving.
