In its latest high-profile departure, Olswang‘s head of international telecommunications Purvi Parekh has exited the firm.
Mishcon De Reya-trained Parekh is noted in The Legal 500 for her telecoms experience, working on innovative projects including network sharing, mobile payments and EU single market telecoms regulation. She also has expertise on regulatory aspects of telecom work, and outsourcing and procurement.
She joined Olswang in 2009, having spent nearly 10 years as a partner and later head of telecoms at DLA Piper.
Olswang said partner Rob Bratby, who recently returned to the London office having led the firm’s Singapore operations for several years, has taken a global telecoms and emerging markets role for the firm.
Telecommunications is a major sector expertise for Olswang with lawyers working in the group across its offices in London, Brussels, Germany, Madrid and Paris.
Olswang’s IT and telecoms client base has included tech giants and major corporates such as Microsoft and Unilever. The firm has also represented Cable & Wireless, Virgin Media and Verizon in competition tribunals.
Parekh told Legal Business she has now started her own telcoms consultancy.
The latest departure from the firm comes after a series of high-profile exits from Olswang in the last eighteen months.
In January this year, former head of corporate, private equity and venture capital Stephen Rosen joined Cooley’s new London office, having confirmed his departure in March 2015.
In July last year, Greenberg Traurig launched its Germany office with the mass hire of a 50-strong lawyer team from Olswang in Berlin. Some 14 partners made the move in a team focusing on corporate, M&A, finance and technology, media and telecommunications.
In June last year the firm’s chief executive David Stewart surprisingly re-emerged at Caribbean law firm Griffiths & Partners in the Turks and Caicos.
Olswang has been involved in a number of merger talks over the past two years. Former partners have told Legal Business the firm wants to improve its international footing, which has waned since the exit of the Berlin office.
Last month, it emerged the firm is in talks with CMS Cameron McKenna, while in 2012 it had been in discussions with US technology-focused firm Cooley.
An Olswang spokesperson added: ‘We can confirm that Purvi Parekh has left the partnership. We thank Purvi for her contributions, and we wish her well for the future.’
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk