Explaining his move, Beckett said: “Getting back together with my former M&A partners to work with our common clients, and being part of a team with a clearly differentiated strategy which makes real sense to clients, was a very attractive proposition.”

Head of JWS’s debt finance practice Matthew Allchurch (pictured) said: “Beckett broadens the senior finance capability within JWS’s debt finance practice and is another step in building the pre-eminent borrower-focused practice in Australia.”

Last year, Corrs saw the exodus of seven partners; three were lost to JWS, three joined Norton Rose Fulbright and one defected to HWL Ebsworth.

Former Corrs partner Jeremy Davis expressed concerns about the firm's direction when he moved to JWS, telling Lawyers Weekly in March 2013 that Corrs’ focus on areas like construction, intellectual property and climate change was taking away from its transactional practice.