Ashurst announces the appointment of James Wood as a London-based partner in its Corporate division. Joining from the London office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, James specialises in public and private M&A, demergers and other corporate finance transactions, advising leading corporates, investment banks and private equity firms.

James became a partner in Freshfields in 2001 and was seconded to the firm's Tokyo office between 2007 and 2011, spending more than two years as managing partner there. James advises clients on complex, cross-border transactions in many countries around the world and since his return to London he has been co-head of the firm's mining and metals sector group as well as working on transactions in the oil and gas space.

Ashurst's global head of corporate, Simon Beddow, said: "James is a very high calibre senior partner who will play a key role in further developing our practice. The breadth of his international experience, including his background working in Asia Pacific and his sector expertise, has powerful synergies with the firm's objectives and clients. James will further enhance the scale and depth of our offering and we look forward to welcoming him to the team."

James Wood added: "I am delighted to be joining Ashurst and very much looking forward to adding to the established bench of outstanding talent at the firm and to helping clients achieve their most challenging global objectives."