UPDATE, 2 p.m. EDT: The story has been updated with quotes from Morton Pierce in the third and fourth paragraphs, as well as additional information on how many lawyers are making the move to White & Case.

The Dewey & LeBoeuf holdouts are finally headed toward the exits.

Morton Pierce, the former chair of predecessor firm Dewey Ballantine and a mergers and acquisitions heavyweight, has left the firm and is joining the partnership at White & Case today. Seven other partners, including New York corporate partner Denise Cerasini, will be moving to White & Case with him.

Pierce, who said midday Thursday that he was making one of his last phone calls from his longtime firm, said he is leaving because of “what’s happening at the firm that you can read about in the papers and the blogs daily.”