Simmons & Simmons has sealed the hire of a new human resources (HR) director following the departure of its previous HR head to Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP).

The top 15 UK law firm has hired Daniel Flint for the position with a start date pencilled in for January next year. The role marks the first legal industry role for the HR specialist who is currently serving his notice period as global compensation and benefits director at Accenture.

Flint has been at Accenture for 11 years and has also served as UK and Ireland HR director there, prior to which he was HR manager at Tate & Lyle for 10 years.

Commenting on the hire, Simmons managing partner Mark Dawkins said: "Dan is an excellent fit for our organisation. He brings a wealth of experience and, coming from a wider professional services background, a wider range of perspectives."

Flint told Legal Week he was attracted to join Simmons based on the challenge of a senior role for a large, international organisation.

He said: "The main difference to my previous roles is the scale of the organisation. It is different to outline the challenges at this point in time but one key priority will be to help the firm in its aim to grow and retain talent in key international geographies."

The news comes after Simmons' former HR head John Lucy left the firm last month to take up his new role with BLP after serving his notice period. At BLP he is replacing HR director Geoff Griffin, who is retiring.

Lucy joined Simmons two years ago after 10 years at UK top 10 firm Herbert Smith, where he was global head of HR and oversaw graduate recruitment alongside the firm's recruitment partner.