Simmons & Simmons has appointed a successor to lead the firm's finance practice in anticipation of current head Jeremy Hoyland taking up the managing partner role as of 1 May.

The top 15 City firm has appointed City-based capital markets head Jonathan Hammond to assume both the sector group head and practice group head roles currently held by Hoyland.

Both roles are firmwide as well as covering the firm's City headquarters, with the practice group role to continue to be labelled 'head of financial markets' and the sector role 'head of financial institutions'.

The election was made by recommendation to the firm's board, which approved the appointment. The firm had considered splitting the two roles between two partners but decided against it after consulting the finance partners.

Hammond told Legal Week: "I am very excited to be taking on these roles. It is a great opportunity to build on the success of the practice that Jeremy has achieved. I want to keep a consistency of approach and continue to focus on building client relationships."

Hammond joined Simmons in 1994 from Norton Rose and made partner in 2001.

Financial markets has around 210 lawyers worldwide. Meanwhile, financial institutions is the largest sector group at Simmons, which operates along four sector lines that run across practice groups.

The sector group counted for more than half of the firm's income in the last three years and also holds the largest number of key client relationships, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, RBS, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.