Former Barlow Lyde & Gilbert chief executive Clint Evans is joining Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) to lead the firm's business development department.

Evans is set to join RPC next month as director of brand and talent, a role that will see him working alongside HR director Sally Andrews and knowledge management director Andrew Woolfson, with responsibility for leading the business development team.

The move comes nearly 18 months after Evans left Barlows in January 2010, subsequently setting up his own consulting business. He will continue to run the consultancy business alongside the full-time post at RPC but will not advise any other law firms.

Evans joined Barlows in 2007 from Henley Management College, when he was brought in to take on the new role of chief executive, marking the first non-lawyer to hold a senior management position at the insurance leader.

Evans said: "I've been working with RPC for a while on a consultancy basis and when they offered me the chance to come on board full-time I thought it was a great opportunity to help a progressive firm move forwards.

"RPC is very forward thinking and a lot of its lawyers are regarded as up and coming. I will be helping them to continue to develop their brand and capture and foster talent in the firm, as we enter a time where the demands on legal services are constantly evolving."

Evans has previously worked at Unilever and Deloitte before joining Clifford Chance in 2001 as director of branding.

RPC has made a raft of hires this year including a two-lawyer team from SJ Berwin, including head of outsourcing David Meredith in March, and Barlows' commercial risk and reinsurance partner Jason Bright in January.