Barlow Lyde & Gilbert insurance partner Victoria Sherratt has opted to leave the firm ahead of its merger with Clyde & Co in favour of a move to Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC).

Sherratt will join RPC next month, marking the first Barlows partner departure to be announced since the firm's merger plans with Clydes went public this summer.

Sherratt, who has been a partner in the insurance and reinsurance group at Barlows since 2009, specialises in property insurance. Her hire takes the total number of partners in RPC's insurance and reinsurance practice to 29.

She said: "RPC is one of the few firms that has a dedicated property insurance team and they are by far and away the best. The firm approached me last year on the recommendation of mutual clients, so I have been thinking about it for a while, and decided that this would be a better fit for me than going into the new merger."

The news follows a number of hires for RPC over the last year, including Barlows commercial risk and reinsurance partner Jason Bright, which was announced in January this year, and former Barlows chief executive Clint Evans, who joined RPC in June.

RPC re-entered the top 50 this year after seeing a 4% rise in revenues to £61.8m for 2010-11. Profits per equity partner also rose by 1% to £327,000.

Sherratt's move comes as Barlows and Clydes prepare to merge this November, creating an insurance specialist firm with combined revenues of around £300m. The new firm will operate under the Clyde & Co banner.