Simmons & Simmons has hired its sixth partner from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) in London this year, with the addition of corporate insurance partner Pollyanna Deane.

Deane is due to join Simmons early next year (16 January), after five years as a partner with BLP, having previously served as a partner with legacy Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. She will join Simmons' corporate and commercial practice, which is headed by Mark Curtis.

Simmons said the hire came as part of a bid to strengthen its practice on the regulatory side of insurance and other financial institution transactions. Focusing on transactional and regulatory advisory work, Deane has acted for reinsurers, insurers, mutuals, intermediaries and service providers to the insurance industry.

At Simmons she will join nine City partners specialising in insurance, a team that has previously advised clients including QBE, AXA, Mitsui Sumitomo and Beazley. The firm also has six insurance partners in foreign offices.

Earlier this year Simmons hired a five-partner team from BLP for its finance practice, with John Hayward, Mark Waghorn, Simon Kildahl and Richard Hughes joining in September alongside former Berwin Leighton managing partner Robert Jones, who is playing a business development role at Simmons.

Curtis said: "It is just co- incidental that Deane is joining from BLP. We had been looking for a new insurance partner and our practice – including our important financial institutions sector group – will benefit from the addition of regulatory capacity which she brings."