Simmons & Simmons has made its first lateral partner hires for its new Bristol office, with the firm hiring Osborne Clarke (OC) financial services litigation partners Ed Crosse and Tim Boyce for the base, which is expected to open this autumn.

No start dates have yet been agreed for the pair, who are expected to work out of both Bristol and London at Simmons, covering City and international work.

Crosse, who joined OC from Clifford Chance in 2009 and splits his time between London and Bristol, focuses on dispute resolution for City financial institutions, commercial real estate and aviation groups.

Boyce, who currently works in Bristol full-time, specialises in commercial disputes and regulatory investigations and has worked on matters including payment processing company Wirecard's High Court victory against Beijing Olympics ticket seller Xclusive. He co-headed OC's financial services group until 2010, when he was replaced by Tim Simmonds.

Simmons announced plans to open in Bristol in April, with the new office – the firm's first in the UK outside London – set to focus on projects, real estate and dispute resolution work. It is expected to be open for business in around September, with the firm confirming the names of the first two London partners to be relocating to the office earlier this month.

City projects partner Richard Armitage and real estate partner Iain Macfarlane will be moving to Bristol from Simmons' London headquarters alongside one more as yet unconfirmed partner who will head the local litigation team. Simmons hopes to have 15-20 lawyers in Bristol by the time of the launch.
 
News of Simmons' hires comes as OC has hired Mark Brailsford as a corporate tax partner from collapsed US law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf. Brailsford will join the firm in London in June after four months as a consultant in Dewey's City arm.

Managing partner Simon Beswick commented: "Of course we are disappointed that Tim and Ed are leaving us, but we will maintain our focus on becoming one of the leading firms in financial services. We have five or six lateral hires that we expect to happen in the next month, and three of these are to broaden and strengthen our financial services business."