Irwin Mitchell has secured the hire of Nabarro corporate and commercial partner Andrea Cropley, after news of her resignation emerged last week.

Cropley, who was principally based in Nabarro's Sheffield office, will join the top 20 firm's local office in the coming months.

Her move comes after eight years at Nabarro, which she joined from accountancy-tied firm Tite & Lewis in 2004.

Cropley's recent work has included leading a Sheffield-based corporate team advising on Bank of Ireland's €690m (£575m) sale of its London lending function to US bank Wells Fargo & Co last December.

Irwin Mitchell business legal services chief executive Niall Baker said: "Andrea's appointment is another clear signal of Irwin Mitchell's intention to grow and build a first-class legal offering for the corporate market.

"We have made a number of high-profile partner appointments already this year, but we still have a significant amount of recruitment to come and will continue to build with good quality partners and teams."

The news comes after Legal Week reported last week that Cropley had resigned alongside Nabarro head of employment Julie Quinn, who has departed for US firm Jones Day.

Quinn joined Nabarro in 2008 after 13 years at Allen & Overy.

It was also confirmed last week that Nabarro's long-serving real estate litigation chief, Iain Travers, has resigned to join Ashurst. Travers, who is set to depart in November, has worked at Nabarro for 38 years.