Osborne Clarke has hired Addleshaw Goddard London finance partner Nikki Worden.

She is expected to join the firm in June.

Worden has spent more than three years working for Addleshaws as a partner in the financial regulatory team, which focuses on the regulation of financial services offered to small businesses and consumers.

She has a particular focus on Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation in sectors such as retail banking and asset finance.

Osborne Clarke financial institutions head Kate Johnson said: "In Nikki we have a seasoned practitioner in financial services regulation, whose focus very much complements the expertise we already have within our financial institutions group."

An Addleshaws spokesperson said: "We wish Nikki well but our focus in this area remains unchanged, and we're at advanced stages with a couple of senior hires as we look to grow and develop the practice."

Worden first joined Addleshaws as a partner in 2013 from Allen & Overy (A&O), where she was a senior associate. Prior to joining A&O she held senior roles at Bank of America Europe Card Services, including regulatory investigations manager and senior change consultant. Before that, she was a corporate lawyer at MBNA Europe Bank.

In December, two Addleshaws partners resigned to join US firms. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan hired Addleshaws head of civil fraud Mark Hastings, while Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld recruited civil litigator Kambiz Larizadeh.

Addleshaws has also hired City laterals, including a three-partner real estate team last month from King & Wood Malleson's (KWM) beleaguered European arm, led by KWM Europe's former managing partner William Boss.

Osborne Clarke has also been active in the lateral market in recent months, hiring regulatory partner Katharine Vickery from Eversheds in December and bringing in four partners from Irwin Mitchell in the latter half of 2016 – real estate partners Jo Footitt and Louise Cartwright, and corporate partners Edward Persse and Paul Smith.

Last week, it emerged that Addleshaws is currently in merger talks with German firm Luther.

Meanwhile, the firm is also making progress with its proposed merger with US firm Hunton & Williams. One Addleshaws partner told Legal Week last week that the talks are "moving forward".