Allen & Overy/photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Allen & Overy has boosted its employment offering with a partner hire from Simmons & Simmons in London – the firm's first lateral hire following its failed merger talks earlier this month.

Vicky Wickremeratne joins the Magic Circle firm after 10 years at Simmons – four of which were as a partner. She broke up her stay at Simmons with a six-year stint at Goldman Sachs' Hong Kong base, where between 2007 and 2013 she was a managing director and senior counsel, overseeing the bank's employment law group across the Asia-Pacific region.

Having trained and qualified at Linklaters, she advises on people-risk management, largely within the financial services, life sciences and TMT sectors.

Her hire follows the breakdown of long-running merger talks between A&O and U.S. firm O'Melveny & Myers, which were called off earlier this month.

Global head of litigation Karen Seward added: "Clients require a team which has breadth and a high level of specialisation across all areas of corporate culture. This is at the very top of boardroom agendas in an environment of increased governance, accountability and good corporate practice.

"Our employment practice is market-leading and Vicky is the natural choice to join us in taking the practice forward."

A spokesperson for Simmons said in a statement: "We have a long relationship with Vicky in this and previous roles. We thank her for her contribution to the firm and wish her all the best for the future.

"We are excited about the ongoing growth of our international employment practice and continue to expand, including in the U.K., which has seen three new partners in the last 18 months."

The hire represents A&O's latest raid on Simmons, after it made four intellectual property hires from the firm in 2016 and 2017, including the firm's former London IP head Marc Doering.