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.