Linklaters is to strengthen its City competition team with the hire of Allen & Overy (A&O) partner Simon Pritchard.

Pritchard, whose recruitment was confirmed at Linklaters’ partner conference in Montreux last weekend (20-21 April), has been a partner at A&O since 2009. Before this he was senior director, responsible for mergers at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). His start date with Linklaters has yet to be confirmed.