Movers & Shakers: South West
2022
January
Ashfords has appointed partner Ian Manners to head up its business risk & regulation team.
Stone King has made a number of appointments in the Bath office. Kate Tomlinson joins as an associate solicitor in the information law team. Emily Moberly joins as an associate in the trusts. Also joining the trusts and estates team is Stephen Horton, who joins as an associate chartered tax adviser.
Coffin Mew has promoted Natalie Marsh to senior associate.
Capsticks has welcomed a number of new joiners in the firm’s housing and regeneration team. Francesca James joins the Winchester office as a senior solicitor.
Stephens Scown has appointed Mark Shepherd as the firm’s first people development director.
The appointment of 101 new Queen’s Counsel have been announced. In Bristol Charles Row (Queen Square Chambers) has been appointed.
February
Energy and infrastructure partner Hugo Lidbetter has joined Osborne Clarke in Bristol.
Julia Suarez joins Knights plc as a partner in Exeter, focusing on property transactions for high-net-worth clients.
The merger of Royds Withy King and Goodman Derrick will take effect on 1 May 2022. The merged firm will be known as RWK Goodman LLP and will continue to trade from Royds Withy King’s current offices across the South West, Thames Valley and from its Carter Lane offices in London. Goodman Derrick’s offices at 10 St Brides Street London will close. Graham Street will continue as the firm’s managing partner, with Goodman Derrick’s senior partner Edward Hoare and chief operating officer Mark Jones joining the firm’s executive committee. RWK Goodman will comprise approximately 360 specialist lawyers, with around a third being based in London.
Frettens has promoted Karen Edwards, head of the firm’s corporate and commercial team, to partner.
Awdry Bailey & Douglas has appointed Yasmine Machin as head of conveyancing.
Street Chambers has announced that Caleb Sayer has accepted tenancy on successful completion of his pupillage.
March
Ince has appointed property law specialist Janine Harris as a partner in its Bristol office.
Ashfords has appointed Carl Thompson as an energy & construction partner.
David McWilliam, partner and head of personal injury & sports law at Ellis Jones Solicitors, has been appointed to the Football Association general appeals panel for a three-year term. McWilliam was appointed to the FA serious case panel in July 2021.
Parisa Jones, a partner at Lester Aldridge, has become chair of the STEP Bournemouth branch. Jones specialises in wills, powers of attorney, trusts, estate administration and tax planning.
Trethowans has opened a new office in Poole based at Merchants House on Vanguard Road.
Stone King has appointed Graeme Beattie as a solicitor in the international and cross-border team based in the Bath office.
Beale & Company has welcomed Flavia Solimano as a senior associate in the construction team in Bristol.
BLB Solicitors has announced the appointment of Caroline Entwistle and Sarah Loveless as directors.
GL Law has welcomed Edward Jaffa as an associate solicitor in the corporate & commercial team.
Wilsons Solicitors has announced that Jessica Broxup, Christopher Bull and Ben Smith have all passed their Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) and Association of Tax Technicians (ATT) exams.
April
Simmons & Simmons has expanded its investment funds team in Bristol with the appointment of partner Dan Faundez. He has advised fund managers on the launch of private investment funds and managed accounts across various asset classes, including real estate, infrastructure and venture capital.
Joe Nicholls has joined Stephens Scown as a new partner in the firm’s employment team. In addition, he is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association and sits on the South West steering committee, as well as holding the role of a non-executive director for a multi- academy trust of primary schools.
Reeds Solicitors LLP has launched a Court of Protection service from its Bristol office. The team will be led by the firm’s head of Court of Protection and partner, Sarah Griffiths-Jones who is currently based in Cardiff. She will split her time between the Cardiff and Bristol offices, with solicitor Camille Ivinson and trainee Natasha Lukies transferring to Bristol full time.
BPE Solicitors has promoted Peter Knibbs and Katie Moylan, to partner. Knibbs has been a member of the litigation team since joining the firm in 2018 and has developed a practice in contentious trusts and probate alongside a property litigation and a commercial contract disputes practice.
Simon Wain will be joining BPE as a partner in the construction and engineering team. He will take over as head of construction & engineering, and will advise clients on the full spectrum of construction law including drafting and reviewing both construction and engineering contracts; negotiating disputes with other parties and advising on consultant appointments.
Ashfords’ family team has welcomed two new solicitors. Sue Ellingham joins the team as a senior associate. Louise Kiely, solicitor, joins the team from another Bristol- based law firm, where she trained and qualified in 2020.
TLT has expanded it trust and estate team with the appointment of Claire Johnson as legal director.
Haseltine Lake Kempner has appointed Graham Lambert as its news chief executive. Lambert has worked at the firm for 11 years, holding senior leadership roles, first as finance director, and then as the firm’s chief operating officer. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA).
BPE has promoted Natalie Hopkins (commercial property) and Hannah Mills (family) to associate solicitors.
Philip Allen is set to join BPE’s private wealth department as a senior associate.
Coodes Solicitors has welcomed new joiners to its family team. Solicitor Victoria Walters is based in the firm’s Penzance office and has 17 years’ experience of family law, including providing expert advice on matrimonial matters and financial settlements. Paralegal Elizabeth Ellis joins Coodes’ Truro office with 12 years’ experience. Also based in Truro, Anna Barrick who has been with Coodes for 15 years, starting out as a secretary, has been promoted to a paralegal. Working in the firm’s St Austell and Liskeard offices, paralegal Iynaiya Afzal advises on all family law matters, particularly cases involving social services, domestic abuse and children law. Megan Eaton is a trainee solicitor in the family team and is aiming to qualify in family law, having been with Coodes since 2019. Based in the firm’s Truro office, she is providing support across a broad range of family law cases.
Auxillias has announced the appointment of Simon Tattersfield as a board adviser. He will be working closely with the business, supporting it with its three- year strategy and overseeing the product and client development activities, particularly in the motor industry. Tattersfield leads his own business, Possibility Squared Ltd, blending coaching, consulting and thought partnership activities.
HHJ Chris Simmonds has been appointed as Designated Family Judge for Dorset with effect from 22 March 2022.
Mrs Justice Frances Judd QC has been appointed as the Family Division Liaison Judge for the Western Circuit with effect from 6 June 2022.
KBG Chambers has announced that Andrew Willetts has successfully completed the STEP advanced certificate in the principles of international taxation, AML and compliance. Willetts is an established chancery practitioner specialising in trust and estate law.
May
Osborne Clarke has made a number of partner promotions in the Bristol office with effect from 1 May 2022. Damocles Merry specialises in M&A and transactional work for defence, security and aerospace clients, with a strong focus on technology in the sector. He also advises real estate clients on corporate opportunities, including joint ventures and acquisitions of alternative asset classes linked to real estate. Fiona Sweeting heads the company secretarial team, providing advice to, and ongoing company secretarial support for, hundreds of UK companies, advising on UK incorporations, and advising overseas companies on setting up business in the UK. Charlotte Walker is a real estate sector team member specialising in renewable energy, power management and decarbonisation projects.
Roger Bull has been re-elected managing partner for a second four-year term at Burges Salmon. Bull became the firm’s managing partner on 1 May 2018.
WBW Solicitors has announced that it will merge with Michael W Pipe Solicitors on 1 May 2022. The new firm will be known as WBW Solicitors incorporating Michael W Pipe Solicitors and will operate from WBW Solicitors current office at 63-65 Hyde Road, Paignton.
Lanyon Bowdler has announced a new addition to the firm, two retirements and management changes. Matthew Bowering joins as a partner in the firm’s commercial and agricultural property team. Meanwhile, Lanyon Bowdler has announced that Andrew Evans and Neil Lorimer, who stepped down as head of personal injury in 2021 but continued with the firm as a partner, will retire as partners at the end of April 2022. Evans, a commercial property specialist, joined the firm in 1989 and has been the firm’s senior partner since 2015. Lorimer joined the firm in 1987 and is a personal injury specialist. He led the firm’s personal injury department for 17 years until stepping down in 2021, when Dawn Humphries became head of the department. Lanyon Bowdler has also announced that John Merry, head of employment, will replace Evans as the firm’s senior partner.
Lucy Charles has left Charles Russell Speechlys, where she was a tax & trust manager in the Cheltenham office, to join accountancy firm PKF Francis Clark as a senior manager in the firm’s tax team based in the Bristol office.
Burges Salmon has announced the appointment of 13 new directors, with effect from 1 May 2022. They are: Ellen Williams (construction & engineering); Lauren Luscombe (construction & engineering); Julie Book (corporate); Anna Davis (corporate – funds and financial regulation); Caroline Brown (dispute resolution); Lucy Redman (dispute resolution); Jamie Cameron (employment); Sarah Sutherland (planning & compulsory purchase); Lucy Owens (projects); Paul Clark (real estate); Will Hall (real estate); Hannah Petherick (tax, trusts, and family); and Tim Williams (tax, trusts, and family).
Daniel Gornall, a chartered financial planner at Mogers Drewett, has recently achieved Resolution’s specialist accreditation. With over 15 years’ experience, Gornall helps clients with retirement plans, investment and estate planning, tax planning, and wealth protection.
Steele Raymond has announced that Victoria Jarmolkiewicz, who since joining the firm in 2019 has worked predominantly in residential conveyancing, has joined the firm’s residential development team.
St John’s Chambers has announced that Sarah Fincham has joined its family & divorce team.
June
Shakespeare Martineau has announced an expansion into Bristol and the Southwest following a merger with GL Law. GL Law is based in Bristol and has acted for owner-managed businesses, SMEs, start- ups and private clients across the region for more than 300 years.
Clarke Willmott has appointed Amanda French as a partner in its Bristol office from Womble Bond Dickinson where she was a senior associate, having also worked at Davitt Jones Bould as an associate director. French specialises in portfolio management and store development programmes for multi-national retail businesses.
Bevan Brittan has appointed Bethan Lloyd as a partner. Lloyd, a procurement, competition law and subsidy control specialist.
Veale Wasbrough Vizards has welcomed partner Sian Champkin to its corporate team. Champkin is an experienced corporate lawyer with a specialism in the education sector.
DAC Beachcroft has announced 17 promotions to partner with effect from 1 May 2022. They include Bristol-based Emily Exon (claims solutions) and Tony Hewitt (corporate banking & insolvency).
Ashfords has elected Tim Heal as its new chair. Heal, who currently leads the firm’s real estate services division and is a member of the firm’s executive board, takes on the role with effect from 24 May 2022. He succeeds Mark Lomas who retires after 35 years with the firm and nine years as chair.
Ashfords has appointed partner Rory Suggett as head of the firm’s corporate team. He takes over the role from Andrew Betteridge who continues as the firm’s wider commercial services division head and executive board member. He has extensive experience in venture capital, private equity and M&A.
Foot Anstey has promoted five new partners. John Catchpole specialises in real estate projects, particularly those in the energy and infrastructure and developer sectors. He has experience in the space and satellite sector. Rebecca Kibby is CEO and head of conveyancing and oversees a team of 70 in the real estate group. Mark Li specialises in high-value, complex commercial property transactions, and the management of operational property portfolios. He has experience in acting for public and private sector infrastructure developers and owners in the transport and energy sectors. Adam McKenna trained and qualified with the firm and is a founding member of the private equity sector team. He has considerable experience in advising portfolio businesses on bolt-on acquisitions and implementing buy and build strategies. Christian Silk is head of strategic infrastructure planning and specialises in all aspects of planning and environmental law and has experience in the developer, energy and infrastructure sectors, and in the space and satellite and ports areas. She has particular experience in the nitrates and phosphates issues affecting developers in many parts of the UK, as well as other environmental matters, including natural capital solutions, net zero and the energy transition.
Burges Salmon has appointed Emma Folkes as the new head of rural property. Folkes has been a partner in the firm’s real estate team since 2017, specialising in rural and agricultural property.
Wilsons has made a number of promotions, effective from 1 May 2022. Debbie Ashenhurst and Mark Cook have been promoted to equity partner (LLP member) while Jessica Broxup and Helen Lello to partner. Ashenhurst is a commercial litigator specialising in reputation management, privacy, data protection and commercial/corporate disputes. She joined the firm in 2016 after spending eight years in the US. Cook advises companies, entrepreneurs and not-for-profit organisations on corporate and commercial contracting matters. His particular areas of expertise are mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and shareholder agreements and corporate restructurings and reorganisations. Broxup joined the tax & trust team in 2016 and is dual qualified as a solicitor and chartered tax adviser. She advises a broad range of UK and international clients on wealth protection, tax and estate planning, She covers many aspects of property law and has particular expertise in large estates matters
DAC Beachcroft has announced 18 promotions to legal director with effect from 1 May 2022. Richard Budge (real estate) and Chris Stoate (corporate commercial) have been promoted in Bristol.
Ashfords has welcomed Jess Flanagan to the firm’s Court of Protection team in Bristol. Flanagan has an extensive background in representing individuals who lack capacity in complex health and welfare proceedings before the Court of Protection and is a specialist in issues concerning capacity and best interests and deprivation of liberty, as well as wider community care and mental health law.
Lester Aldridge has made five senior appointments. Senior associate Giuseppe Pingerna has joined the family team. Solicitor Elisabetta Scanferla has joined the firm’s specialist shipping and marine law team. Solicitor Anmol Ahluwalia and chartered legal executives Rebecca Lo and Helen Smith have the joined the real estate team.
Wilsons has made a number of promotions, effective from 1 May 2022. Chris Bull and Jayne Patel have been promoted to senior associates and Emma Litchfield and Leah Ringwood-Hoare have become associates. Patel joined the commercial disputes team in 2015. She has particular technical expertise in claimant focused professional negligence claims against solicitors, valuers, construction professionals and accountants. Litchfield joined the probate & estate administration team in 2018. She trained with a firm in North Dorset and qualified as a solicitor in 2017. Ringwood-Hoare joined the firm as a trainee and qualified into the Court of Protection team in 2018. She advises on a broad range of mental capacity work including applications to the COP, deputyships, lasting powers of attorney. She also advises on the creation of personal injury trusts, wills and statutory will applications.
