People: Five partner promotions at law firm; International M&A tax specialist joins Dow Schofield Watts; and more

LAW firm Ison Harrison has rounded off another successful year by welcoming a quintet of newly promoted partners to its board.

Lawyers  Jenny Bland, Yunus Lunat, James Smith, Ben Davison and Erica Restall have all been promoted to partners.

Jenny Bland, head of new build property, joined in 2015 and leads a team of 15 people handling over 150 new matters every month.

Mr Lunat is a specialist employment lawyer who joined the firm in 2009.  Particularly experienced in discrimination cases and equality and diversity, he also holds many senior external positions including advising Liverpool FC on equality and diversity issues.  Mr Yunus is also appointed by the FA to act as a specialist chairman to its Discrimination Panel.

Head of residential conveyancing and remortgage, Mr Smith joined the firm three years ago and will move from Ison Harrison’s city centre head office to head up the firm’s new Huddersfield office when it launches in early January.

Mr Davison joined as an immigration lawyer in 2010 and became head of the team four years later helping the firm to be widely recognised as one of Leeds’ leading immigration law firms. He is also responsible for managing the firm’s Legal Aid contracts.

Ms Restall joined in 2013 to head up the public law team and has extensive experience if handling complex cases at the highest level including Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. In recent years, she managed the firm’s relationship with the Home Office during the Hillsborough inquest.

Ison Harrison managing partner Jonathan Wearing said: “We continue to develop an outstanding team of talented individuals who work extremely hard to achieve the best results for clients. The promotions are richly deserved.”

:::

Nick Woodward Dow Schofield Watts ADVISORY business Dow Schofield Watts has further expanded its services with the appointment of Nick Woodward as partner in its new tax advisory arm.

Mr Woodward is a specialist in mergers and acquisition tax with significant international business experience. He joins from global private equity firm the Gores Group, where he led key transactions and was instrumental in the restructuring of portfolio companies such as German telecoms company Unify and UK bakery and milling business Hovis.

He has over 18 years’ experience in tax and finance, and previously worked with Grant Thornton and KPMG, where he advised major names such as Odeon and UCI Cinemas, 3663 and JD Sports.

Leading DSW Tax Advisory, Mr Woodward will work alongside other businesses within the group including corporate finance, transaction services and DSW’s private equity firm, PHD Equity Partners.

James Dow, founder of Dow Schofield Watts, said: “Nick’s unique set of skills spanning tax, international business and private equity will complement our existing corporate finance and due diligence offers in the North West and Yorkshire. His appointment adds further depth to the team, enabling us to provide a fully comprehensive service and become the advisor of choice for commercial and private equity clients.”

:::

Joint director and cofounder of G3 Matt DaleLEEDS-based G3 Group is on the recruitment hunt following a record year in business and plans to increase turnover by a further 30% in 2017.

The business said the 60-strong team is on track to achieve record revenues for the current financial year, but more talented members of staff are required to complement the existing team and fuel G3’s growth projections for the next 12 months.

An account manager is currently being sought as G3 expands its portfolio of brands and services for the motor and motor finance industry.

Additional vacancies include a telesales and marketing executive and a trade vehicle wholesale disposal manager, which are expected to take the headcount to over 70 by Q1 of next year.

Joint director and co-founder of G3 Matt Dale said: “This has been a pivotal year for us. In the vehicle remarketing division of our business alone we’ve seen phenomenal progression, having launched our first physical auctions, to complement our online sales, back in spring. We’ve recently held our milestone 1000th auction since we were established in 2009, and now with a regular programme of four sales a week, demand is high as we look to 2017.

“But no business can thrive without the right people in place. So, as we prepare for the next chapter of growth, it’s important that we build on the great team we already have, before ploughing ahead.”

Close