People: Parity Legal; Persimmon Homes

Parity Legal has bolstered its team with the appointment of Jon Woodcock as operations development manager.

Woodcock’s appointment follows six other recent arrivals at the Oadby-based multi-service law firm.

The growing company has brought Ian Thompson, Gita Duggal, Dippalli Naik, Ajmer Kang, Shivam Sachdev and Emily Powrie on board in recent times and made a pair of key promotions, with Harpreet Kasbh being made director and Madeleine Ingall taking on the role of executive assistant.

Roney Thankey, a director at Parity Legal, said: “I am so pleased to announce the signing of Jon Woodcock at the firm as operations development manager. Having known Jon for a number of years, the timing of this appointment is perfect in this phase of Parity’s development. The wide skill-set that Jon possesses will be key in the growth of our firm.

“Parity Legal has some exciting plans in the next couple of years and Jon will be instrumental in delivering on those projects and widening Parity’s reach on a local and national basis.”

Director Kal Jamal said: “Jon is a breath of fresh air for Parity’s next chapter! He brings with him a wealth of knowledge, key business relationships and sound business acumen to the ever-growing team. I can’t wait to see how Jon integrates his business knowhow into our innovative organisation and how he is planning to take our consultancy programme to the next level!”

Woodcock added: “I’m delighted to have joined Parity Legal at such a pivotal stage, as we have an incredible journey ahead of us, expanding and growing including an exciting new project being launched in October/November this year.

“My priority is optimising development, growth, efficiency and service quality through our effective collaborative approach and further adding more first-class people and processes.

“I will be proactively driving forward our legal expertise, growth and expansion via the Parity Legal Solicitors Consultancy Programme, and of course you can expect continuous innovation and new developments moving forwards.”

Persimmon Homes has hired a new technical assistant to cover Lincolnshire, Rutland and North Northamptonshire.

Emma Johnson, who will also work on projects in Cambridgeshire, Fenland and Norfolk, will be responsible for producing and amending architectural drawings for the housebuilder.

Emma Johnson

She said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining Persimmon Homes at a time when they have recently secured their 5 star quality rating. I am joining a great team and I am particularly looking forward to working on my first site at Barrowby, Grantham in the coming weeks.”

Johnson’s appointment is part of Persimmon’s “Target 50” initiative, which will see the firm recruit 50 female apprentices or technical trainees by the end of this year.

Technical director Ben Purdy said: “We are delighted Emma has joined the team at an exciting time. We want to actively encourage more motivated and driven female apprentices and technical trainees to join us in construction roles and build a successful career at Persimmon.”