Nelsons swoops for Knights quartet
Law firm Nelsons has poached a team of four corporate lawyers from counterparts Knights.
Gavin White and Rachel Bennett, both partners, have joined Nelsons alongside senior associate Hannah Jones with legal director Peter Abel set to join on 30th September, all relocating from Knights.
With more than two decades’ experience White has advised on all aspects of corporate finance work including high value mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, joint ventures, corporate restructuring, venture capital investments, banking and finance and insolvency related transactions.
He started his career at the independent Nottingham firm Eking Manning, where he stayed until their merger with Geldards. He then spent six years with Gateley, progressing to senior associate. In 2006, White moved to Flint Bishop where he became partner, and continued this role at Fraser Brown from 2009, where he helped lead the Knights acquisition of the firm in 2020.
White said: “Throughout my career I have always had strong ties to Nottingham and the East Midlands, so moving to Nelsons will allow me to continue serving and building that client base. I have been fortunate to work with some brilliant and exciting SMEs as well as much larger PLC firms – I feel my strength is being able to cater for what clients need at all levels and I am looking forward to continuing to support businesses across the region.
“I have been well aware of Nelsons, and the work Stewart has been doing to build the firm with the support of the unique Lawfront model, which is certainly ahead of the curve. The firm is on a great trajectory while maintaining a commitment to the East Midlands market, which is really refreshing. I could see this was a natural fit for me particularly with the impressive work ethic and business culture.
“Being able to move with Rachel, Peter and Hannah is special as we are a very close-knit team. We are hugely supportive of each other and making this move is really testament to that relationship. I am looking forward to integrating what we have built with our respective offices.”
Meanwhile, Bennett has 20 years’ experience supporting clients across the East Midlands and nationally with large and complex transactions. Her expertise includes mergers and acquisitions, disposals, private equity investments and group reorganisations, dealing with different sized businesses across a range of sectors.
Bennett spent nearly eight years with Geldards in Derby with particular experience in motor retail and healthcare, before then moving to Gateley where she was based in Leicester for four years. In 2016, she joined the team at Flint Bishop in Derby as a partner, building her client base and supporting high value transactions, eventually making the move to Knights in 2022.
She said: “Over the past two decades I have built my career around the East Midlands, so I am pleased to be continuing that work with Nelsons in the Derby office, and the wider East Midlands practice. It felt like the perfect opportunity to be able to move alongside Gavin and the team, and particularly with the exciting 18 months that Nelsons has had. I am looking forward to supporting Derby’s corporate team presence and seeing what the future holds.”
Jones and Abel also bring around 10 years’ legal experience each, both having worked at Fraser Brown and joining Knights as part of the acquisition in 2020.
White added: “Peter and Hannah are both very talented and respected lawyers, having worked on many significant transactions across a range of different sized businesses and developed their own strong links with both clients and intermediaries in the East Midlands market. As part of looking ahead to our future generations, this marks an important and exciting step for their career progression that we are proud to be part of.”
The corporate quartet is the third team to join Nelsons in 2024. At the start of the year, specialist personal injury partners Emma Zukowska and Julie Hardy made the move from Barratts, and this spring Nelsons also welcomed the expert insolvency trio of Adrian Slater, Hayley Brown and Abbie Fotheringham, also from Knights.
Stewart Vandermark chief executive at Nelsons, said: “It is great to be welcoming such a talented group of solicitors, to help strengthen our existing corporate team. I have known Gavin for many years and both he and his team are an excellent fit, with a really strong reputation. Rachel has built a great presence in the Derby market with well-established links and she has become an integral team member at Knights where the four have been working closely together. With Rik Pancholi joining us last year in Leicester when we acquired Pattersons Commercial Law, our corporate department across all three offices is now going from strength to strength.”
