People: Pinsent Masons; GHP Legal; Running Bee Foundation; Napthens; Clearview Home Improvements
Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has announced the promotion of 19 individuals to its partnership, including two in Manchester.
The firm’s Manchester office congratulates Arwyn Jones on his promotion to partner and Kate Dodd who is promoted to legal director. Both promotions will take effect on May 1, 2021.
Operating within the firm’s infrastructure and energy sectors, Arwyn Jones undertakes complex and large scale project advisory and disputes work as part of the construction advisory & disputes team.
Kate Dodd is a diversity and inclusion specialist and employment lawyer who has led initiatives including the development of the Mindful Business Charter and expansion of Pinsent Masons’ diversity and inclusion consultancy, Brook Graham. Kate will develop the firm’s equality law specialism, supporting clients as they focus on culture as well as legal compliance
Arwyn Jones
Helen Ridge, head of Pinsent Masons’ Manchester office, said: “The Manchester office promotions are another example of the range of talent that we have within Pinsent Masons. Our firm continues to invest in our legal and professional services skillsets and, despite the challenges 2020 has brought, this year is no exception. Congratulations to Arwyn and Kate on their well-deserved promotions.”
The Manchester office has led on a number of recent high profile transactions such as Waterland Private Equity’s investment into digital marketing agency Sideshow Group in March. The firm’s Manchester-based lawyers have also advised a number of leading sports bodies including World Athletics, five Premier League football clubs and a number of leading European sports clubs.
The promotions span Pinsent Masons’ multinational network, with individuals being made up across the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Following this promotion round, the firm’s total number of partners is 459, with female representation across the partnership increasing to 28.5%.
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Law firm GHP Legal has announced the appointment of a new solicitor at its Llangollen office based in the town’s Old Bank Chambers.
The appointment comes at the end of a challenging year that has seen GHP Legal having to adopt new work practices to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions in both England and Wales.
With offices in Wrexham, Llangollen, Chirk and Oswestry, the Legal 500 firm has not only had to face different COVID rules for the two countries, imposed at different times, but has also had to work around staff who live in one country but work in another.
Welsh speaker Beti-Wyn Evans has joined the firm’s residential property team. An outstanding student who won the Hillyer McKeown award for best ‘Law in Action: individuals’ portfolio, she qualified as a solicitor in 2018, working for a law firm in Shrewsbury before joining GHP Legal. As well as handling residential conveyancing, she will be assisting clients in Llangollen with wills and lasting powers of attorney.
Beti-Wyn Evans
Senior partner, Richard Lloyd, said: “The past year has been challenging for all businesses, in many different ways. As solicitors we have been as busy as ever and the challenge has been to continue providing the high level of service our clients expect, whilst dealing with furlough situations and staff working from home.
“It has been particularly challenging for our conveyancing departments who have had the added problems of a surge in property transactions following the various stamp duty suspensions, and delays with searches due to Land Registry staff also being furloughed or home working. We are, however, fortunate to have a strong team who can be relied upon to pull together in a crisis, and they have certainly done so recently.
“Beti-Wyn’s appointment comes at exactly the right time and we are delighted to welcome her onto the team. Rural conveyancing can sometimes be more complex than that in more urban areas and we deal with large volumes of completions and cases for both registered and unregistered freehold and leasehold property every month.”
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The Running Bee Foundation has appointed Jan Collins, the head of sales at TalkTalk Business, to its board of trustees.
Jan has more than 20 years’ experience working within leading names in the technology sector, heading departments at Cisco, Virgin and Vodafone – both in the UK and across the globe.
A born and bred Mancunian, Jan is happy to be back and located in Salford Quays with TalkTalk after a career spent travelling to London, the Nordics, Benelux countries and even the USA.
It is a passion for her roots in the North West and the community outreach the Foundation is committed to, that drew her to become involved with The Running Bee – alongside a joint vision of health and wellbeing for all.
Jan said: “Lockdown gave us all an appreciation of not only physical wellbeing, but the positive impact exercise has on our mental health, too. As a mother of two myself, it made me realise I needed to address my own and my family’s health and wellbeing and make regular exercise a core part of our family life.
Jan Collins
“If there’s ever been a time when every single one of us, from child to grandparent, needs to be happier and healthier, it’s now. So I am excited to work with the Running Bee Foundation to spread this message and help support people and organisation that are doing so much for their communities.”
Carl Austin-Behan, chair of the Trustees for the Foundation, said “Jan’s expertise in communications, sales and strategy are truly exciting to us at The Running Bee Foundation – alongside her passion for physical and mental wellbeing, and is integral in helping us champion the benefits of an active lifestyle and help in the fight against childhood obesity.”
The Foundation provides grants from profits raised from all its UK races to community initiatives across Manchester and the North West, all to help promote health and wellbeing and the fight to tackle and reduce childhood obesity.
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North West law firm Napthens has strengthened its core practices with the addition of 17 new staff in the first quarter of 2021.
Jordan Davies
This includes two additions to the litigation team, with the recruitment of senior associate solicitor Charlotte Barron and solicitor Jordan Davies.
Specialising in all types of commercial dispute resolution – including property – for SME owner-managed businesses, Charlotte adds 15 years’ experience to the team, having acted for international clients from the USA, China, Italy and Australia in previous roles. Jordan is a specialist in inheritance disputes and joins a growing contentious trusts and probate team that handle a variety of cases, from challenging the validity of a will to mismanagement of estates by personal representatives.
Andy Ellis, a health & safety consultant and specialist in construction, has joined Napthens Health and Safety. With more than 10 years’ experience working across housebuilding, civil engineering, mechanical and electrical installation, Andy has advised at board and senior management level on projects ranging from £100,000 up to £25m in value. He joins a growing team of consultants that provide a full health and safety service including audits, site visits, training and consultation.
Charlotte Barron
Beyond litigation and health & safety, Napthens has made a further eight additions to its commercial property, rural, private client, employment and corporate practices, while also adding to its business services teams.
Shru Morris, Napthens chief executive, said: “In what has been a challenging 12 months for everyone, we have continued to support clients’ needs across our commercial and private client services.
“As we look to develop further specialisms and build on our expertise across the board, our recruitment reflects our commitment to providing the greatest service possible for each and every one of our clients. As the region looks to bounce back following the pandemic we will continue to expand our service offering and will be announcing further new arrivals in the coming weeks.”
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A North West home improvement specialist has strengthened its senior leadership team as part of ambitious plans to grow 50% by 2024.
Clearview Home Improvements, which is part of the Conservatory Outlet Group, has appointed Phil O’Malley as operations director responsible for driving expansion and enhancing the company’s levels of customer service.
He will use more than 20 years of experience in the industry to recruit, retain and manage the existing team of project managers, surveyors and other professionals crucial to the firm’s day-to-day activities across its three showrooms in Nantwich, Preston and Warrington.
Phil joins the team at an exciting time, with the company achieving record-breaking sales levels of more than £15m from June to December last year and securing the Conservatory or Orangery Installation (over £35k) title at the Glass & Glazing Products Installer Awards.
Phil O’Malley
He said: “Clearview has forged a hugely impressive reputation over the past decade as one of the leading home improvement providers across the North West. To be given the opportunity to help guide the business to even loftier heights is incredibly exciting.”
Greg Kane, Conservatory Outlet Group chief executive, said: “To bring in someone of Phil’s calibre, with a proven track record of success within our industry, is only going to strengthen Clearview’s position going forward.
“We’ve set ourselves some really ambitious growth targets over the next few years to grow by 50% and we’re all delighted to have him on board. It’s shaping up to be a really exciting year for the business.”
Phil’s appointment to the Clearview senior leadership team follows the appointment of Phil Brown as managing director in December 2020. He has built a formidable reputation within the industry as co-founder and director of Audas Group, where he turned a £1,000 start-up investment into a £30m organisation in just 10 years.
