Appointments: Walton joins Davis Blank Furniss, plus moves at Weightmans and Livingcity
MANCHESTER law firm Davis Blank Furniss has appointed Paul Walton, the former senior partner and managing partner of Hill Dickinson, as its new professional negligence consultant.
Walton’s principal role at Davis Blank Furniss will be to work alongside the dispute resolution team, which is headed up by Andrew Ryan, in order to strengthen the department; both in the North West and across the UK.
His work will see him acting for claimants who have received wrong or bad advice from professional service suppliers such as accountants, architects, estate agents, surveyors and independent financial consultants.
Kate Oldfield, managing partner at Davis Blank Furniss, said: “Paul was looking for an opportunity to focus on strengthening a practice within another firm. This fitted perfectly with us as were are actively developing specific specialist areas, one of which is professional negligence.”
::
LAW firm Weightmans has continued its growth in Knutsford with the appointment of Richard Dobell and Rachel Harper who join the Wills, Trusts Tax & Probate and Family teams respectively.
Solicitor Rachel Harper joins the family team from Brabners Chaffe Street where she qualified in 2010 and from where she has worked on high net worth cases involving financial settlements upon divorce, cohabitation disputes, pre-nuptial agreements and issues in relation to children.
Richard Dobell joins the probate team from Cobbetts in Manchester where he qualified in 2010. Dobell worked for a local charitable trust before moving to Knutsford and has experience with complex trust work and drafting of wills.
::
MANCHESTER property management firm, Livingcity Asset Management has appointed Graham Ainscow.
Ainscow, 45, will developing the surveying department and expanding the services the company offers to both existing and new clients.
He has been working in the property sector for more than 25 years and has managed property portfolios for local authorities and registered local landlords such as Westminster County Council, The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and Rosebery Housing Association.
He has also worked on behalf of the majority of lending banks involved in the surveying and valuation of residential property.
He said: “The Livingcity Group has a fantastic reputation and the opportunity to expand and grow the building surveying department was too good an opportunity to miss. My principle challenge will be to drive expansion, to continue to solidify the in-house expertise across the core disciplines and to develop the building surveying business. These are challenges that I relish – especially as I’m supported by such a forward thinking and focused team of people.”
