People on the Move: Beattie; Jam_; Vincents Solicitors; DWF; Realm

Beattie, the integrated communications agency, has announced two senior promotions.

Joanne Spence, who has been with the agency for 12 years, becomes managing director of Scotland, while Rachel Gladwin becomes managing director of the North and Midlands.

The Scottish operation includes offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Falkirk while N&M includes Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.

Chief executive Laurna Woods said: “Joanne and Rachel are outstanding leaders who are an inspiration to us all. They have built successful profit centres which have been growing annually for more than the last five years.”

Joanne said: “When I came to Beattie in 2007 I wanted to build the best marketing team in the country. Laurna has backed me all the way and I’m delighted that the success enjoyed by me and the team have been recognised in this promotion.”

Rachel, who joined Beattie in 2013, said: “My career has taken me to four different agencies but Beattie is where I call home. I’m thrilled to have been promoted to managing director of the North and Midlands and I look forward to driving the team to more success for years to come.”

Headquartered in London, Beattie has 130 marketing experts in 16 offices across the UK and North America.

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Integrated agency Jam_ continues its ambitious growth plans with three new additions to its Manchester-based team.

Marketing and communications expert Linzi Atkinson joins the agency as account director, bringing a wealth of senior experience in retail to the role.

Linzi, who has worked for Golden Square in Warrington and The Rock in Bury, will be responsible for driving the Jam strategy, delivering and managing projects for clients, bringing in new business and managing the growing team.

Sean McMahon joins the team as digital manager, reflecting the agency’s continual shift to integrated digital comms.

Sean, who has made the move to Manchester after seven years working in Leeds, will be responsible for developing integrated digital marketing strategies across Jam’s broad client base, and leading on social media strategy and implementation.

Prior to joining Jam Sean worked with a wealth of high profile clients, including the British Library, Viking Direct and Moonpig.

Account manager Holly Latham has been appointed to supervise and develop strategies for key accounts including Printworks and Mexichem, as well as playing a role in securing new business.

From left: Holly Latham, Sean McMahon, Linzi Atkinson

Previous high-profile clients Holly has worked with include Zoflora, Horlicks and the NHS.

Holly’s experience also includes working with a range of travel clients, such as Teletext Holidays, which will help pave the way for Jam’s onboarding of future travel clients.

Jaime Gee, managing director and co-owner, said: “The trio of high profile appointments reflect Jam’s ambitious expansion and growth plans.

“Linzi, Sean and Holly all bring incredible amounts of experience and knowledge to the agency, and all three will help to drive Jam forward over the coming years. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome them as Jammers.”

Currently employing 15 staff, Jam has recently taken a second floor in its Northern Quarter office to accommodate its expanding team and growth plans.

The appointments follow a successful 12 months, which saw JAMpr and JAMcreative rebranding to become Jam_ to reflect the agency’s integrated offering.

Current clients include Argos Pet Insurance, APJ Solicitors, Hard Rock Cafe Manchester, Survivors Manchester, Mexichem, The Furniture Recycling Group and Printworks.

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Vincents Solicitors has appointed a leading specialist as head of risk and compliance.

Kate Burt is a nationally-recognised compliance consultant who has worked for law firms right across the UK ensuring their compliance policies and procedures are in line with current legislation and regulations.

A solicitor who has specialised in the field, Kate will take on responsibility for the firm’s regulatory compliance strategy and implementation, and risk management. She takes on this role from the directors who will, in turn, be able to concentrate on their client work and the development of the practice.

Compliance is overseen by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The requirement exists to ensure the practice, its employees, its systems and processes all adhere to SRA rules, ensuring best practice and providing client reassurance.

Phillip Gilmore, managing director at Vincents, said: “The regulatory landscape is always changing and we believe these days requires an in-house expert to manage our requirements.

Kate Burt

“It’s imperative for a firm growing at the rate we are that we have experts leading every department, with the right skills and experience to support our expansion. Bringing with her a wealth of knowledge from working with law firms across the country, we are delighted to have secured Kate’s services.”

Originally a litigation solicitor for large insurer clients, Kate moved into compliance after identifying a growing need for specialists within the profession.

She said: “Due to the recent and expected growth of the practice, it makes sense to have a specialist in place to ensure the frameworks and resources are in place to support that expansion.

“Modern law firms are dealing with a constantly changing regulatory regime, and having in-house support provides instant access to expert advice in today’s fast moving market.”

Established in 2000 in Garstang, Vincents has grown to comprise six offices across Lancashire and a team of more than 100.

The firm recently secured funding of £1.2m from Lloyds Bank to support its five-year expansion plan through mergers, acquisition and organic growth. This funding came on the back of a sustained increase in turnover over the past three years of around 36%.

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Legal business DWF has appointed JP Buckley as head of its data protection team. JP joins DWF from Shoosmiths.

With more than 15 years’ experience, JP specialises in data protection advisory and audit work, health data, as well as public procurement law.

His practice covers a wide range of information law work including data protection, cybersecurity, e-commerce, direct marketing, data subject access and freedom of information.

JP Buckley

Joining DWF’s Manchester office, JP will work alongside Craig Chaplin to develop a leading data privacy practice.

UK head of commercial and competition at DWF, Craig Chaplin, said: “JP’s data protection expertise is first-rate, and he is a great addition to our already impressive international team. His specialist knowledge and cross-sector experience will enable us to continue to expand our privacy practice, further strengthening our relationships with clients. We are delighted to have him on board.”

JP added: “In the next few years the data market will evolve to be more complex as well as more tool-led, so the opportunity to develop and lead a truly top-class data protection team and implement new platforms is an exciting prospect to me. I look forward to working alongside Craig and the team to grow the international practice.”

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Boutique legal recruitment consultancy Realm has added to its team after celebrating like-for-like revenue growth of more than 50%, with year-to-date turnover at around £350,000 and profitability around 20%.

Factoring deals already agreed for later this year, the business is on course to achieve turnover of £450,000 by the end of the year, an increase of almost 80% compared with 2018.

In July the business welcomed Lucy Wickham, bringing headcount at Realm to seven.

Lucy has joined the business as a junior consultant after working within the in-house recruitment team at Together.

She will be working in a candidate-facing role, helping Realm to maintain strong levels of engagement with the lawyers within its areas of speciality.

From left: Paula Pawlowska, Joseph Shenton, Lucy Wickham

Realm’s new hire comes shortly after two members of the business’s existing team of recruiters, Joseph Shenton and Paula Pawlowska, were promoted to senior consultant.

Joseph and Paula both joined the business from university and over the past two-three years have emerged as specialists within their respective niches of personal injury and family law recruitment.

Realm’s director, Duane Cormell, said: “This upward trajectory has been a long time coming and has been a result of a series of strategic decisions we took at the end of 2017, coupled with continued investment in, and development of, our staff.

“I’m so proud of what Joe and Paula have achieved over the last few years and am delighted to welcome Lucy to the team. The business is now perfectly placed for further expansion and I’m excited to see how much we can grow.”

Real made a strategic decision at the end of 2017 to narrow the focus of the business. Its consultants now operate almost exclusively within just four niches of the legal sector: Private client; family; personal injury; and insurance.