People: Hill Dickinson; JMW; Cornerstone Design & Marketing; Morson Group; Alcedo Care Group

Nina Sahu

Nina Sahu, senior associate at Hill Dickinson, has been appointed as chair of Liverpool Law Society’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee.

The committee was set up in February 2020 and aims to support the local legal profession and those who work in it. The committee covers nine protective characteristics and social mobility.

Nina will be responsible for supporting and helping to champion diversity and inclusion initiatives in the legal profession. The Committee also allows Nina to share the initiatives and events that currently exist at Hill Dickinson and assist others in implementing initiatives into their own workplaces.

Nina is an active member of Hill Dickinson’s multicultural network and is recognised by her colleagues as a role model for the way in which she champions equality for all cultures and ethnicities.

She said: “Equality and diversity are very important to me. I have two daughters and I want them to know that it doesn’t matter what your heritage is, what your gender is or who your family knows – you can succeed if you work hard enough.”

Nina has also been appointed as a director of the LLS’s general committee, which is made up of 27 members who work to support the legal profession in the North West, communicating members’ concerns in a public forum.

Carolyn Morgan, Hill Dickinson’s director of human resources, said: “It’s a huge honour for Hill Dickinson to be represented at director level and recognised for its diversity and inclusion initiatives.”

::

Full service law firm JMW Solicitors has announced the recruitment of a new head for its corporate recovery and insolvency department.

Gavin Jones joins JMW as partner from Hill Dickinson’s Manchester office.

Before that he spent more than seven years at DWF as national head of the restructuring team.

Gavin has more than 25 years’ experience in all areas of restructuring and corporate recovery and insolvency and his clients include clearing banks, asset-based lenders, accountants, insolvency practitioners and specialist insolvency litigation funders.

Previous notable cases of Gavin’s include advising on the administration of Allsports and while at DWF he acted for them on their acquisition of Cobbetts and Triton Global. He is also a licensed insolvency practitioner and has previously featured in The Lawyer Hot 100.

Gavin is currently ranked as a leading individual in legal directory Chambers 2021 which states that “Gavin is an intelligent lawyer who is superb technically and good at applying technical knowledge to commercial situations”.

Gavin Jones

Partner James Williams also joined the corporate recovery and insolvency team at JMW in September 2020 from Eversheds.

Joy Kingsley, senior partner at JMW, said: “We are delighted to welcome Gavin to JMW. He brings a wealth of experience and is a great addition to the team.”

Gavin said: “I am pleased to be joining an entrepreneurial firm with a strong reputation in the legal industry. I am looking forward to working with my existing clients, whilst forging new relationships with clients of JMW’s.”

::

Full service agency Cornerstone Design & Marketing has appointed two full stack website developers to its team.

Pete Collum and Mo Ali are among six new recruits appointed at the Oldham agency in the past 12 months, which now has a team of 19.

They are working on a varied range of website development projects for public and private sector clients across sectors including leisure and gyms, local authorities, manufacturing and retail.

Pete Collumn, left, and Mo Ali

Pete Collum, 27, said: “I knew about Cornerstone Design & Marketing for a number of reasons. As a MMU graduate I have access to the university’s online career hub, where I saw the Cornerstone developer vacancies advertised. I applied, had a couple of interviews online and completed a mini website project before physically visiting the Cornerstone office.”

Mo Ali, 29, from Werneth, Oldham, has previously worked for two agencies in Oldham and Manchester. He said: “Joining Cornerstone gives me the opportunity to develop my skills and experience including working on custom-built websites. There is a good variety of work here which I enjoy.”

Cornerstone was founded in 2007 by managing director David Wadsworth. The agency moved to bigger, bespoke premises in late 2019 with an expanded wide-format print room, bigger offices, meeting rooms, design studios and a photography/video studio.

::

Global talent specialist, Morson Group, has appointed Joanne Lake as non-executive director as it looks to drive strategic growth within its core STEM markets – in particular, engineering, nuclear, aerospace and infrastructure – while capitalising on increasing demand for talent in complementary sectors such as construction, IT & digital, professional services and more.

Joanne brings more than 30 years’ financial and professional services experience, having held senior positions with investment banks Panmure Gordon, Evolution Securities and Williams de Broe, and as a chartered accountant with PwC.

Morson Group chief executive, Ged Mason, said: “It was clear that Joanne would be an excellent fit for the group, and I’m thrilled to have her on board. She is enormously experienced, and her addition brings strong leadership, financial acumen and a fresh perspective, which will support continued success across our group of companies.”

Joanne Lake

Joanne currently holds non-executive positions with several UK public companies, acting as non-executive chairman of Mattioli Woods, non-executive deputy chairman of Henry Boot, and non-executive director of Morses Club and Gateley Holdings.

She said: “I am delighted to be joining the board at Morson Group. Their passion and enthusiasm are infectious and their pride in delivering outstanding service and creating a supportive people-centric culture to retain the best talent has shone from the outset.”

Based in Eccles, Salford, the Morson Group employs more than 1,000 staff and has in excess of 10,000 contractors working on assignment worldwide.

::

Fast-growing Alcedo Care Group has recruited Nicki Grain to manage its recently opened office on Morecambe Road in Lancaster.

In her new role Nicki takes responsibility for the day-to-day running of the new office and its 28-strong team, ensuring the ongoing delivery of Alcedo’s portfolio of personal care, support and nursing services to clients across the region.

She will focus on working with the team to deliver an exceptional level of care to clients wishing to remain independent in their own homes.

Well qualified for a career in care, Nicki’s previous two roles were in the more specialist area of mental health, supporting individuals with a mental health diagnosis who were suffering with addiction, poverty and/or homelessness and needed to access services and financial support to meet their needs and improve their quality of life.

Nicki Grain

Nicki said: “I am so passionate about working in the health and social care sector and am really pleased to have joined a company that shares my commitment to caring for others.”

Alcedo Care Group managing director, Andy Boardman, said: “Nicki was the obvious choice for this role, she has some great experience which I know will be invaluable to us as we grow this office, but she is also a real people person who is committed to care and this shines through in everything that she does.”

Established in 2017, Alcedo Care boasts a 500-strong team of carers working from offices in Southport, Blackpool, Wigan, Preston and now Lancaster.

Close