People: Wills and inheritance specialist joins Accrington law firm; Kuits announces head of tax and estate planning; and more

North West law firm Woodcocks Haworth & Nuttall Solicitors (WHN) has made a senior addition to its wills, trusts and probate team, with the appointment of solicitor Clare Rogers.

Associate solicitor Rogers joins WHN Solicitors, which operates eight offices across Lancashire and Greater Manchester, from Southerns Solicitors in Burnley where she headed up its private client team.

In her new role based at WHN’s Accrington office, she will help clients with the preparation of wills, powers of attorney, Court of Protection applications, probate and all aspects relating to the administration of estates.

Rogers also specialises in inheritance tax and trusts.

She said: “WHN is a vibrant, growing firm that has wide-ranging expertise and individuals with a lot of specialist knowledge in their respective fields, as well as a well-established reputation in Accrington, so it’s an exciting time to join.

“I’m really looking forward to using my wealth of asset planning expertise to help the firm’s clients plan for the future and ensure their assets are distributed as desired.”

Michael Shroot, CEO of WHN Solicitors, added: “Across the firm we’ve seen an increase in demand for specialist advice in what is a very complex area of law, so Clare’s appointment will help WHN build on the already very strong reputation we’ve built, while helping us advise even more people across the region.

“Clare is incredibly experienced and has built up a solid client base of individuals and families across the region, having spent many years operating at a senior level for an East Lancashire law firm, so we’re extremely pleased to welcome her to the team.”

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Manchester commercial law firm Kuits has promoted Paul Bricknell to head of tax and estate planning.

Bricknell, who joined the renowned Kuits’ private client team 10 years ago, is taking over from previous head of tax and estate planning, Graham Wood.

Partner Graham Wood commented: “I am delighted that Paul has agreed to take over the reins of managing this fantastic team. I am looking forward to having more time to focus on our current clients and helping the team to generate new business.

“I know that Paul will be an excellent leader for our team.”
 

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Praetura Ventures, the Manchester-based venture capital investor, has announced the appointment of three industry experts to its team of operational partners.

Helen Verwoert, who oversaw Dr. Martens’ transformation from a heritage brand to an iconic global brand as chief HR officer, is among the hires and will mentor Praetura’s portfolio companies on areas including staff wellbeing and company culture.

Entrepreneur Paul Johnson, who spent more than two decades building MPP Global before its £37.1m sale in October, also joins as a newly appointed operational partner.

Tech guru Andy Barrow completes Praetura Ventures’ trio of new hires after 12 years as the CTO for Manchester tech giant ANS, where he was responsible for technical strategy across cloud computing, data analytics, application development and managed services.

David Foreman, managing director of Praetura Ventures, said: “We created the operational partner programme as we truly believe it takes more than money to help founders build the best business they can. We know our investment can only take a business so far, and we understand that sustained growth and development comes from learning from people who have been in a founder’s position many times over.”

“To have Helen, Paul and Andy on board alongside our additional operational partners is a game-changer for us and our portfolio founders, who will get the benefit of support and mentorship from business experts who have helped to create global powerhouses.”
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Engineer and technical consultant Tony Fox is joining commercial real estate developers Network Space Developments (NSD) as its technical director.

He joins from Tetra Tech/ White Young Green where he has worked for more than 20 years, consulting extensively with Newton Le Willows-headquartered Network Space during that time.

His new position at Network Space will also allow him to be involved in projects across its sister companies, asset managers NSM and Network Space Investments.

Network Space managing director (Development) Stephen Barnes said: “‘Tony has worked as our primary consultant engineer for more than 20 years now and has been involved with nearly all our major projects. It feels a very natural appointment to bring him in-house as we embark on an ever growing, ambitious and exciting development pipeline.

“His experience and knowledge of our sector is extensive and we’re delighted to have him on board.”