People: Radwell International; ICON Projects; Freeths; CRM; JMW Solicitors
Catriona Chapman has been appointed as European director of sales and service at Radwell International.
Radwell is now one of Europe’s biggest providers of new and used surplus, industrial electrical and electronic control equipment, specialising in hard-to-source parts, with more than 2,000 employees across 80 sites worldwide.
Working out of the global company’s Blackburn offices, Chapman’s role will be to promote and sell Radwell’s full service capabilities across Europe.
She said: “My role at Radwell will be to ensure customers throughout Europe are aware of the end-to-end support we can provide, with our all-rounder capabilities providing a partnership approach through added-value services that truly make us a one-stop-shop for service, spares and repairs.”
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Ashley Kemp
North West-based commercial fit-out and refurbishment specialist, ICON Projects, has welcomed Ashley Kemp to its senior leadership team as operations director.
Ashley brings a wealth of expertise to the business, having worked with Tier-1 fit-out contractors over the past 15 years both in the North of England, and in London. Working as part of the wider UK team, Ashley has been brought in at partnership level to help grow the brand across a range of sectors, while ensuring the highest level of customer service.
ICON has offices in Cheshire, Birmingham, and London.
Ashley said: “Our focus will remain on customer service, creating roles for great people, and fulfilment of our long term ESG commitments.”
Director, Craig Shenton, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Ashley to our growing team as operations director.
“Ashley is our most senior appointment to date. Ashley brings a wealth of experience and is entirely aligned with our core values of integrity, care, opportunity and unity.”
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New Freeths appointments
National law firm, Freeths, has announced eight new appointments across its employment, pensions and immigration practice led by Rena Magdani, as it continues to achieve record growth.
The hires are spread across the business’s 13 offices including London, Oxford, Leicester, Leeds and Manchester.
The employment team has been bolstered by Nicola Wallbank (partner) joining the Oxford office, Rob Smedley (director) joining the Leeds office, Ella Sheppard (senior associate) joining the Leicester office, Phoebe Anand (associate) joining the London office, Niamh Hogg (associate) joining the Manchester office and Adele Coupland (associate) joining the Sheffield office.
In addition, Max Ballad (director) joins the pensions team in Leeds and Irum Saleem (associate) joins the immigration team in Leeds.
Rena Magdani, partner and national head of employment, pensions and immigration, welcomed the new starters, saying: “We have seen a significant increase in demand for our services and they join us at an exciting time as we continue our growth strategy.
“They bring a wealth of experience and will significantly contribute to our commitment to provide our clients with highly responsive, pragmatic, and commercial advice. We are actively looking to continue to recruit and develop talented lawyers across all our offices.”
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Abi Walsh and Sam Cooper
Salford debt recovery and asset management specialist, CRM, has reinforced its commitment to recruiting and developing young talent with two new appointments.
Abi Walsh (18) has joined as a trainee receivables administrator, and Sam Cooper (16) has come in as an aprentice administrator assistant.
Abi joins from Holy Cross Sixth Form College in Bury with A levels in BTEC Law, Sociology, and Criminology and is working with CRM to ensure debt is recovered for companies in both trading and distressed situations. She said: “It’s great to be here. I am learning so much and working hard to support colleagues and deliver the best service for customers – often in difficult circumstances.”
Sam is doing his 18-month apprenticeship at CRM through Burnley College, working four days a week for the company and spending one day in college doing a Level 3 Diploma in Business Administration. He is already creating cases and ledgers at CRM and will do a mix of assessments, interviews, and presentations to achieve the apprentice qualification.
He said: “I am getting some fantastic experience of what goes on in a fast-paced professional services environment which will hopefully speed up my own progress and future career options.”
Katie Pomfret, head of lender services at CRM, said: “Entry routes into professional services is changing and we welcome the opportunity to bring enthusiastic young people like Abi and Sam into our organisation early on and give them the skills they need to develop a long term career in the industry.”
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From left: Patrick Boyers, Laura Hadzik, Scott Bell, Hojol Uddin
Full service law firm, JMW Solicitors, has launched a specialist commercial road transport team with the recruitment of two partners who are highly regarded leading lawyers in the
sector.
Laura Hadzik and Scott Bell have each been appointed partner and co-head of the new team. They bring with them more than 30 years’ combined experience advising commercial vehicle operators of all sizes across the haulage, coach and bus sectors on the licensing and regulation of commercial vehicles.
They will be based in the Manchester office of the firm, which also has operations in Liverpool and London.
The move to JMW is something of a homecoming for Laura, as some years ago she was a senior associate with the firm. She said: “I’m so pleased to return to JMW. There’s no other law firm quite like it. It has a unique culture that respects and promotes entrepreneurial spirit, and I know our new offering will be welcomed by many clients.”
Scott added: “There are many challenges facing the sector, from alternative fuels to the acute and ongoing driving and maintenance skills shortage. With our industry expertise and sound understanding of the operational needs of the sector, we will be able to help clients navigate these complex issues.”
Laura and Scott will be supported in their new roles by the expertise and experience of JMW’s existing team including Graham Small, Derek Millard-Smith, Paddy Boyers, Hojol Uddin and Charles Stansfield as well as the wider full service offering that JMW can provide to support clients’ business needs nationwide.
Managing partner, Marc Yaffe, said: “We are seeing sustained demand from the commercial road transport sector as operators adapt to the constantly changing environment in which they work. We are known for our ability to attract the best legal talent and so it is a great pleasure to welcome two such high calibre recruits as Laura and Scott to JMW. I am confident they will be a huge asset to the firm.”
