Appointments: Clarke Willmott; Clough & Willis; Mersey Maritime & more

SUSAN Hall, a leading intellectual property and IT lawyer, has joined national law firm Clarke Willmott’s Manchester office.

Miss Hall, who moved over to DWF after the demise of Cobbetts began her career at Linklaters in 1985 and practised in London until returning to her native North West in 1994.

Roy Crozier, joint head of Intellectual Property at Clarke Willmott, said: “Susan has enjoyed a highly successful career during which she has become one of the country’s leading lawyers in her field. The
blend of her contentious and non-contentious skills and her expertise in ICT law in particular will dovetail very well with our existing offering.”

Susan Hall added: “Over the years my practice has often been at the cutting edge of IP and ICT law and issues arising from data security, mobile communications, social media and cloud technology mean there is a growing requirement for specialist advice in this area.”

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BURY-based law firm Clough & Willis has appointed David Leviten as a partner and head of its commercial property team.

Mr Leviten, who specialises in development investment and landlord & tenant cases, has worked in the legal profession for 26 years and joins from Heatons. He also previously worked at Pannone.

His appointment follows the recent retirement of Paul Breedon who headed up the commercial property team for two years.

Shefali Talukdar – managing partner at Clough & Willis – commented: “David’s appointment is fantastic news for the firm. We’ve worked hard to develop our property offering and having David at the helm of the commercial team is the next phase in that growth. He brings with him years of experience that I know will benefit both our clients and team.”

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MERSEY Maritime, the trade body representing more than 1,700 businesses in the sector, has appointed Chirs Shirling-Rook as commercial director.

Birkenhead-born Mr Shirling-Rook will be tasked with signing up more businesses to Mersey Maritime’s membership organisation, which offers training support and networking opportunities.In Merseyside the maritime sector employs 28,000 people and generates £2.6 billion turnover each year.

He was previously business development director for Controlled Event Solutions, a provider of training, certification and deployment of security staff.