Appointments: PwC Legal; McHale & Co & more
PwC Legal has made its second hire to its fledgling team in the North with the appointment of Vicky Zivkovic.
She joins from Manchester firm Kuits Solicitors and has 12 years’ experience as a corporate lawyer and will work closely with PwC Legal partner, Neal Shepherd, across the firm’s six offices in the North, focusing on M&A and corporate work.
Shepherd said: “Vicky’s appointment shows our continued investment into building PwC Legal in the region, and represents our strategy of creating a team of high quality lawyers, focused on areas which complement our clients and business. “
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ALTRINCHAM law firm McHale and Co has hired Nadya Smirnova Leandro, a former Russian Embassy attaché as a liason to work with its international clients.
As well as her native Russian, the 32-year-old speaks Englsih and Portugese fluently and has a working capability in Spanish, German, Swedish and French.
Partner Maria Udalova-Surkova said: “We recently opened an office in Berkeley Square, London, to cater for our growing portfolio of Russian clients – but London is such an international city that language requirements don’t stop at English and Russian. In fact, we’re now conducting business in at least eight languages because we also have a Polish-specialist team. Nadya will be working in both our Altrincham and Berkeley Square offices.”
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LAW firm Shoosmiths has added four lawyers to its Manchester real estate team.
The firm has taken senior associates Ruth Clare and Sam Grange from Eversheds and Garry King, also a senior associate from DWF, and associate Alison Howarth from Mills & Reeves in Leeds.
Vaqas Farooq, head of real estate in Manchester, said: “It is a pleasure to welcome Ruth, Sam, Garry and Alison in to the fold here at Shoosmiths. The national real estate team has been going from strength to strength and it has certainly shown here in Manchester, where we have been carrying out work that has been fundamentally reshaping the city and region.
“Ruth, Sam, Garry and Alison are all experienced professionals who share the values that make Shoosmiths a stand-out firm. We wish them every success here.”
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THE former chief legal officer of Phones 4U has joined the board of business and freelancer services group Optionis.
Steven Lloyd spent eight years on the Phones 4U board, overseeing several major acquisitions and disposals between 2006 and 2014. Prior to that, the qualified solicitor served as legal director for the Caudwell Group.
Lloyd’s new role at Warrington-headquartered Optionis will initially see him assume responsibility for the group’s sales and marketing functions. He will then move across to operations, with a focus on service improvement and innovation.
Lloyd said: “I was attracted to Optionis by the group’s ambition and growth prospects. There is a real entrepreneurial spirit and can-do attitude.”
“It’s a private equity-backed business with a solid financial profile and a determination to grow, both organically and through acquisitions.”
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BOOTH King – consulting civil and structural engineers – has announced the return of Andrea Manenti as a senior structural engineer at its site in Ramsbottom, near Bury.
Andrea has 10 years’ experience originally working at Booth King until 2011, before embarking on a career in Africa. He has since been working in Uganda for FBW Uganda delivering projects which included, educational facilities in rural areas.
He will be working with Booth King’s on projects including: the new Maggie’s Centre at The Royal Oldham Hospital and the extension of the Radission Edwardian hotel in Manchester.
Managing director Mark Moppett said: “We’re delighted to welcome Andrea back to Booth King, he brings with him a wealth of international experience which is a great asset for our growing team. There are some exciting plans for the company in 2015, in particular our intention to open an office in Manchester city centre in the coming months, and the opening of an Edinburgh office in April.”
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THE Manchester studio of BDP, the major international interdisciplinary practice of architects, designers engineers and urbanists has appointed Mike Hitchmough as architect director.
Previously joint head of 3DReid Architects, Hitchmough was responsible for leading the design and delivery of The Co-operative Group’s award winning new head office at 1 Angel Square that was awarded a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating and achieved the accolade of being the most sustainable new office building in the UK.
He was also lead designer on the proposed 187-bed Hotel Indigo within NOMA, the £800m, 20 acre mixed-use redevelopment scheme in Manchester, that is due to start on site later this year.
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CHESHRE cloud computing firm Axon has appointed Rob Hill as helpdesk analyst, and Peter Beesley as systems developer, taking staffing levels to 21.
Hill joins the Macclesfield company from Bet365 where he spent four years as an IT service desk engineer. Beesley, is a games design graduate from University of Bolton, and his appointment sees Axon move into application development and programming.
Tim Mears, managing director for Axon commented; “The past year has seen our efforts to change to a cloud computing specialist really start to pay off. Our customer base increased by 100% in 2014 and staffing levels grew by a third. We are pleased to be in a position to invest in new talent to support this expansion and are delighted to welcome Rob and Peter to the team.”
