Appointments: Brabners; Wetrok; gunnercooke & more

NORTH West law firm Brabners has bolstered its employment team at a senior level with the appointment of Matthew Yates as partner.

Yates joins the firm’s Manchester office from DWF, where he spent 12 years. He held various posts at DWF including leading its employment teams in Manchester, Leeds and the North East.

Mark Brandwood, managing partner of Brabners said: “Matthew brings significant expertise to the role and his credentials are a strategic fit with the existing team. His recruitment is consistent with our strategy of hiring the best talent to boost the skills of our established teams and support our ambitious growth plans.”

Yates added: “Brabners has an outstanding reputation across the North West and beyond and provides an excellent fit with my logistics sector expertise.  I am looking forward to continuing the firm’s involvement with this sector both on a national level and internationally.”

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A PARTNERSHIP offering technology, support and advice from one source for the UK cleaning market has strengthened its senior team.

Ian Sturgeon has joined the new venture between cleaning system specialist Wetrok and Preston-based distributor-training organisation Jigsaw Cleaning Systems.

As sales director of Jigsaw responsible for Wetrok, Sturgeon will be in charge of further developing the brand in the UK, building the partnership’s distributor network and targeting all sectors for cleaning across the UK including FM, healthcare, contractors, government, leisure, hospitality and education.

He joins the company with more than 20 years’ experience working for a manufacturer of chemicals and machinery which offered a one stop shop approach to supporting customers’ needs and offering training support.

He said: “The plans for the Wetrok-Jigsaw partnership and what the future holds presented a great opportunity and something I wanted to be involved in. It is exciting to be working with Jigsaw and equally exciting to be working again with Wetrok.”

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MANCHESTER-based law firm, gunnercooke, has expanded its team of senior lawyers with the appointment of four new partners as part of its on-going recruitment drive.

Starting out as a chartered surveyor before training as a solicitor, Tom Seabrook has worked in real estate and secured lending for over 25 years, including roles at Irwin Mitchell, Halliwells and Eversheds. He will be working from Manchester with a focus on dispute resolution involving real estate and banking.

Simon Tomlinson has been appointed partner in the real estate and construction team and will be based in Hull; Rebecca Kelly will be working from Leeds, with a focus on intellectual property, information technology and commercial law.

Deborah Niven will be based in Sheffield, bringing expertise in intellectual property, information technology and commercial law from her work at boutique IP practice Virtuoso Legal.

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INTEGRATED communications agency Dinosaur has further bolstered its team with the appointment of Frank Fenten, in a role that will see him shape and manage the agency’s digital strategy.  

As the new Head of Digital, Fenten brings with him over 15 years of experience, with a career background at Yahoo!, Brass and Havas. He also founded his own digital marketing agency We Love The Web, where he delivered projects for a number of brands, including Coca-Cola, O2, GSK, Land Rover, Sainsbury’s and Dell.

Fenten said: “Dinosaur is a fantastic agency. There’s a real buzz about the place. I’m really looking forward to working alongside such a hugely talented team, and helping deliver a more integrated digital, social and content response to every brief.”

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