Legal 500 names 28 new leading individuals
SOME 28 leading individual legal eagles joined the ranks of the Legal 500 for 2016.
Some 250 lawyers in the North West are on the list, compared to 231 in 2015.
The most notable entry absent from last year’s list is real estate lawyer Vaqas Farooq who replaced Harold Brako as leader at Shoosmiths Manchester office in December.
Brako who has since moved to Addleshaw Goddard’s banking Manchester litigation team, maintains his position in the listings from last year.
Other significant new names in the listing include Beverley Bentley Hill in the banking and finance division at Hill Dickinson and Susan Garrett in Addleshaw Goddard’s commercial litigation department, alongside other newbies Jon Hainey of DWF, John Lord at TLT and Simon Pedley at Mills & Reeve.
In commercial litigation, Fiona Parry of Hill Dickinson and Andrew Whalley of DWF are newcomers.
Mark Gaffney of Squire Patton Boggs’ also joined the elite list, with Stephen Kinsey of Addleshaw Goddard and Philip Tunney of Eversheds all in the commercial property category in Manchester.
Elsewhere in the North West, Helen Dickinson at Land Law also appeared for the first time.
Meanwhile, Graham Wood at Kuit Steinart Lever also entered the Legal 500 in the charities and not-for-profit section.
Sean McCay and Nancy McGuire, of Squire Patton Boggs and Addleshaw Goddard, respectively, in the construction section were also new entrants.
In the Manchester corporate and commercial category Stephen Devlin of TLT, Ian Gillis of Hill Dickinson and Paul Medlicott of Addleshaw Goddard were listed.
For Liverpool, Peter Brook at DLA Piper, Rupert Gill of Brabners, Matt Noon of Hill Dickinson were all new entrants.
There were also significant entries outside the big North West cities including M Akeel Latif (Myerson Solicitors), Andrew Curwen (Gorvins Solicitors), Gareth McIntegart (Napthens), Keith Melling (Napthens) and Jeremy Orrell (SAS Daniels).
In corporate tax Bernard McIlroy and Fiona Sutherland, both of MSA Law were both listed.
Other new entrants were: Employment: Karen Fletcher, Analysis Legal; Nick Jones, e3 employment law; Anna Lees, Analysis Legal; Sue Morrison, Law by Design; Simon Ost, e3 employment law; Energy: Catherine Haslam, DWF; Family: Helen Marriott, Brabners; Health: Michael Pocock, Pinsent Masons; James Lonsdale, DWF; Intellectual property: Colin Bell, Brabners, Patricia Jones, Jones Legal; Graem Orchison, TLT; Media & Entertainment: Laura Harper, Shoosmiths; Planning and environment, Rod Hunt, Clyde & Co, Kathryn Jump, Shoosmiths; Property litigation: Ralph Bullivant, Hill Dickinson; Martin Griffiths, DLA Piper; Kevin Lee, Hill Dickinson; Alan Walker, DWF; Social housing: Ian Alderson, Brabners; Arthur Chapman, Croftons Solicitors; Sport: John Burns Gateley.
