Gateley boosts pensions team with new appointments

THE Birmingham office of law firm Gateley has added weight to its growing pensions team with the appointment of a new associate and a pensions solicitor.

Associate James Gulliford has joined the firm and will work alongside a 15-strong pensions team headed by Birmingham partner, Michael Collins. He joins from the Leeds office of Cobbetts having previously worked with ‘Magic Circle’ law firm Allen & Overy and prior to that as a pensions solicitor for Wragge & Co. 

Gulliford has a proven track record advising on a vast range of corporate and public sector pension scheme work. He brings significant experience in workplace pensions law having recently advised a number of clients on the implications of forthcoming legislation governing pension scheme auto-enrolment, which will be introduced on the October 1.

Gateley has further strengthened the team with the appointment of pensions solicitor Paul Wild.  He recently qualified as a solicitor having completed a two-year training contract with the firm and now takes up his permanent seat in Gateley’s pensions team.

Pinsents bring in Warren from Clarke Wilmott

PINSENT Masons has strengthened its UK planning and environment team with the recruitment of Rebecca Warren to its Birmingham office as a legal director.

Arriving from Clarke Wilmott, where she was director of planning, Warren will be working closely with the firm’s UK housing practice to develop the firm’s work for housebuilders, as well as providing a full range of legal advice and services to clients from both the private and public sectors.

Warren is a regular speaker at planning-related seminars and lectures, rated by Legal 500 and praised by Chambers & Partners UK 2011 for ‘her extensive knowledge of major development projects’ and ‘her ability to review, assess and provide solutions in a very short space of time’.

Iain Gilbey, planning partner at Pinsent Masons, said: “With her wealth of planning expertise and experience across a wide range of clients and sectors, Rebecca’s arrival further strengthens Pinsent Masons’ market-leading team.”

Four new trainees for Higgs

BLACK Country legal firm Higgs & Sons has added four new trainees to its growing team.

Higgs welcomes Andrew Stokes, Adam Thompson, Alice Hall and Emma Allen.

The new trainees join Higgs after studying across the UK. Andrew Stokes and Adam Thompson both studied at the University of Birmingham and Birmingham College of Law. Alice Hall studied at the University of York and York College of Law and Emma Allen studied at the University of Keele and Chester College of Law.

The Brierley Hill-headquartered firm prides itself on having one of the leading training programmes in the region, with over half of its existing partners having trained with the firm.

Ian Shovlin, senior partner, himself a former Higgs trainee, said: “We are most definitely a people business, with our culture shaped by our 200-strong team of lawyers and support staff.”