Birmingham Law Society announces new president

A corporate partner at Clarke Willmott has been named as the new president of the Birmingham Law Society.

Andrew Beedham has more than 35 years of legal practice under his belt, including 10 years running his own firm. He now specialises in complex £100m+ mergers, acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. He also acts as a private business consultant.

He takes the helm at the BLS as the organisation approaches its 200th anniversary.

Mr Beedham succeeds John Hughes, of Shakespeare Martineau, and will be in post into 2018 as BLS begins a year of celebrations to mark its bicentenary.

Established in 1818 with 19 founders, BLS is now the largest regional law society in the UK, with more than 4,000 members drawn from law firms and barristers’ chambers across the Midlands.

To mark the anniversary, BLS has commissioned a book examining the history and influence of the city’s legal profession in the last two centuries. The organisation is also planning a celebratory dinner, a service at St Philip’s Cathedral and an exhibition during its bicentenary year.

Mr Beedham said: “2018 will be a big year for Birmingham Law Society and I’m already involved in planning an exciting programme of events to mark the 200th milestone. It is a huge honour to be appointed president of BLS, but particularly so during this momentous time.”

Mr Beedham will be in the president’s chair until April 2018, when James Turner, newly-appointed vice president, takes over. Mr Turner is a partner and manager of the Birmingham office of criminal law practice Tuckers Solicitors.  He chairs BLS’s criminal law committee and has been a council member for four years.

Also appointed at the organisation’s AGM were Linden Thomas, solicitor and Centre for Professional Legal Education and Research manager at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, as deputy vice president; joint honorary secretaries are Inez Brown, partner and head of clinical negligence at Medical Accident Group, part of Harrison Clark Rickerbys and Chaitali Desai, a solicitor at Weightmans.