People: DLA Piper; Sanderson Weatherall; Myers & Co

Birmingham-based lawyers Jonathan Clarke and Chloe Barker have been promoted to partner as part of the DLA Piper’s annual promotion round.

Clarke has been with the firm since 2018 working in the corporate team. He has extensive experience of all types of corporate transactions – often with a cross-border element to them and acts for private equity and venture capital investors, corporates and individuals.  He has a particular focus on M&A transactions in the insurance sector including bancassurance/digital distribution and W&I deals and broker transactions.

Barker has been with the firm since 2009, working in the Litigation & Regulatory team. She has extensive experience of advising on all aspects of international trade regulation, including economic sanctions and trade embargoes, trade negotiations and trade defence measures.  She has also advised national and international clients on trade compliance, in particular compliance with EU and UK sanctions and export control restrictions and UK customs.

Noel Haywood – managing partner of DLA Piper’s Birmingham office, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jonathan and Chloe to the partnership. They are both outstanding lawyers who bring very strong and specialist skill-sets to our region. They both have truly international practices and will add to our leading regional, UK and global presence. These promotions represent the third partner promotions in four years for both our local Corporate and Litigation & Regulatory teams which underlines the growth we have achieved and the bench-strength we offer in these key practice areas.”

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Property consultancy Sanderson Weatherall has announced a number of promotions and appointments after another record financial year both in terms of turnover and operating profit.

Two members of the firm’s asset advisory and recovery team, Peter Loveday, based in London and Tim Simmons, based in Birmingham, have been appointed as new shareholding partners. The appointments bring the total number of shareholders at the privately owned firm to 30. The pair join Chris Sutcliffe, finance director and Andrew Mazin, head of building consultancy, who were appointed as shareholders earlier in the financial year.

The firm has also made five promotions and a total of 20 new appointments, including five who are returning to the firm.

David Rastrick, COO at Sanderson Weatherall, said: “After five years of successive growth, the last financial year went on record as Sanderson Weatherall’s best in terms of turnover and operating profit. Considering the challenging economic environment, we continue to operate in, I am incredibly proud and humbled by the dedication and hard work of everyone at SW.

“I am also delighted to welcome Peter and Tim on board as new shareholders. Both Peter and Tim have significantly bolstered our national Asset Advisory and Recovery offering and will be key influencers in our future business strategy and growth.

“It’s also fantastic to see a number of promotions and new appointments across the business, as well as welcome some familiar faces back to the firm. It’s a real testament to the culture and great opportunities we provide at SW when people return.”

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Staffordshire law firm Myers & Co is expanding to meet the growing demand for legal services in Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding areas.

The firm has welcomed the arrival of Sarah Johnson and Richard Harris, two lawyers with years of experience representing clients with family law and civil litigation issues.

Johnson will head up the new family law department, strengthening the firm’s service offering.

Harris joins the civil litigation team.

He will be working with Tim Newsome, director and head of dispute resolution, and Summer Levy, fellow civil litigation solicitor. Together they will provide comprehensive legal advice to clients experiencing all kinds of litigation issues.

Stephen Myers, managing director at Myers & Co Solicitors, said: “We are really excited to welcome both Richard and Sarah to Myers & Co and already know they will both be massive assets to their teams and the business as a whole. Sarah’s arrival also marks an incredibly exciting period of growth for the firm as we expand our service offering to include family law. Both Richard and Sarah’s client-focused approach will be key to ensuring that we continue to provide an excellent service to all of our clients, something we are incredibly proud to do.”