People: Mills & Reeve; Weightmans; University of Warwick Science Park
Mills & Reeve is growing its team as the firm moves into a new office location this week, with four new partners and four newly qualified lawyers.
Mills & Reeve moved in this week to its 32,000 sq ft of office space on the fourth and fifth floors of the One Centenary Way in Paradise, Birmingham. The move marks an end to the law firm’s 18-year stay at Colmore Row.
Starting with a team of five employees the team has now outgrown their space with more than 300 current employees, 170 of them being lawyers. Turnover for 2022/23 also grew by 12%, beating an ambitious planned growth target of 11.4%, to reach a record high of £147m.
The full list of partner promotions and what their new roles will entail is as follows:
James Thompson will support the growth of the Birmingham insurance disputes team, with a particular focus on relationships with, and claims the firm deals with, on behalf of brokers and intermediaries and their insurers.
Kate Watkins is a specialist employment lawyer, advising commercial clients on a wide range of varied employment and HR related issues. She will focus on growth in the Birmingham commercial employment team, as well as retail and life sciences work.
Paul Krivosic is a corporate lawyer advising both private and public companies on all aspects of corporate law. Paul will focus particularly on the continued growth of Mills & Reeve’s independent sector healthcare offering and the wider corporate team.
Adam Williams is an expert in the private client team. Adam will continue to develop and expand the philanthropy offering, as well as focusing on growing the Birmingham private client and charity practice.
The newly qualified trainees include:
Neamh Towers will continue to assist the wider banking and finance team advising both lenders and borrowers on a range of transactions including corporate finance, acquisition finance and real estate finance.
Ella Moss will support the commercial disputes team representing claimants and defendants within informal and formal dispute resolution. She’ll advise on a diverse range of matters including general commercial, procurement, sport, entertainment and media, and intellectual property disputes.
Katie Jones will join the contentious private client team. She’ll specialise in estate, trust and will disputes, acting for a broad range of clients in complex contentious private client matters.
Carla Harris will join the non-contentious private client team. She’ll advise clients on personal estate planning and taxation issues, trusts and powers of attorney, estate administration and charity law.
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Law firm Weightmans has announced the promotion of three new partners in Birmingham.
The new partners are:
Chris Powell, Regulatory
Christian Lowden, Healthcare
Matthew Lake, Litigation
Weightmans also revealed that it has promoted 12 to legal director nationally (compared to five in 2023), including three in Birmingham.
John Schorah, managing partner, said: “I want to congratulate our new partners on their well-deserved promotions. All embody what Weightmans is about – hard working, passionate about people, caring, and unwavering in their ambition to provide clients with first class expertise, advice and support.
“Again, it is proof of Weightmans’ commitment to its people. We invest, nurture and reward our top talent so they can not only progress their careers with the firm, but can perform at the highest level for our clients.
“I welcome the 2024 cohort into the partnership, and I look forward to seeing their contributions to the firm’s continued success and growth during this new financial year.”
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A former University of Warwick student has come full circle after being hired as the head of finance of its associated science park.
Ryan Emery has been hired by the University of Warwick Science Park as it aims to expand and enhance its sites over the next five to ten years.
Emery, who studied Economics at the University of Warwick, has an extensive career in finance and auditing, including stints at EY and Deloitte, as well as giving financial advice in-house for range of companies during their sales to other businesses.
He will now advise the Science Park in its financial decisions across its various sites and during its planned growth.
He said: “The University of Warwick Science Park’s growth plans will involve several important financial decisions, and it is vital that the right strategy is employed at each of these junctures.
“My experience in both private equity sales and general accounting means I am well-placed to give the best advice to the leadership team and ensure all avenues are explored when it comes to generating value for money.”
