Appointments: Garbutt & Elliott; Lupton Fawcett Denison Till; Irwin Mitchell

ACCOUNTANCY firm Garbutt & Elliott has recruited Simon Palmer as partner as part of its plan to expand its West Yorkshire operations and client base.

Palmer, who will be based at the Leeds office, will also join the firm’s board.

He has more than 25 years’ experience and joins Garbutt & Elliott from another leading Yorkshire accountancy firm.

Russell Turner, managing director of Garbutt & Elliott, said: “This is a very significant appointment for us. Simon is highly experienced and will further strengthen our position in Leeds and across West Yorkshire, including Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax.

“The relocation of our offices earlier this year from the outskirts of Leeds to Park Place in the heart of Leeds’ professional quarter has proved extremely successful.

“We are now looking to build on the new opportunities created by our move and we believe Simon is the perfect person to do this. He has a tremendous contact base within Leeds and West Yorkshire, having worked there for over 25 years.”

Palmer set up the networking called Suits and Vinyl, where members bring along and listen to their favourite vinyl records and chat to likeminded business owners and professionals. The next Suits and Vinyl event is on the July 11 at Mook Bar in Leeds city centre.

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LUPTON Fawcett Denison Till, the York, Leeds and Sheffield-based commercial law firm, has welcomed a new director to the commercial property department, based in York.

Jonathan Moore specialises in all forms of commercial property with particular expertise in development and development funding having acted in connection with some of the more significant developments within York and the surrounding areas including the ongoing redevelopment of a major new University campus within the city. He also acts for a number of corporate property occupiers, providing legal advice to the manufacturing and light industrial sectors.

Lupton Fawcett Denison Till’s managing director, Richard Marshall, said: “Jonathan has built a solid reputation in York and the wider region over the last 15 years; he brings great experience and expertise, as well as further strengthening our offering in the York and North Yorkshire region. This is the second in a series of lateral hires into our York office since director Paul Sykes joined us in January. I am very keen to speak to any other first-class lawyers with strong York connections who feel they can contribute to and benefit from our continued success.”

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THE Sheffield office of law firm Irwin Mitchell has appointed commercial litigation partner Dorrien Peters as it continues to invest in its fast-growing Business Legal Services (BLS) division.

Peters, who originally trained as an electronic engineer with BAE before qualifying as a solicitor in 2002, has moved to Irwin Mitchell from DLA Piper.

He deals with commercial contract and tort disputes for corporate clients in all the divisions of the High Court. He has also frequently represented clients in domestic and international arbitration, mediation, adjudications and expert determination and has extensive experience of manufacturing, information technology, engineering and construction disputes.

The last 12 months have seen substantial investment in Irwin Mitchell’s BLS team. In addition to appointing Nigel Kissack as its new national head of commercial Litigation, the firm has recruited Phil Berwick as its national head of contentious tax as well as appointed IP partners, Alex Newman and Georgie Collins.

Most recently Irwin Mitchell has appointed commercial litigation partners Jonathan Sachs and Jonathon Crook.