Growing law firm poaches DLA Piper lawyers for commercial team

Law firm Shoosmiths has hired three lawyers from DLA Piper to launch a commercial division at its new Leeds office.

Alex Kirkhope, JP Buckley and James Wood-Robertson were commercial partners at DLA and will now become legal directors at newly-launched Shoosmiths.

Across the UK, Shoosmiths’ commercial team consists of 70 commercial lawyers and the trio will focus on the areas of TMT, Privacy & Data and Infrastructure & Capital Projects respectively.

Kirkhope qualified at DLA in 2004 and specialises in technology outsourcing in the public and private sectors.

Buckley specialises in privacy and data protection as well as public procurement law, whilst Wood-Robertson, who was trained at Walker Morris, is an infrastructure lawyer specialising in the waste sector.

David Jackson, national head of Shoosmiths’ Commercial Group said: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Alex, JP and James to our team.

“Their combined experience and individual expertise will significantly enhance our market leading commercial offering, benefiting the Leeds region and further cementing our team’s national footprint.

“Exciting growth plans for Leeds include further recruitment of top quality lawyers to support these latest appointments, evidencing our commitment and investment in making Shoosmiths’ Leeds the first choice law firm in the region.”

The firm announced last July that it would be opening a Leeds office, and since then has been growing its team with a number of hires. Employment partners Paul Stokey, Simon Robinson and Phil Crowe joined from Gordons to lead the expansion.

Judy Fawcett from Ward Hadaway subsequently joined the team along with Richard Bellamy from Addleshaw Goddard, along with other lawyers from Irwin Mitchell and Simpson Millar.

It also announced that it would be taking space at Bruntwood’s flagship development Platform One.