People: Director promotion at insolvency firm; Raft of promotions at Walker Morris; Partner announced at Irwin Mitchell; and more

Insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor has promoted Jason Ainge to the position of director in the Yorkshire region.

Ainge began his career with Kroll in 2003 and joined Begbies Traynor in Leeds in 2008 as an assistant manager.  By 2016, he had been promoted to the position of senior insolvency manager. He is a qualified insolvency practitioner and a Fellow Member of the AAT.

With over 15 years’ experience in insolvency, Ainge has dealt with all aspects of personal and corporate insolvency and litigation across multiple jurisdictions. He specialises in contentious insolvency work involving an element of fraud, asset tracing, forensic investigations and litigation recovery actions for creditors, including HMRC, and presently helps lead Begbies Traynor’s team in the North in this area.

In his new role, he will continue to work with the team in Leeds as well as further developing Begbies Traynor Group’s support for businesses across Bradford, Airedale and Calderdale.

Julian Pitts, managing partner for Begbies Traynor in Yorkshire, said: “Over the last ten years, Jason has been a pivotal member of the Yorkshire team, helping us to drive the business forward and working with distressed firms and their stakeholders throughout the region. As well as his extensive insolvency experience, Jason’s expertise in complex, contentious matters where innovative solutions are required, has helped enhance Begbies Traynor’s profile as a trusted adviser.”

Ainge added: “I’m proud to be working for one of the most respected insolvency practices in the UK and look forward to continuing to support businesses and their creditors and growing the firm’s presence in the Yorkshire region.”

Begbies Traynor currently has nine offices and employs around 100 staff in Yorkshire, the Humber and the North East.  It offers a full range of professional services including corporate recovery, investigations and risk, forensic accounting advice, corporate finance, property, funding, debt collection and personal insolvency.

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Irwin Mitchell has announced a Sheffield partner promotion.

David Withers from the Serious Injury team in Sheffield, began life at Irwin Mitchell as a trainee in 2010 and has worked his way up to partner. A total of eight promotions have been announced across the firm’s UK sites.

The new Partners work across the country and in the various areas of law including real estate, personal injury, public law and private wealth.

Andrew Tucker, group chief executive at Irwin Mitchell, said: “We are proud to announce our new partner promotions with a number of talented lawyers from all across the country. Our clients are increasingly using several different services within Irwin Mitchell for their different legal needs and the promotions show the strength in breadth we provide for our clients whether in a business or personal situation.

“Those promoted to Partner have made a strong contribution to Irwin Mitchell and demonstrated excellent work for their clients and I’m delighted to congratulate them on their success. It’s especially pleasing that several of those promoted started their careers here as trainees as it is hugely important to us to invest in and help develop our people.”

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Walker Morris has announced 11 senior level promotions across the Firm as part of this year’s promotion cycle. The internal promotions, which take effect from 1 May, comprise the appointment of 3 partners and 8 directors, continuing the Firm’s wider strategy of investment in specialist expertise.

The appointments have been made across a number of key departments, enhancing Walker Morris’ ability to provide a national full service offering to clients. The newly appointed partners are Jo Stephenson in Corporate, Shakeel Dad in Employment and Steve Nixon in Real Estate.

Stephenson is recognised as a ‘Next Generation Lawyer’ in Legal 500 in recognition of her growing reputation in the corporate sector. She specialises in advising on M&A and private equity transactions, with a particular focus on advising overseas entities investing in the UK.

Dad has considerable experience of dealing with the full range of employment issues for some of the country’s most high profile businesses. He also acts for a number of Premier League and Championship football clubs. He is recognised as a ‘Next Generation Lawyer’ in Legal 500 and described in Chambers as having “a wealth of knowledge and experience, which he is able to deliver in a very pragmatic and business-focused way.”

Nixon is a residential development specialist with over 12 years’ experience acting variously for housebuilders, landowners and promoters on development sites across England and Wales. Steve has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the residential development industry and counts Barratt Homes, Persimmon and Bellway Homes amongst his regular clients.

The eight new directors provide strength in depth across a number of practice areas and include:

Carly Thorpe – Construction
Josh Kitson – Planning
Laura Lister – Banking
Lee Crook – Commercial
Nick McQueen – Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Nick Winney – Real Estate
Olivia Robinson – Insolvency and restructuring
Thomas Jackson – Real Estate

Malcolm Simpson, Managing Partner, said: “I am delighted to announce this year’s partner and director promotions. They represent growth in the strength and depth of specialist expertise that Walker Morris offers clients and reinforce our position as the pre-eminent, single site firm outside of London.

“The senior level promotions also recognise our ongoing commitment to the investment in leading talented individuals, with the Firm already counting 96% of partners recommended in either Legal 500 or Chambers & Partners.

“I would like to congratulate and thank all our new partners and directors for the hard work and commitment that they have shown in achieving their promotions.”

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