People: New equity partners for law firm; Insolvency specialist appoints former Lupton Fawcett MD; and more

Clinical negligence and contentious probate specialists Paul Fouad and Alex Watkinson have become the latest people to join Taylor&Emmet’s equity partnership in Sheffield.

Former Taylor&Emmet trainee Fouad, qualified as a solicitor in 2005 and was offered a position in the clinical negligence team. He was subsequently promoted to associate in 2011 and became a partner two years later.

Not only is Paul highly respected in his field, but he is also the firm’s training principal, mentoring its solicitors of the future.

Watkinson, joined Taylor&Emmet in 2015 to head up its new contentious probate department. He has made a significant impact in a short space of time, creating a highly successful niche team of seven, which enjoys an excellent reputation within the region and beyond.

Neil Riley, one of Taylor&Emmet’s management board members, said: “Paul and Alex are excellent solicitors who have demonstrated the highest levels of commitment to the firm and its continuing success. They bring a great deal of experience to our equity partnership and will be a valuable addition to our decision-making team.”

Taylor&Emmet has also promoted licensed conveyancer Stacey Crane to associate. The residential property specialist qualified in 2007, while working at the firm and is currently heading up the conveyancing department at its new Rotherham office.

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Sheffield insolvency and business turnaround specialist Graywoods has appointed Richard Marshall as the company’s new non-executive chairman.

A qualified solicitor, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and a Fellow of the Society of Business Recovery Professionals (R3), he is the former managing director of Yorkshire-based law firm Lupton Fawcett.

He is also a member of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce and sits on that body’s Finance and Professional Services Committee.

He is an insolvency and business recovery specialist and qualified with DLA in 1987.

“We are delighted to be welcoming Richard to the Graywoods team,” said Graywoods director Deborah Lockwood.

“This year marks the 20th anniversary of the partnership between myself and fellow director Adrian Graham and we believe this non-executive appointment comes at exactly the right time as we look forward to strengthening our position in the market.

“Richard’s extensive experience of leading growing professional services firms will be invaluable as we cement our place as one of the leading independent business recovery and insolvency practices in the north of England.”
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Louise Longley is the latest director to be appointed in the Yorkshire region by insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor.

Longley has more than 10 years’ experience in insolvency having joined Begbies Traynor’s Leeds office in 2004, rising to the position of senior insolvency manager in 2016.

During her time with Begbies Traynor she has undertaken an 18 month formal secondment to the corporate insolvency and business support teams of a major clearing bank.

She is a full insolvency practitioner, specialising in corporate and personal insolvency.

In her new role, she will continue to be based in Leeds, working with the team to further develop Begbies Traynor’s support for businesses in the area.

She said: “I look forward to continuing to support businesses and providing my contacts, both new and old, with our full range of corporate and personal insolvency services.”

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Media agency MediaCom North has named Danielle Bateman as deputy managing director at its Leeds office.

Bateman joined MediaCom North as an account director in 2011 and has since held a number of roles at the business, most recently as managing partner.

In her new role, she will be supporting managing director Simon Price with the day-to-day running of the business and will be playing a larger role in the direction of the Leeds operation.

Elsewhere, MediaCom North Group has named Paul Cooper as its new chief operating officer.

After joining MediaCom North as regional head of digital in 2011, Cooper launched i-LAB, MediaCom’s digital performance specialist division, and oversaw the merger of its digital, direct and TV operations into a fully integrated communications agency where it more than doubled in size.

He played a leading role in the business’ acquisition and integration of digital agency Code ComputerLove in 2016 and creative agency Cheetham Bell JWT in 2018.

Going forward, Cooper will be responsible for leading the group – which comprises media, digital and creative businesses MediaCom North, Code and Cheetham Bell.

Matt Hatton becomes group managing director, commercial & trading, having been responsible for all commercials, contractual and trading across MediaCom North’s media businesses for the last two years. He brings a wealth of experience to the role, ranging from TV investment to agency management, and will also join the boards of Code and Cheetham Bell.

Ffion Turner has become the managing partner for MediaCom North’s Business Intelligence division. Previously Business Intelligence board director, Turner has been at the business since 2004. She will also join the MediaCom North board.

Further promotions include Nicola Marsh, who becomes managing director of MediaCom Manchester.

Cooper said: “I’m excited to take on the role of COO at a time when MediaCom North continues to see significant growth. In the past three years, we’ve grown from an agency of just over 250 staff, to over 400 today. As a result, 2018 was the most successful revenue year in MediaCom North’s history.

“Investing in our senior team will help us shape the business for continued growth in a rapidly changing environment.  We will also continue to focus on making MediaCom North a great place to work, in line with our philosophy ‘people first, better results’. Through this, we can continue to achieve fantastic outcomes for our clients.”