People: Pair of appointments at solicitors; Promotions announced at digital tech firm; and more
Yorkshire legal firm, Switalskis Solicitors, has started the year on a high with two appointments of homegrown talent joining its clinical negligence and child abuse teams.
Burhan Akhtar and Nikki Przewoznik completed their training contracts at Switalskis before being appointed as fully qualified solicitors in the firm’s Huddersfield office, starting this month.
Akhtar spent time in the family law and child abuse teams, followed by the clinical negligence team in Huddersfield, where he will now remain on a permanent basis.
Przewoznik worked in clinical negligence also, moving recently to the child abuse team where she takes her role in Huddersfield.
She joined from an estate agency background and was previously a regional property valuer. Having completed her law degree, she used her work experience to join Switalskis in the conveyancing department in May 2016 and then went on to secure a training contract which started in January 2018.
Przewoznik said: “I get a great sense of satisfaction in achieving justice for clients who have previously been failed throughout their life and in giving the clients the opportunity to finally be acknowledged and heard.
“It’s an incredibly hard-working department, yet still maintains a friendly atmosphere and there is a strong team spirit amongst the team, which I particularly enjoy.”
Akhtar joined Switalskis in November 2014 having graduated in Law from Leeds Beckett University.
He subsequently studied the Legal Practice Course, postgraduate degree part-time at University of Law whilst working at Switalskis. Prior to starting his training at Switalskis, he worked in its employment and family law departments. His seats were in family law, child abuse and clinical negligence into which he will be qualifying.
He said: “Joining the clinical negligence team as a trainee was a challenging, yet interesting, experience.
“I have enjoyed working alongside experienced lawyers to help progress claims and I also enjoy engaging with new potential clients with the possibility of helping them to investigate their claims.
“Intertwining the complexities of the medical and legal aspects of this area of law is rewarding, as no two cases are ever the same.”
Ruth Coneron, Switalskis Solicitors director, said: “We are very pleased to have Burhan and Nikki on board as qualified lawyers, joining such highly regarded teams in their respective industries.
“Developing and attracting newly trained solicitors like Nikki and Burhan is a key objective for our firm in its succession planning. They have both shown outstanding determination and passion to succeed in the roles and are already making waves in their areas of law.”
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Elland-headquartered Vapour Cloud has kicked off 2020 with the promotion of two popular colleagues to senior positions within the organisation.
During the company’s first team meeting of the year, operations manager Carol McGrotty was propelled into the role of head of operations and compliance, having joined the team back in 2013.
A colleague since almost the very beginning, McGrotty was hand-picked for the position by CEO Tim Mercer, who had previously spent 10 years working alongside her at Virgin Media Business.
As one of the most customer service-focused members of the Vapour team, she has helped attract the three biggest ticket projects since the company was established in 2013, and in 2019 alone, she oversaw the delivery of all client contracts – that’s over 4,000 cloud licenses and more than £10m of deal revenue.
Mercer said: “Carol works as many hours as me – and I’m CEO! She exhibits an incredible amount of care, attention, focus and commitment to the business, which means she is an immediate hit with clients and colleagues alike.
“It doesn’t matter if she’s based in the office or at home in Scotland, the team dynamic doesn’t waver. Nor does customer service. She’s proof that you can use technology to make flexible working work and is one of the most invaluable assets to our Yorkshire-headquartered business.”
Meanwhile, Alec Stephens has taken on the role of sales manager, following an impressive 11 months in the position of account director. He hit the headlines in February 2019 when his long-awaited move to Vapour was revealed in a playful football transfer-themed announcement.
As the year unfolded, he went on to play a pivotal part in some of the company’s largest deals. With more than 15 years’ experience in the technology sector, he began his career as an inbound contact centre agent and Mercer employed and trained him whilst at Virgin.
“Alec’s likeable tenacity means he is something of a rare breed in our complex world,” Mercer added. “Partners trust his straight-talking expertise, and the team internally know he will have carefully thought out every proposal we put on the table, so we’re always able to deliver on our promises.
“2020 will be a pivotal year for Vapour, as we have our eyes set on up to 50% growth in turnover. Having the right team in place has therefore never been so important.
“The board was impressed by the appointment of customer services manager Blaine Craig, channel account manager Emma Haywood and non-executive director Jon Pickering late last year, and to be able to promote two valued colleagues to senior positions within the team is a fantastic next step.”
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Wild & Co Chartered Accountants has boosted its team with the appointment of trainee accountant Tasha Cull.
Cull is AAT qualified and will continue studying for her ACA chartered accountancy qualifications with the Harrogate-based firm, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.
She said: “My role at Wild & Co will be very hands on which means I can develop my client facing skills as well as my technical experience, spending a good amount of time working directly with businesses on strategy as well as managing their tax and accounts.”
Director Liz Wild said: “Tasha is as passionate as we are about digital accounting and using technology to simplify processes and give us more time to look at the bigger picture with clients. She is certified in Xero, the main cloud accounting system that we use, and is aware of all the latest innovations and how they can be applied to different businesses.
“We look forward to supporting her with her career and developing her role within the team.”
