People; Stone King; Walker Morris; and more

Leeds law firm Stone King has announced promotions, as well as the firm’s new chair.

New partners include employment lawyer Harriet Broughton, Chris Sharpe in the Commercial Property team and Kathryn Layzell, who heads the trusts & estates team.

Craig Vincent, who heads the HR consultancy aervice has also been promoted to (non-legal) partner.

In the Business Property team, Elizabeth Thompson has been promoted to senior associate, whilst promotions to associate include Myles Taaffe in the Corporate & Commercial team, Alexandra Weatherdon in the charity & social enterprise team and Charles Cronin in the criminal Law team.

Penny Walters, in Stone King’s employment team, has also been promoted to senior HR consultant.

The firm has announced its new chair, head of private client sector Alison Allen, who has taken over the position from Ann Phillips, partner in Stone King’s charity & social enterprise team.

Phillips said: “It has been a real privilege to be chair of Stone King for the last six years, an experience which has given me the opportunity to meet so many exceptional people across the firm, in all our offices.

“Alison will be a fantastic new chair for the firm, her professionalism, patience and empathy are among the qualities that make her an excellent private client solicitor, and these same skills make her well-suited to this new role.”

Allen added: “I feel honoured to become chair of Stone King. Having been with the firm for more than 20 years I am proud of our approach to client care, our colleagues and the communities we are part of, and the importance of these relationships has been highlighted to me more than ever with recent global events.

“I look forward to continuing to uphold this strong firm-wide culture. I also wish to congratulate all colleagues on their well-earned promotions.”

:::

Oliver Duke

Leeds-based commercial law firm Walker Morris has made 19 internal promotions, effective from 1 May 2020.

The promotions comprise one partner, five directors and 13 senior associates.

Oliver Duke’s promotion to partner follows a stellar performance from the Corporate Team, which has advised on numerous high-profile deals in the past year.

Duke sits on Walker Morris’ international committee and much of his work focuses on private equity transactions and cross-border M&A.

He regularly works alongside and manages relationships with independent overseas law firms to facilitate the firm’s cross border work.

The newly promoted directors are:

• Alastair Robertson – Construction & Engineering
• Edward Ainscoe – Corporate
• Suzanne Treen – Employment
• David Manda – Real Estate Litigation
• Claire Burrows – Regulatory & Compliance.

The 13 new senior associates are:

• Rebecca Jackson – Litigation & Dispute Resolution
• Luke Jackson – Commercial
• Charlotte Wright – Commercial
• Alex Jones – Construction & Engineering
• Charlotte Smith – Employment
• Dave Johnson – Banking, Restructuring & Insolvency
• Christian Slinger – Sport
• Matthew Lingard – Intellectual Property and Trade Marks & Designs
• Beverley Robinson – Intellectual Property and Trade Marks & Designs
• Emma Conwell – Planning & Environment
• Clare Wood – Real Estate
• Rachel Turnbull – Regulatory & Compliance
• Christina Gill – Banking & Finance Litigation.

Malcolm Simpson, managing partner at Walker Morris, said: “It’s important, now more than ever, to continue investing in our skills and talent to ensure we can respond to our client’s evolving needs.

“The success of both our own and our clients’ businesses is dependent on recruiting and retaining talented individuals.

“I would like to extend my congratulations to Oliver on his promotion to partner and to all of those promoted to director and senior associate.

“Their promotions are a testament to both their ability and their contribution to Walker Morris and its clients.

“It is especially pleasing to see virtually all areas of our practice represented, showcasing the strength of the emerging talent at Walker Morris.”

:::

Global law firm Kennedys has hired healthcare partner, Tom Armstrong, to head a new healthcare team based in the firm’s Sheffield office, which opened in 2010.

Armstrong, who joins from Browne Jacobson, will lead a team in Sheffield able to defend clinical negligence claims against GPs, NHS Trusts and private healthcare providers.

He will be working closely with Kennedys’ healthcare lawyers in Birmingham, Cambridge and London.

The move marks a return to Kennedys for Armstrong who joined the firm in 2002 and was appointed a partner in 2007 before leaving for Browne Jacobson in 2014.

He has a strong reputation in clinical negligence defendant work and his appointment will significantly strengthen Kennedys’ UK healthcare practice.

The new Sheffield practice follows the growth of the Birmingham healthcare offering that opened back in 2016 with three lawyers and has since grown to a team of 20 lawyers.

Christopher Malla, head of healthcare at Kennedys, said: “We are seeing demand from clients for a truly national offering managing healthcare claims.

“Tom has a leading reputation in the field and his appointment, coupled with the creation of a new healthcare team based in Sheffield, is an important strategic step in the growth of our national healthcare capability, bringing in expertise from our offices in Birmingham, Cambridge and London.”

Armstrong added: “I spent the majority of my career at Kennedys, so I am looking forward to coming back to the firm and to working with colleagues who I already know well but also working with new colleagues, as the firm has expanded and grown a great deal over the last few years.

“The firm has an excellent reputation in the healthcare field and this is an exciting opportunity to set up and grow the Sheffield practice and the firm’s national healthcare offering.”

Partner Helen Snowball, who leads the firm’s Sheffield office, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Tom to the Sheffield office and add healthcare capabilities to our office’s other focus areas of insurance, commercial and real estate work.

“The office itself has more than doubled in size since it opened in 2010 and I look forward to continued growth through our exciting new healthcare practice in Sheffield.”

Kennedys opened its Sheffield office in 2010 with the appointment of a 60-strong team from Halliwells.

Armstrong’s appointment takes that figure to 137, with the office now comprising nine partners and 102 other fee earners.