Appointments: Deloitte, Walker Morris, CidaCo

BUSINESS advisory firm Deloitte has hired a forensic accounting partner from Grant Thornton.

Chris Clements joins the Leeds office after holding a forensic and investigation services partner role as head of UK regions for the firm.

At Deloitte, he will lead the forensics teams for the North East practice, covering the Leeds and Newcastle offices and disputes lead across the North.

In recent years, he advised on compensation for the 2012 Olympic site and London’s Crossrail project.

Martin Jenkins, practice senior partner at Deloitte in Yorkshire and the North East, said: “Chris has an exceptional track record and we’re delighted that he has brought that outstanding experience to Deloitte.

“His experience both in the UK and internationally, and across a range of sectors, extending to infrastructure and energy, will be invaluable to many of our clients in Yorkshire and across the North East, including those entering into trading arrangements with global partners where his knowledge of international disputes is a valuable asset.”

Simon Cuerden, partner and regional Forensic lead said: “Chris is a significant addition to our regional Forensic team, further enhancing our capability in the expert witness and dispute advisory arena.”

Last week Grant Thornton announced the appointment of Andrew Brown to lead their forensics team.

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TRADE mark attorney Heather Williams has been appointed to head up its trade marks and designs unit.

Prior to joining Walker Morris, Ms Williams was a senior associate at Appleyard Leeds and held a role as a trading standards enforcement officer dealing with counterfeiting.

Walker Morris head of Intellectual Property Rupert Bent said: “Heather’s appointment reinforces the Team’s specialist trade marks experience and expertise. In particular, her experience of managing trade mark portfolios both in the UK and overseas will fit perfectly with our growing international trade mark portfolio work for global clients.

“Intellectual Property is a growing area of the business and Heather’s recruitment is one of a number of appointments we are seeking to make in line with the wider Firm’s strategy of talent engagement.

“This growth is likely to continue as evolving technology increasingly necessitates the integration of Intellectual property expertise with other facets of law such as data protection, technology, commercial and corporate law.”

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LEEDS-BASED CidaCo has appointed Dr Ceri Batchelder as the firm’s chairwoman.

The training and consultancy firm appointed Dr Batchelder following the departure of Ric Green who chaired the firm for 11 years, and who left to become technical director of the Royal Opera House in Oman.

Dr Batchelder runs Connect&Create to bring healthcare organisations and creative firms.

She was trained as a PhD bioscientist and held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

She headed up innovation management at a University of Manchester knowledge transfer company, and held business development roles at biotechnology firm Epistem Ltd and at global medical technology company Smith & Nephew PLC. Ceri holds an MBA from Manchester Business School.

More recently, Dr Batchelder was business development director at HMA Digital Marketing, a Barnsley-based creative and digital agency.