Moving on

PRIVATE PRACTICE - PARTNERSHIPInternational firms have been active this week and there have been changes at the top for Richards Butler, which has a new senior partner.

Andrew Taylor, a shipping lawyer, takes over from Tim Archer as senior partner and chairman.

Mr Archer is standing down after three terms of office.Clifford Chance has lost a former London-based Rogers & Wells partner to US firm Latham & Watkins.

Olof Clausson was set to become a key player in the firm's Scandinavian group, and practises US corporate law with an emphasis on cross-border capital market transactions and Scandinavian mergers and acquisitions.

His clients include investment banks Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston, and Nordic investment banks.

European firm Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn has swooped on Edge Ellison, taking its energy head Rory Tait, who will continue to be based in London.

City IT firm Bird & Bird has lost e-commerce and digital media partner Mark Haftke to KLegal, the law firm associated with accountants KPMG.

Mr Haftke will be joining on 1 June.

But the firm has been on a hiring spree on the continent.

Bird & Bird has brought in two new partners from Paris firm Sals Vincent & Associs: Jodie Cohen-Tanugi will head the corporate team; Franois Serres and four associates will also be joining the department.

It now has 30 lawyers in its new Paris office, which opened in January this year.

Bird & Bird's Brussels office will be boosted to 35, with seven partners, by the addition of corporate lawyer Paul Hermant, and his team of three associates from Belgian firm Loeff Claeys Verbeke, on 1 June.Remaining on the international tip, the senior Japanese partner at White & Case's associated firm Kandabashi Law Offices, Hisao Hirose, is leaving private practice to become general counsel at Citibank in Japan in August.

And there has been some movement at fellow US firm Brown & Wood.

The limited liability partnership has three new members: Mary Elanco (employment, Washington) the former general counsel at the US Postal Service, Balbir Bindra (international finance, Hong Kong) from Denton Wilde Sapte, and Joel Mitnick (corporate and litigation, New York).Back in London, Westminster firm Bircham & Co has announced there is to be no change at the top, as senior partner Ian McCulloch and executive committee chairman Nicholas Brown have been re-elected for three-year and two-year terms respectively.Warner Cranston has a pair of new partners in Coventry.

Commercial property partner Mary Anderson has joined from Shoosmiths and Richard Chalkley has been promoted to the partnership.Surrey firm Shadbolt & Co now has 19 partners following the appointment of two corporate and commercial partners: John Warchus from Lochners Technology Solicitors and Ian Craig from Swan Evans.

Kent firm Cripps Harries Hall has lured an in-house lawyer to join the firm as a commercial property partner.

William Mackie was lead legal counsel at top construction and development company the Wates Group.The season of partnership promotions is not over.

Bristol firm Cartwrights has added insurance lawyer Ian Poole to the 15-strong partnership.

Portsmouth firm Coffin Mew & Clover has four new partners:X Amanda Brockwell (corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions);X Peter Fellows (commercial property);X Sarah McNab (intellectual property, Internet start-ups), and;X Kevin Steele (social housing).Back in the City, Sinclair Roche and Temperley also has four new partners, swelling the partnership to 35:X Julie Clegg (London, financial transactions);X Neil McGregor (Bucharest, company and commercial);X David Stabb (Bucharest, corporate transactions), and;X Anthony Hill (Hong Kong, corporate litigation and insolvency).Shipping firm Holman Fenwick & Willan has elected eight new partners, bringing the partner count to 80:X Paul Dean (London, admiralty);X Sybille Elleboode-Merlier (Paris, corporate finance);X Henry Fung (Hong Kong, commercial);X Andrew Kinnison (Hong Kong, commercial and banking litigation);X Bill Kerr (London, admiralty);X Stphane Slegny (Rouen, labour and commercial);X Jonathan Webb (London, shipping), and;X Richard Wilmot (Hong Kong, litigation arbitration).Russell Jones & Walker has enlarged to 50 partners, with the promotion of seven new partners, including two equity partners, Clive Howard (London, employment) and Jeffrey Zindani (Birmingham, personal injury).

The five new salaried partners are: X James Carlton (London, criminal and investigations);X Paul Daniels (London, employment);X Celia Grace (London, employment);X David Hanman (Manchester, criminal and investigations), and;X Ruth Powell (London, clinical negligence).Westminster firm Radcliffes now has 33 partners with the promotion Clara Trounson (tax and private client) and Roger Thornton (commercial property).

Browne Jacobson has appointed six new partners in Nottingham and Birmingham, bringing the number of partners to 45: X Gavin Cummings (Nottingham, corporate);X Michael Lodge (Nottingham, banking);X Mark Snelgrove (Nottingham, intellectual property);X Dominic Swift (Nottingham, property);X Peter Westlake (Nottingham, construction, from Greenwoods);X Barry Sankey (Birmingham, property, from Martineau Johnson); andX Simon Tate (moved from Nottingham to Birmingham).Manchester firm Philip Conn & Co has moved offices and has moved commercial property lawyer Nicky Greene up to partner.

It has three other partners.

PRIVATE PRACTICE - ASSISTANTS AND ASSOCIATESWarner Cranston has appointed two employment lawyers.

Barrister Shireen Shaikh joins as an associate in London from BT, and Jane Hobson as a senior associate from DLA in Sheffield.US firm Weil Gotshal & Manges has added project finance associates Tony Hawkins, from CMS Cameron McKenna, and Amanda Jennings and Angela Zaher, both from Denton Wilde Sapte.CORRECTIONPrivate equity partners Sunil Kakkad and Tim Railton have joined Lawrence Graham from Hill Taylor Dickinson, not the other way around as stated last week (see [2000] Gazette, 18 May, 54).