Moving On

PRIVATE PRACTICEPartnershipIt was swapsies in the City this week as SJ Berwin & Co recruited finance lawyer Adam Plainer from the London office of Hammond Suddards, and corporate finance specialist Nick Williams moved in the opposite direction.Northern firm Addleshaw Booth & Co has appointed its first London-based employment partner, Michael Leftley, who arrives from Gouldens.

Bath-based firm Stone King has expanded its London practice with Simmons & Simmons' charities team, headed by Robert Meakin.

US firm Weil Gotshal & Manges has recruited Bill Rubin, chief counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Redevelopment to be a partner in its project finance department.

Also in London, Campbell Hooper has recruited Stephen Clow, formerly of Glovers, to its commercial department.

Guildford-based Stevens & Bolton has promoted commercial litigator Andrew Quick and commercial lawyer Beverley Whittaker to the partnership.

In nearby Wokingham, Clifton Ingram has also made two promotions: Melinda Newbery, head of the trusts department, and litigator Jonathan Davis.Moving west, Reading firm Blandy & Blandy has made a lateral hire of Jacques Smith to its litigation department.

Mr Smith joins from City firm Hardwick Stallwards.Further west in Bristol, Laytons has promoted employment lawyer Anita Coaster to the partnership.

Hull firm Max Gold & Co, which has changed its name to The Max Gold Partnership, has appointed Stefano Lucatello as joint senior partner.

He will join the firm's founder, Max Gold.In Newcastle, Dickinson Dees has recruited Helen Tavroges to its private client department from Eversheds.Sheffield-based Irwin Mitchell has announced six promotions, bringing the firm's total partnership nationwide to 78: X Andrea Burke (Sheffield, loss recovery);X Ross Clark (Sheffield, corporate finance);X Stephen George (Birmingham, insolvency);X Sion Kingston (Sheffield, personal injury);X Joanne Palframan (Leeds, IT and intellectual property); andX David Urpeth (Sheffield, personal injury).Across the Pennines, Iain Campbell is joining Stockport firm Gorvin Smith Fort as head of litigation and employment.

Mr Campbell was formerly at DLA's Liverpool office.Meanwhile in Lonsdales' new Preston office, personal injury lawyer Andrew Sands has been made up to partner.In Essex, Colchester firm Birkett Long has promoted four assistants to the partnership: Peter Allen (litigation), Celia Dawson (family), Kurt Goddard (property), and Tim Ogle (employment).

PRIVATE PRACTICEAssociates/assistants In Birmingham, Martin Damms has been promoted to associate in the planning department of Pinsent Curtis.

At Wragge & Co meanwhile, tax lawyer Richard Pincher has joined as an associate from PricewaterhouseCoopers in Edinburgh, where he was a senior tax manager.South East firm Thomas Eggar Church Adams has promoted five assistants to associates:X Julian Allen (Horsham, commercial);X Ruth Boulton (London, commercial);X Janette Butler (London, family);X Helen Meredith (Reigate, litigation); andX Martin Troy (Chichester, private client).

Surrey firm Mundays has recruited Nicola Vincent to its corporate department.

She joins from Crawley-based Rawlison & Butler.

In Slough, Hasan Qamruddin joins the personal injury department of Harris & Cartwright from Blackburn firm Parker & Pickles.

Leaving Harris & Cartwright is assistant solicitor Mark Pearce, who joins the property department of Falmouth firm Preston Goldburn.Cheltenham-based Rickerby Watterson has recruited two assistants for its property department: Joanne Bewley joins from Eversheds in Bristol, while Claire Belringer has recently qualified with Huntingdon firm Hunnybun & Sons.

In the midlands, Coventry-based Woolley & Co has recruited private client lawyer Joyce Bennell, from Bate Edmonds Snape.

OtherLondon-based QXL.com plc, the on-line auctioneer, has appointed Anisa Dhanji as general counsel and company secretary; Ms Dhanji was formerly director of legal affairs with Pepe Jeans/Tommy Hilfiger Europe.

Also in London, Tony McDonald joins National Express as group company secretary and head of legal affairs.

He was formerly based in the City as corporate legal adviser to Guardian Royal Exchange.Deborah Sabalot has joined City giant Lovells in an 'of counsel' role.

She is currently a director of KLegal, the law firm associated with Big Five accountants KPMG.

And Lovells has added Dr Eberhard von Perfall as a consultant to the corporate group at its Dsseldorf office.

He was formerly chief executive of Rtgers AG in Essen.Masons has recruited Ian Deslandes to be a construction consultant.

He was formerly based in London as chief executive of the Construction Confederation.

Joining the Construction Confederation's panel of adjudicators, meanwhile, is Colin Moore, a senior assistant in the Manchester office of Halliwell Landau.In Leeds, Addleshaw Booth & Co has made two new appointments to its housing sector legal service, Enact.

Assistant Richard Dinning is transferring from the property finance department; and Bev Mayo, formerly head of customer services at Friends Provident Life in Leeds, has been appointed customer operations manager.Insolvency partner Stuart Frith of Leeds firm Brooke North has been elected vice-president of the Insolvency Lawyers Association.Neil Goodrum, a senior partner at Leeds and Harrogate firm McCormicks, has been appointed to the panels of mediators and arbitrators of the Sports Dispute Resolution Panel.

Tony Allen, a consultant at Hove-based Bunkers, has joined the Centre for Dispute Resolution to lead the development of its personal injury and clinical negligence services.