Private practicePartnershipNew partners are thin on the ground this week, with assistant and associate appointments to the fore.City firm Bird & Bird has brought in pharmaceuticals and biochemistry specialist John Wilkinson from CRCT, the technology transfer arm of the Cancer Research Campaign, where he was company secretary.

Trusts lawyer Clive Cutbill is leaving City firm Herbert Smith to join Withers as a partner.

Jonathan Solomon, a planning partner at Norton Rose, is joining Clifford Chance.Paul Biggs is joining US firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft's London office to lead its project finance group.

He moves from CMS Cameron McKenna.Still in London, three solicitors have been made up to partner at Mayfair firm Forsters, taking the partnership to 19: commercial property lawyers Kim Lalli and Helen Streeton and litigator Andrew Head.Kent firm Cripps Harries Hall has promoted Jason Towell, head of the planning and environment law team, to partner.At Ipswich firm Prettys, two promotions take the partnership to 16: Paul Dickie is head of the shipping and transport team, while Darshan Edwards specialises in personal injury.

Sheffield firm Wake Smith has made up commercial property solicitor Sue Shaw and now has 15 partners.

Private PracticeAssociates/assistantsJoining Paul Biggs in leaving CMS Cameron McKenna for Cadwaladers are project finance solicitors Douglas Bennet, Frank O'Flynn, Charlotte Rogers and Simon Norris.Also leaving CMS Cameron McKenna is immigration lawyer Lorraine Forrest, who together with sports specialist Owen Eastwood - formerly in-house at the Auckland Cricket Association in New Zealand - has joined Lewis Silkin.Still in London, Marvin Simons, Rebecca Thomas and Caroline Turner have moved from Fremont & Co to Seddons to establish a personal injury unit.

Commercial lawyer Michael Edwards, currently with Edwin Coe, is moving to head Dawson & Co's company and commercial group.

And Rowe & Maw has recruited two solicitors from Freshfields: environment specialist Michael Hutchinson and property specialist Caroline Taylor.Sunderland firm Ben Hoare Bell recruited clinical negligence specialist Gillian Muir from Dickinson Dees in Newcastle, while housing lawyer Colin Henderson comes from Rowlands in Manchester.South African personal injury specialist Jackie Harwin is joining Basingstoke firm Lamb Brookes from South African firm Randles.

Meanwhile, conveyancing specialist Vivienne Carter is being welcomed back to the Lamb Brookes fold after a 13-year gap.

Prior to her current appointment, she was in-house lawyer at HCR Relocation, also in Basingstoke.

Commercial property lawyer Penny Edgar has left City firm Simmons & Simmons for Cripps Harries Hall in Kent.

Also in Kent, criminal lawyer Gareth Nicholl has joined Maidstone firm Gulland & Gulland from the Compton Partnership in Bexley.Reading firm Pitmans has brought in employment solicitor Mark Minns from Oxford firm Franklins.

Niche Surrey-based commercial firm Shadbolt & Co has appointed corporate lawyer Tim Ball from DMH in Crawley.Solicitor Alan Yates, who was director of corporate strategy at the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation, has moved back into private practice to work in the commercial property team at Palser Grossman.

Public law specialist Stephen Sellers has crossed over too, from Birmingham City Council to Wragge & Co, also in Birmingham.Ipswich firm Prettys has made a spate of new appointments:l Jonathan Campbell (corporate, from City firm Watson Farley & Williams);l Dinesh Dorai-Raj (transport, from Singapore firm Yeo-Leong & Peh).l Lisa Rawcliffe (head of matrimonial, from Norwich firm Overbury Steward Eaton & Woolsey); andl Matthew Rippon (commercial litigation, from Norwich firm Rogers & Norton).

OtherAraba Obodai, a partner at Manchester firm Betesh Fox & Co, is Manchester Law Society's new president.

She is the first black person to hold the position.The chairman of City firm Denton Wilde Sapte, James Dallas, has joined the board of service and engineering company AMEC.Film and TV specialist Christos Michaels is leaving London firm Harbottle & Lewis, where he was an assistant, to become head of legal and business at Icon Entertainment.

JudiciaryBirmingham sole practitioner Vijay Kumar Sehdev has been appointed a district judge on the Midland and Oxford circuit.

On the South Eastern (Provincial) circuit, Neil Hickman of Bedford firm Woodfine Batcheldor has been made a district judge.

Keith Price, a partner at Balderston Warren in Letchworth, has become a district judge on the South Eastern (London) circuit.

CORRECTIONIt is Elizabeth Habershon of Blaser Mills Winter Taylor in High Wycombe who is a new district judge on the South Eastern (London) Circuit, not as stated last week (see [2000] Gazette, 27 July, 10).