MOVING ONPRIVATE PRACTICEPartnersProperty and construction lawyers are hot this week, dominating the partner moves.City firm Berwin Leighton strengthened its already considerable presence in the field by recruiting a contentious construction team of two partners and four assistants (see next section) from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert.

The partners are Caroline Pope and Bob Maynard.Fellow City firm SJ Berwin has brought in leading property lawyer Jon Vivian from CMS Cameron McKenna.

Mr Vivian's senior assistant at Camerons, Kathryn Almond, is also moving and will become a partner at SJ Berwin.The Swansea office of Morgan Cole has recruited Nigel Griffiths, who has been handling Canary Wharf's retail leasing work since 1990 and will be bringing the work with him from London firm Kearns & Co.

He was in-house at Olympia & York, Canary Wharf's developer, from 1985 to 1992.Manchester firm Cobbetts has hired two property partners: Mike Bentley, who joins from Irwin Mitchell, will head its construction and engineering team, while Iain Hall, formerly of Preston firm Napthen Houghton Craven, specialises in investment and development work.The final property recruitment of the week comes in Bristol, where property litigator Nigel Puddicombe, the immediate past president of Bristol Law Society, has left Cartwrights after 13 years as a partner for Veale Wasbrough.Non-property lawyers are also on the move, of course.

In London, Olswang has recruited corporate partner Richard Hildebrand from the London office of US firm Dewey Ballantine.Hammond Suddards Edge has picked up copyright partner Hubert Best from newly merged Pinsent Curtis Biddle.Vizard Oldham has expanded its healthcare litigation expertise with the appointment of Rena Field and three of her assistants (see next section) from Le Brasseur J Tickle.Bournemouth firm Ellis Jones has made up two partners: Sean McNally, head of the matrimonial department, and commercial and property lawyer Anton Howse.In Bristol, Henriques Griffiths has made up family lawyer Susan Halligan and employment specialist Andrew Fox to partner.David Tillcock, a commercial and corporate finance partner, has crossed Nottingham from Nelsons to Freethcartwright.Lovells has expanded its Singapore office, by hiring banking and finance partner James Harris from Ernst & Young Law.

In addition, Paul Oldman, head of Lovells' Asian finance practice, has moved from its Hong Kong office.

PRIVATE PRACTICEAssociates/assistantsJoining contentious construction partners Caroline Pope and Bob Maynard in moving from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert to Berwin Leighton are senior assistant Simon Goss and assistants Sarah Dyer, Paul Flook and Claire McNamara.Following Rena Field from Le Brasseur J Tickle to Vizard Oldham's healthcare department are assistants Nico Fabri, Sarah Roach and Renee Wood.

Vizard Oldham has also recruited to the team Victoria Wright from Manchester firm George Davies & Co and Andrew Cooklin from Beachcroft Wansbroughs' London office.Elsewhere in London, Lovells has boosted its defamation practice by recruiting David Attfield, formerly a senior lawyer at the BBC.Non-contentious IT lawyer Alan Hawley has joined Richards Butler from Hobson Audley, which he joined in turn from Compaq.

He remained on Compaq's panel after leaving.Berrymans Lace Mawer's London office has appointed senior solicitor Orla Turley to its dedicated police work unit within the professional indemnity division.

Ms Turley, who recently became both secretary and treasurer of the Police Defence Lawyers Forum, joins from Weightmans in Manchester.Charles Russell has added Caroline Healy to its sports law team.

She moves from the in-house team at top sports management and marketing company IMG.Campbell Hooper has recruited commercial lawyer Funke Abimbola from Memery Crystal.St Albans firm Sherrards has launched an Anglo/German legal services department following the recruitment of Stuart Miller from Osborne Clarke, where he was a partner.

Mr Miller, a fluent German speaker, set up Osbornes' Frankfurt office in 1994.In Reading, Nabarro Nathanson has lured senior employment lawyer Simon Steen from Gosschalks in Hull, where he was head of employment.

Clarks has also recruited an employment lawyer, James Anderson from Bruce Lance & Co, as well as litigator Emily Pratt from Owen White.

In addition, it has promoted five assistants to associate: Mohammed Arif and Monica Atwal (employment); Jonathan Law (commercial litigation), Robert Lynch (commercial property) and Jonathon Roy (corporate finance).The Leamington Spa office of Alsters has brought in Shanti Giles, who qualified as a barrister before going to Singapore to qualify as an advocate in her home country and practising at Ann Tan & Associates, which is associated with City firm Trowers & Hamlins.

Ms Giles, a family lawyer, returned to England from Singapore last year to marry a pensions lawyer at Hammond Suddards Edge's Birmingham office.Bristol firm Veale Wasbrough has strengthened its education team with Gary De'Ath, formerly a partner at Birmingham firm Shakespears, who joins as an associate, and John Deakin, who has won world championship gold medals coxing the Great Britain rowing eight.

He joins from Somerset firm Pardoes.