Moving on

Private practicePartnersLots of activity all over the profession this week, starting with a series of double swoops in London and finishing with a rush of consultants.Tite & Lewis, the law firm associated with accountants Ernst & Young, has tempted finance partner Charles Proctor from Norton Rose, and Ruth Finch, former head of the capital markets and regulation group at CMS Cameron McKenna.However, Garretts, the law firm associated with accountants Arthur Andersen, has lost a two-partner, two-associate employee share scheme incentives team to Allen & Overy, made up of Paul McCarthy and Sylvie Watts and associates Suzy Adams and Michael Deeks.Collyer-Bristow has brought in marketeer Jonathan Fox from DLA to be its chief executive and private client partner Daniel Simon from Berwin Leighton Paisner.Elsewhere in London, DLA has strengthened its banking group with real estate finance specialist Mark Phillips from Nicholson Graham & Jones.Defendant personal injury firm Greenwoods has appointed Melanie Lewis as its seventh partner.

She joins from Jeffrey Green Russell.US/UK firm Reed Smith Warner Cranston has made up employment lawyer Mark Hunt as its 27th UK partner.In the north-west, Mace & Jones has taken its partnership to 29 with the promotion of commercial property lawyer Varun Maharaj and family specialist Emma Collins.Manchester firm Graham Leigh Pfeffer & Co has four partners with the promotion of personal injury lawyer Terry Kelly.Over the Pennines and Addleshaw Booth & Co has boosted its private client practice in Leeds with Caroline Hedges, who joins from Pinsent Curtis Biddle, where she headed the charities unit in the city.Also in Leeds, Nelson & Co has appointed insurance lawyer Keith Nightingale its senior partner following Mark Overend's semi-retirement.West Midlands firm Needham & James has a new corporate head in Birmingham after scooping Colin Rodrigues from Wolverhampton-based Manby & Steward, where he was in charge of mergers and acquisitions work.Leaving Birmingham is family lawyer Nigel Mears, who has joined Lichfield firm Keely Beedham.

Private practiceAssociates/AssistantsIn addition to its new partner, Keely Beedham has launched an employment unit with the recruitment of assistant Neil Gouldson from Liverpool's Morecroft Urquart.Associate Paula Frain has been recruited by Birmingham firm Wragge & Co's debt finance team to build up its asset finance practice.

She was company secretary at Chartered Trust.Leading Devon firm Foot Anstey Sargent has appointed its first associate since the merger which created the Plymouth and Exeter practice 18 months ago.

Roger Sands is a Plymouth-based commercial lawyer.Specialist maritime and commodities firm Waterson Hicks has recruited assistant Danyel White from Zaiwalla & Co.

In-houseEnergy regulator Ofgem has appointed Nicola Northway as general counsel to head its 14-strong legal department following the decision of Charles Bankes to return to Simmons & Simmons, from where he was seconded.

Ms Northway was deputy general counsel and appointed after an open competition.Northern European telecoms company Pangea - which is moving its headquarters to London - has appointed Randal Barrett as a vice-president and general counsel, having spent the last two years as the company's external counsel at Baker & McKenzie.

Private practiceConsultantsCollyer-Bristow's recruitment frenzy (see earlier) has continued with its acquisition of niche music and entertainment firm Kanaar & Co.

Nick Kanaar joins as a consultant along with assistant Neil Parkes.London firm Devonshires has added John Toomey as a consultant to its commercial property department from Rowe & Maw.Media firm Clintons has recruited film and television lawyer Paul Goldin as a consultant from Mishcon de Reya.Park Nelson's new consultant is employment specialist Pamela Benady Davies from Monier-Williams & Boxalls in London.Also offering employment law help is Alan Coventry, who has joined north-west firm Mace & Jones as a part-time consultant after spending more than 20 years as chairman of Liverpool Employment Tribunal.Sunderland firm Hodgson Maggiore has brought in solicitor Chris Storey as a consultant to assist in the implementation of the firm's development strategy.

A former director of several large north-east companies, he was company secretary of Vaux for more than 20 years.Two partners have stepped down to consultant level: Thomas Barth at London firm Cumberland Ellis Peirs and Richard Steele at Middlesex firm Bird & Lovibond.City giant Norton Rose has a non-lawyer consultant in the shape of Michael Brundell, who joins its environmental and planning group from the Department of the Environment planning inspectorate, where he was the principal housing and planning inspector working on numerous high-profile projects, such as the Heathrow Terminal 5 inquiry.