Moving on

PRIVATE PRACTICEPartnership

This week's round-up reflects the changes in London in recent years with developments at US firms and the law firms associated with accountants.Tite & Lewis, the law firm associated with big five accountants Ernst & Young, has promoted three to its partnership: Jon Edgell (financial services), James Robinson (industrial products) and Alison Welterveden (leader of the technology, communications and entertainment industry group).

The firm now has 12 partners.KLegal, the law firm associated with big five accountants KPMG, has promoted the head of the tax team, James Bullock, to partner.

It takes the partnership to 18.Another tax specialist, Simon Court, has been made up to partner in the London office of US firm Brobeck Hale & Dorr.Also expanding its London office is US firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.

The recruitment of corporate lawyer Mark Pinder from Sidley & Austin (where he was head of corporate) takes its number of partners in the City to 11.City firm Sprecher Grier Halberstam has promoted Joanne Ashley to partner in the IT/e-commerce law group.

Andrew Crossley has left sole practice to join London firm Hamlins as its head of employment.

Newcastle firm Watson Burton has also absorbed a sole practitioner, this time Northumberland practice Andersen & Co.

Kris Andersen is to become a partner in Watson's private client department, its 22nd.

Fellow north-east firm Crutes has its 20th partner after making up employment lawyer Tim Smith.

Kevin McKernan, who has been a partner at Crutes for 16 years, has swtiched from personal injury work to specialise in employment matters.Birmingham firm Wragge & Co has recruited mergers and acquisitions specialist Baljit Chohan as a partner from Hammonds Suddards Edge - taking its partnership to 110.Further north, in Manchester, Turner Parkinson has promoted company/commercial lawyer Andrew Booth to partner, its eighth.Also in Manchester, Whittles has promoted employment lawyer Paul Grendon to salaried partner, while Andrew Morton and Neil Fisher in the occupational disease department have become equity partners.Exeter firm Tozers has promoted personal injury lawyer Tim Dyde to partner, taking the firm's total to 16.

PRIVATE PRACTICEAssociates/ assistants

Several solicitors have left in-house roles this week.

London firm Memery Crystal has appointed Paul Lucas as senior solicitor in its intellectual property and digital technology department.

He joins from ISL Television, where he worked on major sporting events.Bhawna Desai has joined the communications team at Charles Russell as an assistant from Cable & Wireless.Christine Brooke, who was in-house at Barclaycard, has joined the Nottingham office of Browne Jacobson as an associate lawyer in the trade and innovation group.Also recruiting from in-house is Mancunian firm Turner Parkinson.

In addition to its partnership promotion (see above), the firm has hired company/commercial lawyer Hazel Eastwood from Pilkingtons as an associate in the company commercial department.

In addition, commercial litigator Katrina Pilling joins from Halliwell Landau and Joey Byrne joins as a solicitor specialising in corporate and personal insolvency from Hammond Suddards Edge.James Hartley, who was in-house at Cammell Laird, has joined the dispute resolution team in the Sheffield office of Nabarro Nathanson as a senior lawyer.

And banking solicitor Matthew Sibley has moved from Pinsent Curtis Biddle in Leeds.Staying in Yorkshire, Gordons Cranswick has appointed six new lawyers in its Leeds and Bradford offices.

Commercial litigators Sara Moore and Leighton Baldwin join the Leeds office from Hammond Suddards Edge and Clitheroe firm Houldsworth Taylors respectively.

Newly qualified commercial property lawyers Rukhsana Anwar (Leeds) and Philip Gregory (Bradford) have been kept on.

John Fawcett joins the estate tax planning team in Bradford as a solicitor from Somerset firm Mowbray Woodwards and Suzanne Stoker has been recruited from Eversheds to work in the corporate department in Leeds.The Horsham office of Thomas Eggar Church has a new assistant solicitor, litigator David Barrett from Pullig & Co.East Anglian firm Ashton Graham has added two former trainees to its team: Ian Barnard joins the commercial property team in Ipswich, and private client lawyer Linda Osborne joins the Felixstowe office.Oxford firm Linnells has recruited Charles Graham as an associate in its commercial dispute resolution team.

Also the Undersheriff for Oxfordshire, he joins from Morgan Cole, where he was a partner.

In the midlands, Coventry-based Alsters has recruited family lawyer Catherine Wahlberg, from Leamington firm Blakemores, to work as an assistant solicitor.Insurance litigator Louise Brough has left Bolton's Keoghs for Newcastle firm Ward Hadaway.And Crutes, as well as a new partner (see above), has brought in employment assistant Emma Cross from Bage & Cook.