MOVING ON

PRIVATE PRACTICEPartnersPartnership developments have been fairly quiet this week, with some key appointments coming abroad.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed two corporate partners: Chris Sunt has joined the Brussels office from Linklaters' Belgian firm De Bandt van Hecke Lagae & Loesch, while Thorsten Kleine has been promoted from associate in the Dusseldorf office.City firm Bird & Bird has appointed KPMG Legal's former head of communications, IT and e-commerce Johan Tydn to head its communications practice in Stockholm.The Singapore office of City firm Watson Farley & Williams has a new head with the move from London of international litigation partner Peter Flint.

He will be joined by asset and project finance specialist Chris Lowe, who takes over as the head of the Singapore office's international finance group.Back in Blighty, the London office of Pinsent Curtis Biddle has appointed television and media specialist John Whitehead as a partner.

Having spent the past 11 years working in-house for media companies, he joins from the Middle East Broadcasting Centre, where he was head of legal.

Heather Gething is to take over as head of the tax department at City firm Herbert Smith, as David Martin has announced his intention to retire at the end of March 2002.

Her deputy will be Neil Warriner.London firm Gregsons now has eight partners with the recruitment of Alexandra Adam as head of litigation.

She moves from Gardner Weller, and brings with her assistant Judith Curran.Moving out of the City, family partner Karin Walker has moved across Guildford from Callaghans to TWM (Triggs Wilkinson Mann as was).Suffolk's largest law firm Ashton Graham has appointed Mark Merriam, current head of the civil litigation department, as its new managing partner.

Rob Adam has succeeded him in the department.Birmingham firm Heatons has appointed corporate finance specialist Rob Parry as a partner.

Mr Parry, who joins from Black Country firm George Green, becomes Heatons' ninth partner.Further north, and Manchester firm Halliwell Landau has lured corporate tax specialist Tony Hennessy from north-east firm Dickinson Dees to head its corporate tax department.Across the Pennines, commercial dispute resolution specialist Adam Aldred has joined the Leeds office of Addleshaw Booth & Co.

Formerly a partner at Hammond Suddards Edge, he will join as head of the local branch of the trade and regulatory practice.

PRIVATE PRACTICEAssociates/AssistantsIn the City, PricewaterhouseCoopers' associated firm Landwell has three new assistant solicitors: Fiona Savage (banking and financial services) from US firm Shearman & Sterling, Ross Warner (corporate) from Clifford Chance, and Scott Midgley (employment) from Pinsent Curtis Biddle.Pinsent Curtis Biddle has also lost Gary Walker, a financial institutions and services expert, who has joined Birmingham-based Wragge & Co as its first dedicated derivatives associate.Still in the midlands, associate Paul Wilson has left Eversheds' Birmingham office to join the construction and engineering department of Birmingham firm Lee Crowder.The Birmingham branch of national firm Russell Jones & Walker has expanded its clinical negligence department with the appointment of associate Claire McHugh, who since her qualification two years ago has been at Leicester-based Holly Oak & Co.Another Birmingham firm, Heatons, has recruited Iain Harrison - like partner Mike Parry (see above) formerly a partner at Black Country firm George Green - as an associate in its property department.

Mr Harrison, a qualified pilot, specialises in corporate support and the property issues of corporate finance deals.However, Heatons' Stoke-on-Trent office has lost assistant Gill Squire to Newcastle-under-Lyme-based Knight & Sons, where she has been appointed conveyancing manager.In addition to its new partner (see above), Addleshaw Booth & Co in Leeds has strengthened its trade and regulatory practice with three further additions.

Nick Whiteley joins as an associate from the in-house team of Marconi Communications, and Andrew Finfer from the trade and regulatory department of Newcastle firm Ward Hadaway, where he set up and managed the firm's dawn raids service.

Nirma Shah, who worked with Adam Aldred at Hammond Suddards Edge as a trainee, has joined Addleshaws as a newly qualified.Newly qualified Nina Branton has joined north-east-based firm Crutes as an assistant in the local authority team.

Moving from Stanton Croft in Gosforth, she will be managing defendant personal injury cases on behalf of councils.Home Counties-based commercial firm Charles Lucas & Marshall has two new lawyers for its Swindon office: recently qualified assistant Alison Hubbard joins the corporate services team from Swindon firm Quiney Jaggar, and employment lawyer Christopher Lester moves from TMK Solicitors in Southend.And finally back to London, and corporate expert Abigail Smith has left Olswang for media, entertainment and sports firm Clintons.