MOVING ON

PRIVATE PRACTICEPartnersA slow start to the new year on the recruitment front, with the London office of US firm McDermott Will & Emery leading what activity there has been.

It has promoted two senior associates, corporate specialist Richard Beresford and intellectual property lawyer Kathleen Harris, to the partnership.

In the London office of Bristol firm Osborne Clarke, venture capital and private equity associate Roma Linton has been made up to partner.

West End firm Ross & Craig has boosted its partnership to nine with the recruitment of litigation and employment specialist Stephen ten Hove from Landau & Landau.

Two additions to the partnership at DMA Legal.

Company and commercial specialists Katy Brennan and Andrew Pike are promoted in the London and Marlow offices respectively.

Also in the Home Counties, Anila Preston has moved from Henley-on-Thames firm The Preston Partnership to become a corporate and commercial partner at 21-partner Uxbridge-based IBB, formerly Iliffes Booth Bennett.

Midlands-based Howes Percival has made two partnership appointments - commercial litigator Andrew Myers joins the Milton Keynes office from City firm Travers Smith Braithwaite, and the Norwich office has brought in commercial property expert Denis Costello from Mills & Reeve.

The firm now has 32 partners.The corporate department of The Wilkes Partnership in Birmingham has been boosted by the addition of Kate Hackett as a partner.

She moves from Irwin Mitchell, where she was an associate.

Further north, Wirral-based personal injury specialists Brian Camp & Co promoted Phyllis Laidlaw as its fourth partner.

Fellow northern firm Hill Dickinson has recruited commercial lawyer Ian Vicary from his post as head of corporate at Aaron & Partners.Simmons & Simmons recruited corporate lawyer Dr Franz-Josef Schne to its Dsseldorf office from Haarmann Hemmelrath & Partners.

PRIVATE PRACTICEAssociates/assistantsTo join its new litigation and employment partner, London firm Ross & Craig has also appointed Colin Barr, previously at Merricks, as a senior associate in the property department.

Also in London, ten-partner Rosling King has promoted litigator Henrietta Crompton and insurance defence litigator Suzannah Brown to associates.IBB also has a partner/assistant recruitment double: corporate lawyer Tim Adams has joined from Clifton Ingrams in Berkshire.Graham Henderson - previously a litigator at Clifford Chance and Bird & Bird before becoming a freelance business consultant - has joined the dispute management team in Morgan Cole's London office.Reading firm Field Seymour Parkes has appointed two newly qualified solicitors as assistants - commercial property lawyer Rosalind Rutherford and family law specialist Dawn Routledge.

Another family lawyer, Nik Walton-Jones, has joined the Camberley office of Herrington & Carmichael from Winchester firm Egglestones.Employment assistant Deborah Moore has left Southampton-based Lamport Bassitt to move to the Southampton office of Lester Aldridge.Two new assistants for Tonbridge, Kent firm Warners: commercial property lawyer Sally Wilson leaves City giant Allen & Overy, while Esther Lee joins the company and commercial department from London firm William Heath & Co.

Probate specialist Joyce Bennell joins Birmingham firm Simpsons from Woolley & Co where she worked as a consultant handling wills and estate work via the Internet.

Birmingham firm Martineau Johnson loses tax specialist Bob Neal, who moves north to the Leeds office of Irwin Mitchell, where he becomes an associate.

Black country firm Higgs & Sons has promoted three solicitors to associate level: Julia Allely (family), Sarah Roberts (personal injury), and Nick Taylor (corporate and commercial).There are four new solicitors in the Leeds office of Gordons Cranswick: Robert McGough from Last Cawthra Feather, Michael Crook from Ivesons and newly qualified James Fawcett all join the commercial department; Derek Payne leaves Charsley Harrison to bolster the property team.Lancashire personal injury firm Scott Rees has promoted David Byrne to associate in its Skelmersdale office.

Another personal injury firm, Graham Leigh Pfeffer & Co, of Bury, Greater Manchester, has appointed Michael Lord to its serious injury department from Molesworths Bright Clegg.

Employment lawyer Suzanne Gadsby has also joined the firm from Knowles Lawyers.

Down the road, Wirral-based Brian Camp & Co - in addition to its new partner - has promoted personal injury lawyer Gareth Kinvig to associate, and appointed Nigel Jones, formerly at Liverpool firm Bermans, to head the newly formed employment department.