Moving on

PRIVATE PRACTICE

Partners

Amid the welter of promotions, the London offices of US firms have taken centre stage on recruitment.

Tax expert and solicitor-advocate Nikhil Mehta is to leave Linklaters for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Project finance lawyer Jonathan Simpson also leaves the magic circle, this time Allen & Overy, for Dewey Ballantine.

The US firms are also preying on each other: financial restructuring expert James Douglas has left White & Case for Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft; insolvency lawyer Lyndon Norley has left Cadwalader for Kirkland & Ellis; and cross-border transaction specialist Andrew Parnell has joined Sidley Austin Brown & Wood from Wilmer Cutler & Pickering.

On the promotion front, Sidley Austin has taken its London partnership total to 28 with the promotions of Andrew Bliss (capital markets), John Casanova (financial services), Jenna Janss and Robert Torch (both commercial) - the latter three all being US qualified.

Dorsey & Whitney has brought corporate lawyer Andrew Rimmington into the equity department.

Back to UK firms, London-based Bates Wells & Braithwaite has recruited corporate partner Peter Bohm from Fladgate Fielder.

Hammond Suddards Edge has scooped up Tracy Fisher from Lovells and promoted Tim Jarvis as partners in the renamed tax strategies unit, while Liam Buckley replaces William Downs as managing partner of the firm's Manchester office.

Nine new partners for Bird & Bird take the partnership to 91.

Corporate partners Jeff McGeachie and John Allison have left the sinking ship of Garretts with five assistants, while another seven have been promoted.

The five in London are: Peter Elliott (IT), Catherine Milton (litigation), Helen Parker (employment), Robert Williams (IP) and Andrew White (knowledge management).

Six new partners take SJ Berwin's total to 120.

The three in London are corporate finance lawyers Rob Day, David Parkes and Blair Thompson.

There are 114 partners at Clyde & Co after five promotions, including London-based Andrew Bicknell and Alex McIntosh (both shipping), and Adam Taylor-Smith (real estate), and Derek Reid (insurance) in the Guildford office.

Pinsent Curtis Biddle has promoted eight partners nationwide.

Ian Barker (property), Helena Jones (corporate), Vincent King and Dean Larder (both projects) and Chris Mordue (employment) all move up in Leeds, along with Simon Mumford (projects) and Martyn Hann (media) in London, and Joanne Ellis (private equity) in Birmingham.

There are additional widespread promotions at Masons, where the elevation of six lawyers to partner takes the firm's total to 99.

Edward Goodwyn (employment), Neal Morris (construction) and Geoff Roberts (infrastructure) in London, Mark Sanderson (infrastructure) and Roger Seshan (energy) in Leeds, and Bristol-based Andrew Kearney (construction) take the step up.

In Birmingham, Wragge & Co has 108 partners after making up private finance initiative and rail expert David Fennell, and financial litigation and insolvency specialist Ian Weatherall.

Elsewhere in the midlands, Nottingham-based Berryman Shacklock is the latest to benefit from the dissolution of local firm Warren & Allen after bringing in Anne Robinson and John Pears, who headed the property and private client teams respectively.

In addition, Andrew Christon (insurance litigation), James Jarvis (employment) and Steven Skiba (commercial litigation) are all promoted.

In Bolton, personal injury lawyer Martin McAleer has joined Keoghs as a partner from James Chapman.

One-time James Chapman partner Nick Marshall is joining Nexus Solicitors in Manchester.

He is currently company secretary and legal counsel to sports marketing company World Sport Solutions, and will continue his role there.

Newcastle firm Ward Hadaway has recruited Malcolm Lloyd from Pinsent Curtis Biddle as partner and head of commercial property.

PRIVATE PRACTICE

Associates / assistants

Having lost a partner, London firm Fladgate Fielder has better news with the recruitment of corporate lawyer Rolf Stein, who was previously senior European counsel at Apple Computer.

Three senior assistants for City firm Landwell: former Denton Wilde Sapte lawyer Russell Dellar has joined as head of real estate, while former Halliwell Landau partner Louise Curd has become a senior litigation associate, as has Ian Carson from Herbert Smith.

Another lawyer leaving a partnership position is commercial property specialist John Shallcross, who has left the Northampton office of Hewitson Becke & Shaw to become a senior solicitor at south-coast firm Blake Lapthorn.

There's another one in Birmingham too: former Sydney Mitchell partner Andrew Gillett has joined Simpson & Co as a personal injury associate.

Stafford firm Oldham Rust Jobson has brought in corporate/commercial associate Hilary Ripalo from George Green.

Cheshire health litigation firm Alexander Harris has recruited Susannah Read from Leigh Day & Co to work as an associate in its MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) generic team.

A new fraud unit at Leeds firm Grahame Stowe Bateson is to be headed by Norman Sarsfield, the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Wakefield office and more recently a special casework lawyer in Leeds.