Moving on

PRIVATE PRACTICE

Partners

The August hiatus has ended and has been replaced by a spree of lateral hiring.In the City, Peter Sugden joins the real estate team at Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw from Manches.

Baker & McKenzie has lured IT specialist Rory Graham from Osborne Clarke.

Another US firm, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, has lured David Capps from DLA, where he was head of the financial services regulatory practice.

Field Fisher Waterhouse has strengthened its commercial property department with Edward Bannister from Dechert.

Olswang has a new commercial litigation partner: Paul Phillips from KLegal.

Wallace & Partners has promoted property litigator Simon Jones to partner.

Leaving the City are Jonathan Porteous (corporate finance) from Allen & Overy and Howard Lupton (commercial property) from Middleton Potts, who have taken Guildford firm Stevens & Bolton's partnership to 22.

Assistant Sarah Gregory has moved with Mr Lupton.

Ilse Gifford Smith has also left London - specifically Hardwick Stallards - to become partner and head of property, and wills and probate, at Basingstoke firm Hawkes.

Clinical negligence partner Sue Jarvis, a former head of civil litigation at St Albans firm Pictons, has joined Oxford firm Linnells.

Moving further north, Leicester-based niche planning firm Marrons now has eight partners after promoting Louise Mee.

Nigel Moore has left Greenwoods, where he was head of company commercial, to join fellow Peterborough firm Buckle Mellows.

In Manchester, Andrew Kenyon has left Betesh Fox & Co to become head of commercial fraud at niche crime firm Burton Copeland.

Bristol-based Wards has promoted two associates to partner: Georgina Peacock (family) and Gary Hope (residential conveyancing).

Leading Welsh firm Hugh James has made up personal injury associate Justin Evans to partner.

On the international front, in Paris, US firm Deveboise & Plimpton has recruited international finance partner Eryl Besse from Linklaters.

PRIVATE PRACTICE

Associates/assistants

A bit of magic for Mills & Reeve's Norwich office: Greg Gibson, previously in-house at Warner Bros and the lead production lawyer on the 'Harry Potter' films, has joined Mills as a company and commercial assistant.

Meanwhile, Sandra King - who previously practised in New Zealand - has joined the technology and intellectual property team.

Amir Butt, previously at Elsey & Hodson, has joined Peterborough's Buckle Mellows as a commercial property assistant.

Joining the two new partners at Wards in Bristol are eight associates.

Chris Perkins, Susan Ellis, Andrew McInstosh, Bridget Redmond, Paul Hayward (conveyancing), Jonathan Wilson (commercial property) and Helen Gough (personal injury) are all promoted.

Larry Rawlinson (personal injury) has joined from Weston-Super-Mare firm Hart Lloyd.

Still in Bristol, Bond Pearce has created six associates: Gary Oldroyd, Nathan Peacey (insurance), Clive Dobbin, David Roath (employment), Andy Kimble (commercial) and Karen Morrish (professional negligence).

Rebecca Breakwell has left the legal department of Staffordshire and Moorlands District Council to become a property assistant at south-west firm Foot Anstey Sargent.

On the south-coast, Bournemouth firm the Isaacs Partnership has appointed two newly qualified assistants: Sarah Symonds (matrimonial) and David Joicey (commercial litigation).

Civil litigator Arun Chauhan and wills and probate expert Ravinder Sandhu have both recently qualified into west midlands firm Challinors Lyon Clark.

The Nottingham office of Baxendale Walker has recruited assistant Sarah Noble from Conway & Co to boost its wealth strategy team.

Family assistant Pat Wotherspoon - formerly at Howells - has joined the childcare team at Sheffield-based Graysons.

Newly qualified solicitors Emma Williamson (commercial dispute resolution) and Joanne Milner (corporate) have both joined Leeds-based McCormicks.

Manchester firm Betesh Fox & Co has promoted litigator Elliot Lister to associate.

OTHERS

MGM Mirage, the entertainment, hotel and gaming company, has appointed Lloyd Nathan as its general counsel.

Mr Nathan will be helping to set up the company's on-line casino venture, www.playmgmmirage.com.

Michael Stone, an intellectual property specialist in the life sciences industry, has left the legal department of GlaxoSmithKline to join US firm Covington & Burling as counsel.

North-west firm Brabners Chaffe Street has added e-commerce and intellectual property barrister Melanie Reilly to its Preston office.

Most recently she worked in Jersey at Bailhache Labesse.

Solicitor Jennifer Cragg has left Glaisyers in Manchester to work solely as a mediator at Family Mediation Manchester, which she helped set up in 1994.

Patrick Seferovich, previously head of Denton Wilde Sapte's Moscow office, has joined US firm Chadbourne & Parke as counsel in Moscow to expand its energy practice.