PRIVATE PRACTICE

Partnership

Employment lawyers are on the move in the City this week.

Partners Corinne Aldridge and Helen Parker have left the partnership of Bird & Bird to form a niche employment practice, AldridgeParker.

Assistants Sian Gibbins, Amy Neo and Richard Woolmer have moved with them.

Tom Flanagan, former head of Stephenson Harwood's employment team, has moved to take the same role in the London office of national firm Pinsents.

Away from the City, Rachel Booth has left Pitmans for fellow Reading firm Field Seymour Parkes to become a commercial property partner.

Residential property lawyer Darren Blackburn has been made up to partner in the Tiverton office of Bevan Ashford.

In Cardiff, intellectual property lawyer Michael Lindsey has left Morgan Cole to become a partner at Edwards Geldard.

From west to east, and two new partners in the Bury St Edmunds office of Ashton Graham: Mark Beaton (head of residential conveyancing) and Alison Budge (private client) have been made up.

Cambridge firm Hewitsons now has 52 partners after promoting agricultural lawyer Gareth Williams.

Commercial property lawyer Andrew Scarle has joined Birmingham-based Shakespeares as an associate partner, having left Wragge & Co.

Property tax specialist Simon Hedley has left Halliwell Landau for Leeds firm Fox Hayes.

Across the Pennines, Lancashire firm Forbes has reached 27 partners after four promotions: Daniel Milnes (head of company and commercial), Kevin James (head of employment), Robin Stephens (head of commercial litigation) and Michelle Spensley (head of residential property).

In Paris, Norton Rose has hired a group of five partners, six lawyers and their support staff from Sokolow Dunaud Mercadier & Carreras.

The partners - Jean-Franois Mercadier, Herv Castelnau, Pascale Gallien, Alain Malek and Alexandre Brabant - bring broad experience of merger and acquisition, private equity and arbitration work.

On the management front, John Young has won the election to become the next senior partner of Lovells.

He won out over the incumbent, Andrew Walker, and joint head of corporate Hugh Nineham.

Mr Young will remain head of corporate insurance when he takes over on 1 May 2004.

John Crabtree, the former senior partner of Wragge & Co, is to become a non-executive director of the firm when he retires from the partnership on 30 April 2004.

Dave Snyder, managing partner of the London office of US firm Pillsbury Winthrop, has been elected firm-wide executive vice-chairman.

PRIVATE PRACTICE

Associates/assistants

US firm Shearman & Sterling has launched an English law intellectual property and IT practice by hiring Deborah Lincoln as a senior associate in its London office.

She joins from London media firm Davenport Lyons, where she was a partner.

Family lawyer David Williams has joined Poole firm Ellis Jones from Humphries Kirk.

Bath firm Withy King has kept on three trainees after qualification: Mandy Casavant (private client), Hannah Land (clinical negligence) and Craig Smith (construction).

Richard Leigh has joined Bristol firm TLT as a senior pensions lawyer from the City office of Eversheds.

In Birmingham, Amanda Richardson has moved to Shoosmiths as a planning solicitor.

She leaves Martineau Johnson.

At the same time, Martineaus has hired energy and environment lawyer Graham Stuart from City firm Tite & Lewis.

Several promotions in the property team at Pinsents in Birmingham.

Justin Mason, Lisa Middleton, Richard Ford and Charlotte Lee have all become associates.

Commercial property solicitor Sarah Doyle has joined the Derby office of Edwards Geldard from Marrons in Leicester.

Two hires for DWF in Liverpool.

Insurance solicitor Suzette Cain moves from Liverpool City Council and property lawyer Heidi Mayer from Weightmans.

Manchester firm James Chapman & Co has added commercial property solicitor Matthew Dobson from Halliwell Landau.

Beachcroft Wansbroughs has brought in construction and engineering associate Paul Taylor from Hammonds to join its Manchester office, while the Leeds office has been strengthened by senior employment solicitor Rowena Watkins, also from Hammonds, and projects solicitor Nawshad Hossain-Ibrahim from Wragge & Co in Birmingham.

Eleswhere in Leeds, French property specialist Barbara Heslop has joined Fox Hayes from Emsleys.

Joanne Baldwin has left the Manchester office of Trowers & Hamlins to work in Atteys' Doncaster base.

BAR AND BENCH

Barrister Andrew Marshall has joined the employment team of DWF HRhorizons - north-west firm DWF's human resources consultancy - in Warrington.

He was previously head of employment litigation at the Manchester office of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Kim Neal has left chambers in Manchester to join Liverpool-based Hill Dickinson as a public sector advocate in the fraud team.

Paul Batty QC has been appointed a circuit judge on the northern circuit.

IN-HOUSE

Paul Ferguson, who was head of legal services at the Broadcasting Standards Commission, has joined the new merged communications industry regulator Ofcom as assistant boards secretary.