Four assistants for Birkett Long: (left to right) Emma Thomas (employment), Rebecca Burden (family), Matthew Edwards (private client) and Sue Wink (conveyancing)

Private Practice

Partners


Most of the action is in the south of the country this week. Kicking off in the capital, private client partner Andrew Dixon moves from Pinsents’ City office to Collyer-Bristow, joined by team members Rosamond McDowell (associate) and Sarah Williams (assistant solicitor).


Two partners move to Fladgate Fielder’s media practice: Watson Farley & Williams’ head of intellectual property Nick Fenner and corporate partner Jeff McGeachie from Bird & Bird.


Investment funds specialist Simon Firth moves to Berwin Leighton Paisner as a partner from the City office of US firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr.

Grace Kerr: leaves City for Wollastons

Two partners join the finance and projects group at Taylor Wessing in the City: Akmal Ghauri from Osborne Clarke’s City office and Ashley Painter from CMS Cameron McKenna.

Shipping litigation partner Michael Kim moves to DLA’s City office from Richards Butler.


Defamation specialist Barton Taylor, previously a partner at Carter-Ruck, has joined Williams Holden Cooklin Gibbons.


Grace Kerr leaves City firm Olswang for the commercial property department at Wollastons in Chelmsford.


In Sussex, Richard Orridge sets up niche practice LawQuest Legal Solutions in Worthing, specialising in licensing and regulatory law. He was previously an associate at DMH in Brighton.


Further north, personal injury specialist Katy Marsden is promoted to partner at Branton Bridge in Salford, bringing the total number of partners to four.



Katy Marsden: becomes partner at Branton Bridge

Associates/Assistants

In Essex, Birkett Long adds four assistant solicitors: Rebecca Burden (family) from Riddell Croft & Co in Ipswich; Emma Thomas (employ-ment) from Wollastons in Chelmsford; Sue Wink (residential conveyancing) from Plummer Tilsley Logan in Colchester; and Matthew Edwards, who qualifies into the private client team.


Hart Brown takes on two assistant solicitors in its Godalming office in Surrey: Emily Wiggins joins the private client team after training at Hunters in Lincoln’s Inn, while Michelle O’Brien leaves Merrony Wall in Twickenham to join the residential property practice. In the Woking office, Poornima Andrews is promoted to senior solicitor in the residential property team.


Two newly qualified solicitors move to Vizards Wyeth’s Dartford office: Georgina Vanden Berghe (private client) from Berry & Berry in Tunbridge Wells and Irpreet Kaur Kohli (family) from Thomson Snell & Passmore in Tunbridge Wells.

Michael Kim: ships out to City office of DLA

In the east midlands, Ann Critchell-Ward joins Freethcartwright’s Nottingham office as an intellectual property associate from Martineau Johnson in Birmingham.

Moving north, Ford & Warren adds three to its Leeds-based commercial property team: associate Nigel Price from Cobbetts in Leeds, and assistant solicitors Will Baggaley from Eaton Smith in Huddersfield and Jenny Cheung from Lee & Priestley in Leeds.


In Newcastle, employment assistant solicitor Yvonne Atherton moves to Crutes from Last Cawthra Feather in Bradford.


Bar and bench

Thomas Walde, professor of international economic, natural resources and energy law at the University of Dundee, joins Essex Court Chambers in London.




Emrys Parry: appointed chairman of the CPA

Ian Mill QC and Thomas Beazley QC have been appointed joint heads of chambers at Blackstone Chambers in London.

Solicitor Michael Nicholson is appointed a district judge on the south-eastern circuit.


Barrister Beverly Lunt becomes a circuit judge on the northern circuit.


Other

Emrys Parry, a partner at Bond Pearce in Bristol and specialist in compulsory purchase and planning law, is appointed chairman of the Compulsory Purchase Association.