Private Practice


Partners

Kick-starting the new year in the City, Eversheds boosts its corporate practice with the appointment of David Levin, who joins from the London office of US firm Chadbourne & Parke, where he was the senior UK corporate and corporate finance lawyer.



Also leaving the London office of a US firm is corporate partner Richard Britain, who moves to Clyde & Co from McDermott Will & Emery.



Going the other way is Jonathan Simpson, former head of international projects at Berwin Leighton Paisner, who joins the London office of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker.



A three-partner commercial team – Simon Shooter, Chris Holder and Christian Bartsch – joins Bird & Bird from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert.



Joining Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, meanwhile, is restructuring specialist Jon Yorke from Richards Butler.



Kingsley Napley promotes Ross Brain to partner in the clinical negligence and personal injury department.



Philip Chong swaps life as a litigation partner at Denton Wilde Sapte for that at DLA Piper.



SJ Berwin hires David Meredith to head the outsourcing team in the commerce and technology group. He was previously a partner and head of outsourcing at technology firm Kemp Little.



The London office of Halliwells appoints Karen Kirkham from Boodle Hatfield, where she was a partner and head of construction.



James Healy-Pratt – chairman of the Lloyds Market Association Lawyers Forum – joins Stewarts to head its new aviation department as a partner, with the aim of developing a claimant aviation practice. He leaves insurance and reinsurance group Amlin, where he set up the group legal function.



Maeve O’Higgins joins Silverman Sherliker from Edward Fail Bradshaw & Waterson to head the family law unit.



Away from the capital, clinical negligence specialist Richard Follis – the

immediate past president of Birmingham Law Society – moves to the Birmingham office of Shoosmiths from Alexander Harris in Solihull.



In Liverpool, Silverbeck Rymer promotes personal injury specialist Sally Raeburn to partner.



Bolton firm Allansons promotes criminal specialist Mohamed Patel as its third partner.



Associates/Assistants

Carole Joseph joins Halliwells as a senior associate in the London real estate team from Nabarro Nathanson.



Four new faces at Maidstone firm Brachers: commercial assistant Chris Bené moves from an in-house role at Eurotunnel; senior litigation solicitor Jeremy Ferris joins from Hallett & Co in Ashford; Sandy Foster joins the commercial property team from Thomas Eggar, and Jane Walker joins the private client team from Canterbury firm Gardner Croft.



Also in Kent, Ashford firm Kingsfords recruits assistant Rebecca Irwin in its commercial services team from Mowll & Mowll in Dover.



Newly qualified Lucy Li joins the commercial property, retail and leisure team at Southampton firm Paris Smith & Randall.



In Exeter, Philip Ryley moves to Michelmores to head the firm’s new financial services and markets practice from Bristol-based TLT, where he was head of financial services regulation.



Lincoln firm Andrew & Co takes on Helen Barton, who qualified with the firm, to work in the commercial property and agricultural law teams.



The Nottingham office of Shoosmiths welcomes Rosamund Evans, who joins as an associate in the private client team from the local office of Geldards.



Planning associate John Holmes joins Hill Dickinson’s Liverpool office from Pannone.



Senior personal injury solicitor Nick Foss joins Scott Rees & Co in Skelmersdale from Canter Levin & Berg, in Liverpool, where he was a partner.



Across the Pennines, Valerie Mitchell moves to the commercial property team at Fox Hayes in Leeds as a solicitor from Morley Mitchell, which she co-founded in 1996.



Leeds firm Ison Harrison recruits family lawyer Geoff Lorkins from local practice Davies Gore Lomax.



Commercial property lawyer Peter Kuleszka joins Atteys in Doncaster from Barnsley firm Raleys.



Bar and bench

Solicitor Khalid Malik is appointed a district judge at the Principal Registry of the Family Division.



Solicitor Michael Clements is appointed a senior immigration judge of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.



Other

City firm Herbert Smith has hired private client specialist Michael Wood as a consultant to its trusts and charities group; he was previously managing partner at Westminster practice Bircham Dyson Bell.



Henry Abraham, a former partner at Brachers in Maidstone, returns to the firm from early retirement as a consultant in the planning and environment team.