Movers and Shakers

Kate Harris

Associate Solicitor

Irwin Mitchell

We have seen some exciting new moves and promotions since our last Movers and Shakers feature; it is fantastic to see the wealth of expertise we have in Cambridgeshire and in our member firms. Here’s what we have to celebrate in this edition…

Ashtons Legal welcomes new additions

At Ashtons Legal in Cambridge there has been two Partner appointments and a number of promotions in the past few months. Andrew Skuse and Sheila Small have joined the firm’s Residential and Commercial Property teams as Partners, James Eden, Solicitor, has returned to the Employment team and Jo Cotgrove, Family lawyer has been promoted to Associate. We are also pleased to welcome to the Cambridge Disputes team Natasha Adams, winner of the Cambridge Law Society Legal Excellence Awards Trainee of the Year, who recently qualified as a Solicitor after completing her training contract.

In another part of the firm, Cambridge-based Stefan Mitham has been promoted to BD & Marketing Manager and leads a team of eight providing CRM, PR, digital marketing, events and sales support across Ashtons.

New starters and promotions at Hewitsons

Solicitor Chloe Harbutt joined the private wealth team at the Cambridge office of Hewitsons in September. Newly-qualified Chloe joins Hewitsons from a National Law firm where she worked in its tax, trusts and estates team, dealing with a wide range of matters including Wil drafting, estate administration, lasting powers of attorney, UK inheritance tax and succession planning advice for domestic and international clients

Solicitor Samuel Mitchell has recently joined the agriculture and rural property team at Hewitsons in Cambridge. Samuel specialises in agricultural property, while also having experience in the commercial property sector, and joins the firm from a well-known legal practice in Cumbria.

Bradley Armorgie has recently been promoted to an Associate at Hewitsons, where residential sales continue to flourish. Bradley joined the residential property team in 2016 and has experience of all aspects of residential property including sales and purchases of freehold and leasehold properties, remortgages, lease extensions and enfranchisement work. Clare Martin, head of the residential property team said: “This year has been challenging for us all, as we have adapted our ways of working but the residential property team at Hewitsons has continued to deliver complete client focus throughout. Congratulations to Bradley I wish you long and successful career.”

Five promising young trainees have recently qualified as solicitors at Hewitsons, with two new trainees also joining the firm for a two-year fixed training period. In Cambridge, newly-qualified Emma Elston has qualified into the dispute resolution team, Joe Greenstock in the corporate team and Jack Thorogood has joined the private wealth team. Charlotte Herrington who joined the firm in September 2018 qualified early in March 2020 and since that time has been working in the employment team.

In addition, the firm also welcomed new trainee Craig Veltri to its Cambridge office. Originally from Canada, Craig graduated with a first-class degree from the Open University and takes his first seat in the agriculture team.

Birketts’ new starters

Birketts have bolstered the largest Family Law team in East Anglia by appointing award-winning Senior Associate, Rachel Frost-Smith. Most recently recognised as Lawyer of the Year 2020 at the Cambridgeshire Law society awards, Rachel first qualified as a solicitor in 1990. She worked at a Magic Circle City law firm advising multi-national companies on corporate tax before moving to Asia to work for one of the ‘big four’ accounting firms in Hong Kong.

After a successful career advising banks and global companies on cross-border structures and starting a family, Rachel returned to the UK and requalified as a family lawyer and solicitor-advocate for Higher Courts Civil Proceedings. Rachel is also a member of Resolution and an accredited specialist in private children law, and private children law advocacy. She joins Birketts from a highly-regarded national law firm’s Family Law division.

Birketts has announced the appointment of Xiaolei Liu as a Solicitor in its highly regarded Employee Incentives team. With a wide-ranging array of experience across legal and non-legal environments, Xiaolei is well versed in providing strategic solutions for businesses seeking to minimise risk. She has a wealth of specialist knowledge as well as strong commercial awareness and speaks native Mandarin.

Commenting on her appointment, Xiaolei said: “Birketts is recognised as one of the leading authorities when it comes to the arrangement and implementation of employee incentive schemes and I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with such an innovative team. I look forward to joining the firm and working alongside the specialists to face fresh challenges.”

Birketts has announced the appointment of Helen Stewart as a Senior Associate in its award winning Commercial Property team. With over ten years’ experience in the commercial property sector, Helen has a wide range of specialist knowledge in relation to development work. Helen is skilled in a number of areas including drafting and advising upon development agreements, option agreements, overage agreements, promotion agreements and conditional contracts – all with a variety of complexity.

Commenting on her appointment, Helen said: “Birketts has an excellent reputation for Commercial Property advice both regionally and beyond. I am delighted to join the firm and to have the opportunity to work with such a talented team of specialists. I look forward to facing fresh challenges.”

We would love to hear from you if you know of any moves, promotions or achievements which should be featured in our next edition. Please let us know by emailing admin@cambslaw.com.

The post Movers and Shakers appeared first on LIGHT BLUE LAW.

Share this: