Member Article

WBD announces seven new partners and four legal directors in raft of 31 promotions UK-wide

Law firm Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has confirmed a number of senior promotions across its UK offices, including seven new partners and four legal directors. The good news is part of a wider round of promotions including 20 lawyers promoted to the role of associate.

Jonathan Blair, UK managing partner at WBD, commented: “Congratulations to all of our new partners, legal directors and associates, who have all made fantastic contributions to our business. Their hard work, commitment to the firm and first rate legal expertise deserves to be recognised and celebrated.”

“The career development opportunities of our people continues to be a high priority and these promotions signify an important investment in the future of our firm.”

The promotions bring the total number of UK partners at WBD to 132 and follow a number of senior hires across the firm with new partners Kathryn Wood (real estate, Leeds), Deborah Ramshaw (public sector, Newcastle), Jessica Tresham (construction, London and Southampton), Will Ford (private client, London), Paul Mason (real estate, Edinburgh) and James Radcliffe (private client, Bristol) joining the firm in the past few months.

The new partners include:

Bristol-based Jo Martin and Tom Caplen. Jo is an employment lawyer advising a range of clients on all aspects of employment law including discrimination, whistle-blowing, redundancy, parental rights, corporate transactions and employee terminations. Tom works in the firm’s banking team advising clients in the financial institution and real estate sectors on a broad range of finance transactions. Tom trained and qualified as a solicitor at WBD in 2008.

Leeds-based Vicky McCombe and Sam Dixon. Vicky works in WBD’s construction and engineering team; with over ten years’ experience she advises developers, local authorities, retailers, manufacturers and many others on transactional construction work. Sam works in the restructuring and insolvency team, he is a qualified insolvency practitioner and has particular experience in the education, healthcare and technology sectors.

In Plymouth, the firm promoted Stephen Panton in the commercial disputes team. With over 20 years’ experience in regulatory compliance and enforcement, Stephen acts for public and private sector clients on all aspects of health & safety, environmental and consumer protection law, he also works on investigations involving financial crime.

Finally, two new partners are joining the private client team including Richard Pike who is based in Edinburgh and Will Bonas in Newcastle. Richard is a dispute resolution private client lawyer, focusing on disputes about trusts and inheritance, he trained with the firm and qualified in 2008. Will has many years’ experience as a corporate and commercial lawyer, which he has built upon in private client work, advising business and rural estates owners, high net worth individuals and family investment companies.

The new legal directors include:

Carly Holt and Stephen Baker who are both based in Southampton. Carly works in the corporate team and advises clients on corporate finance transactions. Stephen is part of the developers and investors team acting on behalf of a broad range of clients on real estate requirements.

Newcastle-based Sarah Daun in the commercial team. With a particular focus and interest in the manufacturing and chemicals sector, Sarah advises her clients in relation to all aspects of the supply chain.

Bristol-based Janice Cowley in the private client team. Janice specialises in residential conveyancing, commercial property and agricultural property transactions.

The 20 new associates include:

Corporate and Commercial:

• Beth Kalischer • Harry Rose • Amy Galloway • Tim Barber • David Ridley • Esther Masisi • George Matthew

Dispute Resolution:

• Michael Wharton • Thomas McCall • Elisha Langridge • Anna Martin • Andrew Carr • Helen Coxon • Beth Caygill

Real estate:

• Sarah Dinshaw • Sam Pearson • Naomi Spencer • Elizabeth Cooke-Smith • Stephanie Mallery

Private client:

• Sally Cooper

Ranking in the UK’s top 20 law firms, WBD provides legal expertise across a range of sectors including financial institutions, insurance, public & government services, energy & natural resources, healthcare, manufacturing, real estate, retail & consumer, transport, logistics & infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology & life sciences, technology and private client. The firm has 27 offices across the UK and US.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Womble Bond Dickinson LLP .