Messenger December 2017

More documents

Recommendations

Info

12 Movers & Shakers MLP Law appoints new head of Dispute Resolution Altrincham based solicitors, MLP Law, have strengthened its leadership team with a new head of Dispute Resolution, Elizabeth Wilkinson. Former Pannone Corporate solicitor, Elizabeth brings almost 20 years’ experience of managing disputes, acting on a diverse range of commercial contract disputes, professional negligence actions and claims arising from the sale and purchase of businesses. Elizabeth will now assist in the development of MLP’s growing department and look to help MLP Law achieve its strategic vision. Managing Partner of MLP Law, Stephen Attree, stated, “We welcome Elizabeth’s experience and professionalism to the team. She has demonstrated a robust approach, is commercially astute, and focused on achieving successful outcomes, as quickly as possible.” He added, “we’re here to support our clients through what are often difficult times and I know Elizabeth’s advice and help is exactly what they look for when they turn to the team at MLP. The new appointment follows a continued period of growth for the company, acquiring law firm William H Lill earlier in the year. With a total of 38 team members, the solicitors look to further focus on supporting their existing client base, while maintaining the traction of acquiring new business. Ann Stephen Attree, Managing Partner at MLP Law, welcomes Elizabeth to the MLP team as head of Dispute Resolution. Mills & Reeve invests in Manchester real estate team with two new partners Leading national law firm Mills & Reeve has announced two new lateral hires for the firm’s real estate team in Manchester. Mike Edge and Rachel Pitman join the firm from Pinsent Masons. Mike is a well-known and respected real estate lawyer in the North West and has worked for a number of high profile clients, including significant developers and investors, as well as substantial occupier clients. He successfully led the Manchester real estate team at Pinsent Masons for seven years, overseeing many landmark deals and schemes. Rachel Pitman is a real estate partner with significant experience in the North West region. Rachel has acted on a number of high profile investment properties in Manchester and has advised clients on strategically important development sites in the region. Her project management expertise and skills provide clients with a speedy and efficient service from cross sector disciplines. The appointments are part of Mills & Reeve’s plan to grow their already successful national real estate practice and demonstrates their commitment to Manchester and the North West. Beverley Firth, who leads the national real estate team for Mills & Reeve, said: “Manchester’s real estate sector has demonstrated its strength and resilience in the face of challenging economic times and the uncertainty caused by Brexit. Residential developments have fared particularly well; the recent Deloitte Crane Survey recorded 22 new developments starting on site in the North West in the past year, up from the previous high of 14 in 2008, surpassing even pre-recession levels. “This paints a really positive picture of the sector and we believe now is the ideal time to invest in our practice in the North West. The appointment of Mike and Rachel will help us achieve our aim of growing our real estate team to in turn help businesses and organisations in Manchester and the North West assure further strong growth.” Mills & Reeve’s strategy to offer real estate clients in the North West an innovative service, completing complex and high value work, will be further bolstered by the lateral hires. Justin Ripman, Senior Partner at the firm said: “This is yet another significant development in our real estate team following our merger with Maxwell Winward earlier in the year. The expansion of our Manchester team will further enhance our national network of real estate experts.” The North West is a region with fantastic prospects for forward-thinking businesses and we aim to be at the forefront, helping our real estate clients gain access to these opportunities as well as providing an excellent service that can support them locally, regionally and nationally.” Shoosmiths Manchester Champions Workplace Transformation Head of Shoosmiths Manchester, Vaqas Farooq has revealed how the office has benefitted from heightened efficiency, stronger recruitment pull and more streamlined business processes since moving into its new purpose designed collaborative workspace at XYZ in the city centre. Vaqas was speaking at a seminar, jointly hosted by Shoosmiths and award-winning interior design and fitout specialists, Claremont who designed and built the innovative workspace project for the leading law firm. The event provided an invited audience of Manchester business leaders with insight and practical advice around transforming workspaces to drive better business performance. Guests were given a guided tour of Shoosmiths’ innovative two-floor workspace, which includes a variety of different work environments, tailored to suit the firm’s activities and to maximise collaboration. The tour was accompanied by presentations from Vaqas Farooq and Claremont’s lead designers, who explained the rationale behind Shoosmiths’ new workspace and its outcomes. The speakers provided insight around how to develop engaging workspaces that help to attract and retain the best talent, how to create a future-proofed workspace that evolves as a company grows and how to increase capacity across an office estate whilst building in flexibility and longevity. Vaqas Farooq said, ‘We are very proud to be blazing a trail for law firms in the city, when it comes to rethinking the way our industry works and we wanted to share what we have learned by helping to bring the ‘agile’ approach to life for other businesses in the region. The event gave us the opportunity to showcase our new offices in an educational manner that we hope will help inform future decisions the business community makes around workspace design. “We are already reaping numerous benefits as a result of our investment into a progressive workspace. Our agile culture, that empowers our teams to decide how and where they work, is helping us to attract and retain high-calibre employees, for instance. And our focus on collaborative working, enabled by technology and dedicated workspace, has resulted in more effective team work, scaling expertise and improving colleague productivity and well-being.” Vaqas Farooq Sarah-Jane Osborne, design and workspace strategy director for Claremont said: “Shoosmiths has fully embraced the very latest in workspace thinking to increase productivity, collaboration and effectiveness for both the business and its clients. Adopting this progressive approach has put Shoosmiths ahead of the industry change curve and makes the firm a prime example of how workplace investment should have people and processes at its heart.” Shoosmiths’ new Manchester office occupies 32,000 sq ft of space at XYZ in Spinningfields. It incorporates eleven different types of workspace along with break-out areas. Workspaces include a garden, working library, multi-zonal project room, drafting areas, huddle booths and telecon rooms. Each of the office’s five practice groups have their own ‘neighbourhoods’, which incorporate some traditional desk space, along with team and collaborative areas.
Interview 13 My Other Life In this edition Andrew Twambley of Amelans Solicitors and Chair of A2J talks to Julia Baskerville about his passion for music and photography... Andrew Twambley is a well-known figure in the Manchester legal community, through his work with the injurylawyers4u and Access 2 Justice (A2J), which leads the campaign against government reforms, which could limit access to justice for those who have suffered injuries. Yet away from the law, Andrew has more rock n’roll lifestyle. Andrew has always enjoyed music and his first job as a teenager was working at Cobweb Records in Cleveleys on the Fylde Coast. One of his co-workers was Jeff Smith who went on to become controller of Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music. Whilst at still at Fleetwood Grammar School, Andrew and other pupils assisted in arranging an end of term party at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool and were given the princely sum of £26 to book some entertainment. £4 was spent booking the support act “Bob Kerr’s Whoopie Band“ and with the remaining £22 booked an up and coming band. Ironically, the week before the party, they appeared on Top of the Pops and Andrew says they really didn’t think that they would show up for a school party. But true to their word, Queen arrived in a battered old van and put on a great show. Andrew says that until the mid 1970s his music tastes were limited to Slade, Bowie and other glam rockers, and even David Essex, but the advent of Punk opened a whole new world. In 1976 Andrew went to Liverpool Polytechnic and found “Eric’s” - the iconic music venue on Matthew Street, where Andrew says, “I was reborn”. All of the great punk bands performed at Eric’s, including the Clash, The Jam, Buzzcocks, The Slits, The Ramones, and Joy Division to name but a few. After graduating from Liverpool Poly, Andrew followed the Clash to the States, taking photographs, which meandered across the country ending in Monterey, near San Francisco with a gig which also included Robert Fripp, Brian Eno and Peter Tosh. Once back in the UK, Andrew trained as a solicitor in Manchester at an old established firm on John Dalton Street. He joined Amelans in 1989 and is now the managing partner. In 2000 Andrew reignited his interest in photography. He met Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet who invited him to come and take some photographs of the band. Andrew now spends a couple of evenings a week at some of Manchester’s greatest music venues where he photographs both well established bands and up and coming musicians. He says “My music tastes have widened over the years, but I still have that punk mentality.” Andrew is official photographer for the 02 Ritz Manchester, but also covers The Apollo, Manchester Arena and smaller venues such as Gorilla and The Deaf Institute. He shoots for “Counterfeit” magazine and will shortly be shooting the “Louder than Words” festival, organised by John Robb, a former customer at Cobweb Records Andrew is also a keen poultry keeper and currently owns 50 chickens, the majority of whom have names. All of the males or “cocks” are called “Martin”, ,…..and NO he does not eat “his girls” Vintage Trouble John Cooper Clarke The Bay City Rollers The changing nature of the legal professional There’s little doubt that the nature of work is shifting at an unprecedented rate, and the legal profession is no exception. With artificial intelligence arriving on the scene offering firms the ability to automise many process driven roles, coupled with intense competition for jobs, legal professionals can no longer rely on academic achievements alone. They need to able to demonstrate that they have the abilities to achieve long term success in an ever evolving workplace and help increase the profitability of their firm. So what are Manchester employers looking for in 2018? Outstanding interpersonal skills: Strong communication skills have always been required to support professionals’ legal knowledge, however having exceptional interpersonal skills is crucial for those looking to further their career. In an increasingly competitive employment market, individuals need to be able to demonstrate that they have the ability to cultivate and maintain strong professional relationships with peers, and establish a strong sense of rapport with clients. Negotiation and management skills: As in house teams continue to strengthen their legal departments, private practitioners will increasingly find themselves working with clients who are legal professionals themselves, who will expect their external counsel to not only show effective management skills but also a willingness to negotiate on alternative fee arrangements. Management and leadership qualities are vital for professionals who are looking to progress up the ladder as corporate counsel need to be able to manage a panel of external legal service providers. complex, legal professionals will find themselves working in more interdisciplinary teams, and having to collaborate with a wider range of external specialists, so the ability to work effectively with a diverse team is perhaps more crucial than ever. Collaboration is a skill rarely taught in legal degrees and while the ability to work autonomously and act as a sole advisor is still incredibly important, candidates need to be able to show that they can also work well in complex teams. The ability to be both generalist and specialist: Recent shifts within the profession have led to a somewhat paradoxical expectation of legal professionals. Increasingly employers are looking for individuals to have both specialist knowledge and a wide generalist skillset. In order to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market place, professionals need to adopt this dual role. Firms are now looking for individuals with both experience working in incredibly specialist practice areas, as well as having a broad sense of commercial awareness. Law firms are placing a greater value on commercial acumen tests during the recruitment process, so professionals need to ensure that they are able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the ‘business of law’ and can combine a sense of commercial awareness with sound legal reasoning. Lynn Sedgwick is Managing Director of specialist recruiter, Clayton Legal. For more information visit www.clayton-legal.co.uk or call 01772 259 121 The ability to work collaboratively: Workplaces are being ever more collaborative, and the legal profession is adopting increasingly cooperative working practices. As cases become progressively more
Page 1 and 2: December 2017 October 09 1 Going Gr
Page 3 and 4: Contents 3 News from the President
Page 5 and 6: 5 President’s Column 5 From the P
Page 7 and 8: Regulation 7 Regulatory Affairs Com
Page 9 and 10: Clough & Willis grows team with two
Page 11: Interview 11 Meet the President of
Page 15 and 16: Atttention to detail. In these unpr
Page 17 and 18: PEN OR NTRIES For more information:
Page 19 and 20: Legal Costs Update 19 Legal Costs U
Page 21 and 22: Interview 21 City Profile: Andrew T
Page 23 and 24: CILEx Update Local Groups 23 Traini
Page 25 and 26: Case Comment 25 Case Comment Mr And
Page 27: WHAT IS MLS ADVANTAGE? A group of c
Page 30 and 31: 30 Wine One Foot in the Grapes This
Page 32 and 33: How to Get the Body You Want this C
Page 34: WOMEN IN THE LAW AND BUSINESS UK MA

Messenger December 2017

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?