LAWYER MOVES Global law firm Kennedys has continued to expand its team in Scotland with the appointment of a third partner from Clyde & Co. Lesley Allan is a liability expert who specialises in catastrophic and large loss claims. In addition to this, she also has extensive experience in fatal accident inquiries as well as data protection and freedom of information issues. She began her career as an in-house litigation solicitor for local authorities in Strathclyde and North Lanarkshire after studying law at the University of Glasgow. She joins Daniela Fusi and Gavin Henderson, both of whom joined Kennedys from Clyde & Co earlier this year. Her appointment brings the total number of fee earners across the firm’s Edinburgh and Glasgow offices to more than 20. The firm also recently increased its office space in Glasgow through workplace transformation programme ‘WorkWise’. “I have long admired Kennedys’ commitment to innovation as a means of responding to and anticipating the future needs of its clients,” Allan said in a statement. “It is an exciting time for the legal sector, with technology increasingly transforming the way we work, and I am delighted to join a firm such as Kennedys which is at the vanguard of that change.” Kennedys’ Scotland Practice Grows With Third Clyde & Co Partner Hire UK law firm Clarke Willmott LLP, which has offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton, has boosted its planning and environment team with the appointment of a new partner. With over 20 years of experience in contentious and non-contentious planning law, Marianne Barker is the latest recruit to Clarke Willmott’s expanding specialist team. She will be based in the firm’s London office working and will advise on all aspects of planning law, including permitted development rights, CIL, green-built release and heritage. In a statement, Neil Baker, head of Clarke Willmott’s planning and environment team, said: “We’re delighted to have Marianne join us and offer her high quality legal and commercial advice to clients. Marianne’s expertise includes providing strategic and long-term planning input for town centre regeneration schemes and negotiating complex infrastructure agreements to deliver major planning consents. With a reputation as a solution-focused practitioner, she also has a sound understanding of the political framework in London, which plays a key role in decision making. Our planning and environment team has seen huge growth in recent years and Marianne’s appointment is part of our plans to continue this expansion.” Meanwhile, Baker said: “I am looking forward to working with Clarke Willmott’s already impressive planning and environment team to work with clients on building their businesses and unlocking potential roadblocks. “My recent focus has been project managing major residential-led, mixed use development schemes both locally and on appeal, and I’ve built up a particular expertise in scheme viability and affordable housing.” On 21 April, global law firm DLA Piper announced it had taken on a team of 27 private equity lawyers from Detroit-based firm Honigman. The hiring spree will substantially boost DLA Piper’s Chicago team of middle-market private equity attorneys. The hires include managing partner of Honigman’s city office, Harris Eisenberg, as well as co-leader of Honigman’s private equity practice, Alex Plakas. “The firm developed and is implementing a focused strategic plan, and private equity is a primary part of the plan. We strongly believe middle-market private equity represents a tremendous opportunity for the firm and our focus is to continue growing our PE practice in Chicago, other major markets in the US and around the world. This premier group, led by Harris and Alex, exemplifies what we’re looking for: top-notch practitioners who are difference makers in major markets,” said Joe Alexander, DLA Piper’s US vice chairman. Meanwhile, Harris Eisenberg commented: “On behalf of our team, I want to say how excited we are to join DLA Piper’s highly-respected team of talented dealmakers." ClarkeWillmott Boosts Planning and Environment TeamWith NewAppointment DLA Piper Snags 27 Former Honigman Attorneys 10 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | MAY 2022
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