This week's Yorkshire appointments

Switalskis Solicitors has appointed 12 new associates across its 13 Yorkshire offices following the completion of the firm’s first Associate Development Programme.

The programme was designed to give all staff the opportunity to develop their skills in areas including leadership, financial management, client relationship management and communication, and progress to a more senior role within the firm.

Developed in partnership with West Yorkshire based AW Leadership, the Switalskis Associate Development Programme (ADP) involved three days of learning followed by practical workplace projects and presentations to the board.

The programme is based on Action Centred Leadership (ACL), a leadership tool that enabled delegates to apply their learnings from the three-day training programme to ‘real life’ monitored projects within the business.

John Durkan, Switalskis managing director, said: “As a growing law firm with an eye firmly on the future delivery of legal services, we have put developing and nurturing talent high on our boardroom agenda. We are focused on providing the best possible service to our clients, which means we need the best lawyers and staff working in our team.

“I’m incredibly impressed with the ambition and talent within our team, and I’d like to thank all of our new associates for their hard work and commitment to the programme and congratulate them on their well-deserved success. I am thrilled with the success of this first ADP, and we will certainly be running it again in the future.”

Sam Spain, associate solicitor, added: “It has been a real privilege to have successfully completed Switalskis’ first Associate Development Programme. It is a really exciting development for me, for the firm and for the Court of Protection Department.

“I’m looking forward to working alongside Alex Guy to continue to develop the team and build on my project, promoting and delivering our new and improved litigation support services.”

Sue Streatfield, Clarion

Sue Streatfield has been appointed as a partner within Clarion’s expanding intellectual property (IP) practice, just two years after joining the firm.

Clarion has one of the largest teams of specialist IP lawyers in a full service law firm in the North.

With over 17 years’ experience in IP law, Sue’s career includes spending three years with a large Australian commercial law firm as well as having worked for Eversheds.

Sue joined Clarion from Bond Dickinson’s IP team, where she worked for seven years before joining Clarion in December 2015.

Sue has experience of advising a wide range of clients, from small start-up businesses to large international corporations, on all aspects of IP law, including litigation, research and development agreements, licences and assignments.

She has particular expertise in pharmaceuticals, life sciences and chemicals, and has played a key role in growing Clarion’s specialism in these areas.

Sue also advises clients in the engineering, digital, university and retail sectors.

Roger Hutton, joint managing partner of Clarion, said: “With her strong track record in pharma litigation and IP commercialisation agreements, Sue has brought a wealth of knowledge to the firm and helped spearhead our growing presence in this specialist sector.

“Our IP team continues to go from strength to strength and there’s no doubt that Sue’s contribution has helped us to build our reputation as having one of the largest and most knowledgeable IP practices in the North of England. She is a talented IP lawyer and her promotion to partner is well deserved.”

Louise Gudgin, McGarry and Co

Louise Gudgin has joined North Yorkshire and Cumbria legal practice, McGarry and Co, as an additional full time solicitor.

Louise graduated from Newcastle University in 1990 before passing her professional exams at the College of Law in York and working for a local practice in the fields of matrimonial law, conveyancing, criminal law and civil litigation.

Louise took a career break for five years during which her three children were born and returned to professional practice in 1999, working primarily in personal injury and civil litigation, but also for a Defendant Insurer, giving her a useful insight into the view from the other side of the litigation process.

She commented: “I take great pride in my profession. I often see people at difficult times in their personal or business lives, and it is very rewarding to be able to provide support, guidance and practical assistance to people at these times.

“One of the things which drew me to McGarry & Co is this shared view of providing what some may call an “old-fashioned” client-focused, friendly and professional service.”

Michael McGarry, managing partner, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Louise to the team and look forward to working with her as our client base expands.

“As a rural practice, we do specialise in agricultural and rural issues but provide a wide range of legal services offering a very personal service to our clients.

“As Louise mentions, it’s maybe an old fashioned idea but we do believe in very high levels of service and want to get to know our clients so we can best advise them.”

Larissa Green, Blueclaw

Larissa Green has joined the senior management team at Leeds-based digital agency Blueclaw, taking the position of strategy director.

Most recently head of digital at Carat, Larissa joins the agency to “deliver more award-winning work for our clients, and take performance to new heights”.

Fergus Clawson, Blueclaw CEO and founder, said: “In the past seven months our client work has resulted in wins in the SEO, content marketing and PR categories of the European Search Awards, UK Search Awards, Drum Search Awards and Northern Digital Awards.

“With Larissa onboard, we’re looking forward to delivering further value for clients, and (of course) building strategies and campaigns that win more global recognition.”

A Prolific North Top 50 Digital Agency, Blueclaw was founded in 2006 with a focus on search marketing.

Larissa will guide Blueclaw’s SEO, PPC, Content Marketing, PR, Data, and Design & Development teams.

Fergus added: “We were looking for an industry-leading Strategy Director with experience across all of the digital disciplines that we work in; the timing was perfect for Larissa to join the team.”

Nicola May and Nathan Watts, Milners

Milners, the Leeds-based solicitors, has bolstered its team with a brace of new appointments.

The firm has recruited Nicola May to strengthen its commercial property specialism; while Nathan Watts joins its litigation department as a paralegal.

Both will be based at the company’s Leeds city centre headquarters at Whitehall Waterfront.

In addition to supporting head of commercial property Andrew Price, Nicola’s legal expertise extends to a range of contentious matters including clinical and professional negligence and Industrial disease. She re-joins Milners after working for Ramsdens..

As well as pursuing a career in law, Nicola is a democratically-elected local representative, serving the community of Luddendenfoot on Calderdale Council.

She is also the appointed event coordinator for the Halifax and Huddersfield Junior Lawyers’ Division.

Nathan formerly worked for BC Legal and Ward Hadaway before joining Milners’ litigation team under the stewardship of department head and senior partner Giles Ward.

Simon Bass, Milners’ managing partner, said: “Our programme of strategic growth continues to gather pace - in Leeds as well as our sister offices in Harrogate and Pontefract - and these appointments signal yet another step forward.

“Commercial property and litigation are two of our key specialisms and we are delighted to strengthen both teams with the recruitment of Nicola and Nathan - and their home-grown Yorkshire legal talent.”

Andy Perrins and Lesley Harper (pictured), YPO

YPO, the UK’s largest publicly owned buying organisation, has boosted its Social Care team with the appointment of Andy Perrins and Lesley Harper as Category Managers.

Andy Perrins brings a wealth of operational experience to YPO having previously worked with a range of local authorities and social care providers.

Most recently, he has supported the transition of Public Health from the NHS and subsequent procurement of many of the services, working closely with commissioners and providers to design innovative services that deliver.

Lesley Harper brings years of social care commissioning experience, from a decade of working with a young people’s substance misuse service to working in a commissioning role at Wakefield Council.

In their roles as Social Care Category Managers, Andy and Lesley are responsible for ensuring that health and social care commissioners have a range of products and services available to them to help them achieve their goals.

The Social Care Category Managers help commissioners to achieve value for money as well as outcomes for service users by working with providers nationally to identify new and exciting products and services, making these available to commissioners to reduce the burden on their own procurement teams.

Simon Hill, managing director at YPO, said: “We are thrilled to have discovered Andy and Lesley through our recent recruitment process.

“They both bring a wealth of experience to the Social Care team and are passionate about developing and providing support and services which the social care sector desperately needs in a time where funding of vital services is increasingly in the media.

“New and existing customers can expect to see our Social Care category to continue to grow over the coming months”.