Nine promoted to Associate at Ward Hadaway | 14 June 11
LEADING North law firm Ward Hadaway has promoted nine of its lawyers to the position of Associate.
New Associates – promoted lawyers at Ward Hadaway (from left) Kerri Kershaw, Kirsty Leonard, Sara Acheson, Russell Ward, Joanne Briggs, Gemma Sherbourne, Neal Smith, Kerry Short and Julia Middleton.
Solicitors Sara Acheson, Kerry Short, Kirsty Leonard, Russell Ward, Joanne Briggs, Julia Middleton, Gemma Sherbourne, Neil Smith and Kerri Kershaw are now all Associates at the firm.
The moves continue Ward Hadaway’s strong record of promoting talented lawyers from within the firm’s ranks. Earlier this year, six Associates were promoted to Partner.
Sara Acheson and Kerry Short both work in Ward Hadaway’s public sector team, which advises on a wide range of projects and assists organisations across the country.
Sara advises health sector and local authority clients on a wide range of procurement and contract matters and has advised on projects including a £75m mental health facility and a school building scheme.
Kerry has developed specialist knowledge of NHS matters and has acted on a number of ground-breaking transactions including the first Transforming Community Services (TCS) to be completed in the country. TCS is the name given to the programme aimed at changing the delivery of primary healthcare services in England.
Kirsty Leonard and Russell Ward are both members of Ward Hadaway’s commercial litigation team.
Kirsty has been involved in a range of commercial litigation matters, largely focusing on breach of contract disputes, professional negligence matters and employment-related claims where they fall within the court remit, and is currently on secondment at Northern Rock (Asset Management) Plc.
Russell has been involved in a range of cases including a high-profile shareholder dispute, a high value professional negligence claim and a variety of contractual disputes.
Joanne Briggs is part of Ward Hadaway’s corporate finance team where she specialises in advising on private equity investments, acquisitions and disposals and has acted on numerous investments for regional and national venture capital firms.
Julia Middleton works in Ward Hadaway’s family and matrimonial team. As well as being a Resolution Accredited specialist in financial matters and private law disputes regarding children, Julia is also a trained collaborative lawyer, enabling her to provide advice to couples looking to resolve family disputes without going to court.
Gemma Sherbourne is a member of Ward Hadaway’s extensive employment law team where she provides advice for a wide variety of clients from charities and not for profit organisations, to small owner-managed businesses, and through to large national PLCs.
Neil Smith works in Ward Hadaway’s property team where he advises on all aspects of commercial property matters with a particular emphasis on high value development transactions for local, national and international clients.
Kerri Kershaw is part of Ward Hadaway’s personal injury team. A member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, she advises on a wide range of personal injury cases with specialist expertise in road traffic accidents involving drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.
Jamie Martin, managing partner at Ward Hadaway, said: “It is always a pleasure to be able to reward our people for their talent, hard work and considerable skills.
“As well as being thoroughly deserved by all concerned, these promotions are also a great illustration of the wide range of specialist services which we as a firm offer to all of our clients.”