Agriculture ace feels pull of home

Birmingham firm Shakespeares is looking to recruit a new head for its agricultural law unit following the departure of Nigel Davis.

Davis, a leading agricultural lawyer and founder member of the AgriLaw group of specialist lawyers, left Shakespeares to join East Midlands firm Roythorne & Co at the start of this month.

Andrew Argyle, managing partner of Shakespeares, said the current plan was to replace Davis with a lawyer of similar calibre. The unit is left with one full-time associate, Geoffrey Whittaker.

A farmer in his own right, Davis said he was tired of commuting 100 miles to work and wanted to work closer to his Derbyshire home.

He takes over as head of Roythornes' Nottingham agricultural department. "It was perceived there was a lack of agricultural expertise in that area," he said. "There is no-one else specialising in agricultural work in the East-Midlands so this is a tremendous opportunity for Roythornes."