Bevan Ashford swoops on City for projects and healthcare

Top South-West firm Bevan Ashford is raiding two City firms for partners to boost its projects and healthcare teams.

Simmons & Simmons banking partner Helen Hancock is leaving for Bevan Ashford's Bristol office, where she will be part of the growing practice dealing with private finance initiatives (PFI).

She has been a partner at the firm specialising in banking and capital markets since 1996, before which she was head of transaction management at NatWest Capital Markets.

Her practice focuses on advising financial institutional clients and corporates on derivatives products.

Hancock is reluctant to comment on the reasons for her move but says that she is moving for purely personal reasons and will be sorry to leave the practice at Simmons.

Her work will be very different at Bevan Ashford, focusing much more on projects than banking.

Nick Jarrett-Kerr, chief executive at Bevan Ashford, says: "We were looking for someone with banking expertise in a projects context, and Helen fitted the bill."

The firm has also taken on a third partner for its London office in the form of Le Brasseur J Tickle healthcare partner Christian Dingwall.

Le Brasseur and Bevan Ashford are both members of the National Health Service's litigation panel, and Dingwall is one of the top lawyers in London doing defendant personal injury work.

Bevan Ashford is a leader in the area in the South-West, but is in the process of building up a team to work out of its London office.

The Lawyer understands that Dingwall left the firm on resignation. He was unavailable to comment on his reasons for moving.

But Jarrett-Kerr says: "We are delighted to be able to strengthen our London medical team with the arrival of a heavyweight National Health Service litigator."