Bevan Brittan makes Brum chief redundant

Bevan Brittan makes Brum chief redundant" />Bevan Brittan is to shake up management of its Birmingham office following the redundancy of it current office head Sharon McCann, The Lawyer can reveal.

Head of health Steve Hughes has moved from Bristol to replace McCann as head of the Birmingham office.

At the same time health partner Melanie Print has resigned, leaving only two more partners able to leave the firm within the next year because of its partnership lock in agreement. (The Lawyer, 6 May)

Part time consultant Richard Annandale will also leave the Birmingham office later this month.

The Lawyer revealed on Monday (21 July) how partners at the Bristol headquartered firm have been asked to vote on whether chief executive Stuart Whitfield should continue in his current position or if he should be moved into a client facing role.

This came as the firm reported sliding net profit for the 2008-09 year end at £6.1m, down 36.5 per cent from £9.6m on the previous year.

Commercial development director Sally Calverley said Hughes would be responsible for driving the growth of the Birmingham office and this could include some lateral hires. "He will be reshaping the way we deliver our services," she said.

Calverley added: "Steve established Bevan Brittan's health division and originally we worked only in the public sector but he moved us into the private sector. As a result he won the Bupa contract.

"His work on Equitable Access in the West Midlands has won us 13 new clients - and shows us moving into new geographical areas. Our health work now reaches across the UK, from Glasgow, to Northern Ireland to the South Coast and most recently a win for Hull PCT."

The firm has now put in place an ambitious target of 37 per cent growth for the 2008-09 year end which would put it at £8.4m net profit, still 12.5 per cent shy of last year's £9.6m net profit.