Competition expert signs up to rivals

COMPETITION law specialist Geraldine Tickle has left Birmingham firm Wragge & Co to join local rivals Martineau Johnson.

Tickle has been charged with developing her new firm's commercial agreements and competition law service alongside its expanding intellectual property department.

She was made a partner at Wragge & Co four years ago where she led the firm's competition unit. She joined Martineaus last month and predicts a busy time for her new team.

"Due to the increasing internationalisation of business the importance of complying with anti-trust rules is now more widely recognised," she says.

Tickle is the second senior lawyer to be poached from Wragge & Co by the firm's eight lawyer-strong intellectual property department.

Marie McMorrow, an intellectual property litigation specialist, had worked at Wragge & Co for seven years. Both she and Tickle have joined the new firm as associate partners.

"Martineaus is forward looking and it has a good client base," she says.