Davies Wallis Foyster appoints Knight & Sons litigation head

Newcastle firm Knight & Sons is smarting after losing its head of litigation to Davies Wallis Foyster.

Alan Shackleton joined Davies Wallis' Manchester office last week to head its five-partner commercial litigation practice, after just two years at Knight & Sons.

Jim Davies, managing partner at Davies Wallis, says Shackleton is bringing a lot of clients with him.

He is currently working on a case involving air freight operator Martini Group, historically a Knight & Sons account.

Davies says that Shackleton is a mediator, a practice he is hoping to encourage at the firm.

Shackleton was previously a lawyer at Davies Arnold Cooper. He spent seven years in the banking department at Wilde Sapte before that.

Davies says: "We have a large banking department here and the commercial litigation department is complementary to that."

Andrew Davidson, the new head of litigation at Knight & Sons, who has taken over as department head from Shackleton, declines to comment on his reasons for leaving, saying: "It is a decision he took with the relevant partners."