Entertainment UK snaps up first in-houser from Cushman

Home entertainment and mobile telephone retail giant Entertainment UK has poached its first-ever in-house lawyer from global real estate business Cushman & Wakefield.

Richard McGonigle will join the Hampshire-based, £1.1bn Woolworths subsidiary from Cushman two years after he joined the company from panel firm Norton Rose.

Meanwhile, Cushman is recruiting two new lawyers for its UK legal team. As well as a successor to McGonigle, the company is looking for a compliance specialist to shoulder the increased regulatory and compliance burden placed by Cushman's expanding property fund management arm, in particular in the field of anti-money-laundering (AML) regulation.

Cushman executive officer and European counsel Ben Bennett said: "This is a positive development for us because it's a sign that our fund management business is increasing as real estate becomes recognised as a mainstream asset class. We're looking to fill these posts as soon as possible."

The new role will involve AML for the business as a whole, as well as a number of functions for the Financial Services Authority (FSA)-registered part of the business, ensuring compliance with the authority's AML documentation.

The new AML lawyer will be the London-based team's fifth lawyer, after adding Marie Rees as assistant company secretary in December from Thames Valley-based tax and accountancy firm Eacotts, and Jenny Murley last November as its new compliance manager from West End-based Boyer Allan Investment Management (The Lawyer, 29 January).

McGonigle was unavailable for comment.