Ex-Royal Navy rear admiral takes the helm at St Philips

Birmingham-based set St Philips has snared a Royal Navy rear admiral to take up the post of chief executive following the departure last year of Jonathan Fox.

Mike Kimmons served for 32 years in the Navy, gaining 12 years' additional experience in HR and logistics at the Ministry of Defence.

Kimmons, ;who ;was instrumental in managing the Navy's operations in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, said joining St Philips is not such a huge jump as many may believe.

He told The Lawyer: "I wasn't a sea captain and spent much of my time in Whitehall assessing and implementing ways in which the Navy can be transformed, ;such ;as dealing with staffing for the next 20 years. Things are changing both at the criminal and commercial bar, so St Philips will need to move forward also."

Kimmons added that Fox left a good structure in place and said he is looking to build on this by identifying new career pipelines for the set's criminal barristers.