Olswang has promoted Iain Stansfield and Stephen Hignett to the partnership in the firm’s IP and tax departments respectively. For the past 12 months, Stansfield has headed the IP team in the firm’s Thames Valley office, while Hignett has been part of Olswang’s tax department and e-commerce group for five years.

Paull & Williamson has appointed two new associates to the commercial property and corporate departments. John Strachan, who specialises in commercial property, has been with Paull & Williamsons for almost six years. Alasdair Smith has been a member of the corporate department for just under a year.

Fortune Law has hired a new senior associate to join the corporate team. Sean Williams was previously a senior associate at Fox Williams.

Dickinson Dees has taken on Andrew Playle as an associate in its private client department. Playle returns to the UK after two years in Bermuda. Prior to working in Bermuda, he spent eight years at Leeds-based Addleshaw Goddard, where he began his career in 1995.

LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae has hired a new associate in the corporate and projects department. Paul Dufays was previously an associate at Herbert Smith.