Ranks swollen by raft of jobs

THREE district councils have announced important new appointments to bolster their legal departments.

Stroud, in Gloucestershire, has recruited Mark Williams to become its head of legal services from Carrick District Council in Cornwall.

Williams, a member of the experts' network of the Law Society's Local Government Group, has been with Carrick Council for the past four years, where he was also head of the legal department. He has had two spells working in private practice, and has also worked in Bournemouth District Council's legal department.

Williams replaces Moxley Cooper, who left to become deputy clerk of the newly created Somerset and Avon Police Authority.

Elmbridge Council in Surrey has appointed Frances Keegan as its new legal manager.

Keegan originally qualified as a solicitor with Woking Council and became an assistant solicitor before she moved to her previous job, litigation solicitor with Richmond upon Thames Council, three years ago.

Slough Council has appointed Heidi Titcombe as litigation solicitor.

She was previously a senior commercial litigator with Dibb Lupton Broomhead.