Rollit Farrell & Bladon pushes across Yorkshire with triple hire

Hull-based firm Rollit Farrell & Bladon has hired three new partners as part of an aggressive expansion drive across Yorkshire.

Ros Harwood, formerly head of Speechly Bircham's charity group, will head Rollits' new charities team. Commercial property partner Carol Bailey arrives from Hammond Suddards Edge and planning and public sector partner Jocelyn Denton joins from Ashurst Morris Crisp.

Rollit Farrell managing partner Stephen Trynka says: "We're pushing commercial work in its widest sense, combined with [acting for] high-net-worth individuals. We do see ourselves competing with the Leeds firms - we're attacking the Yorkshire market from Hull and York."

The firm, which acts for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has identified charities work as a major growth area. Harwood is secretary of the Charity Law Association and has advised a wide spectrum of charity clients, including higher education institutions, dioceses, and national and international charities.

Trynka says that Harwood's arrival will also bolster the firm's increasing presence in housing association work.

Bailey, who has experience of advising financial institutions and insolvency practitioners in recovery and restructuring deals, will spearhead Rollit Farrell's expansion of its property department into the insolvency and finance arena.

Trynka says: "We're looking at banking and finance work in this area, which so far has been difficult because most of the work is done in Leeds."

Denton joins an existing two-partner planning team and will focus on extending the firm's planning transactions into West Yorkshire.

The three hires come in the wake of a strategy review which saw Rollit Farrell streamline its operations by closing two of its branch offices in Helmsley and Beverley several months ago. The firm now operates from its Hull and York bases.