Move of the week
Stephenson Harwood has recruited project finance and banking partner Natalie Elphicke to its London finance team.  Elphicke joins from Addleshaw Goddard where she was partner in the structured and specialised finance team.

UK

LONDON

Linklaters has hired Paul Cornes as its new global corporate responsibility manager. Cornes was previously director of sustainability at PRUPIM, the global real estate investment management company.

Duncan Wiggetts has joined the corporate crime team at DLA Piper as a partner in ­London. He was previously legal counsel to the assurance business at ­PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Norton Rose has announced that Jeremy Edwards, former head of aviation, will be the new global head of banking. His appointment follows the election of former banking chief Stephen Parish as firm chairman.

Pensions boutique Sackers has taken on two newly qualified solicitors – Chirag Ghelani and Ferdinand Lovett. The pair join following training contracts at Norton Rose and Lovells respectively.

Baker & McKenzie has appointed Joanna ­Ludlam as a partner in the public law disputes group. She leaves a post at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin to take up the role.

Markus Bauman has joined Lovells’ capital markets practice in London as a counsel. He was previously executive director and counsel at Goldman Sachs.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has promoted ten people to the role of counsel. The new counsels are corporate: Yannick Piette (Paris), Vladislav Skvortsov (Moscow); dispute resolution: Paolo Bertoni (Milan), Boris Kasolowsky (Frankfurt), Christian Konrad (Vienna), Jane Davies-Evans (Paris); employment, pensions and benefits: Daniel Benkert (Frankfurt), Stéphanie Guedes da Costa (Paris); finance: Wolfgang Kotzur (Frankfurt); and tax: Eschi Rahimi-Laridjani (New York).

Freshfields’ chief executive Ted Burke said: “These appointments reflect the high levels of expertise at Freshfields and the dedication, drive and exceptional personal qualities of these individuals.”

South

Blake Lapthorn has promoted five ­associates to partner. They are: John White (Southampton) and Daniel Scognamiglio (Southampton) in litigation, Richard Eldridge (Southampton), Ben Graham-Evans (Southampton) and Sarah Peacock (Portsmouth) in corporate.

Thomas Eggar has recruited partner Steven Eldred and assistant Dominic Sansom to the personal injury team, both from Lamport Bassitt. Eve McBrinn has also joined the South East firm as a professional ­indemnity associate from CMS Cameron McKenna.

Hampshire firm Moore Blatch has recruited private client assistant Carla Brown from Ellis Jones. She joins the firm’s Lymington office.

South West

Bristol law firm Gregg Latchams has ­promoted two of its associates to partner. Justyn McIlhinney is to become head of ­commercial property, while Tim Summers becomes a partner in the company ­department.

North

Lincoln-headquartered Bridge McFarland  has recruited Wendy Spalding-Siracusa from Adie O’Reilly. She will be a senior associate in the property practice.

Williamsons Solicitors has relocated ­personal injury associate Jill Robinson from Hull to Driffield in East Yorkshire.

Scotland

McClure Naismith has promoted three lawyers into its litigation practice. Rory Jackson becomes a partner in Edinburgh, while Bryan de Verneuil-Smith and John Bett become associates in London and Glasgow respectively.

Europe

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton counsel Claudia Annacker has been promoted to partner in the Paris litigation practice.

Osborne Clarke’s Munich office has appointed specialist IT lawyer Dr Ulrich Baumgartner as a partner. He was previously at the Munich office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.

Paris firm FTPA has recruited Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Frédéric Navarro. He will serve as ­partner in the employment law department.

François Hellot has joined Dechert as a ­corporate partner in Paris, having left Fried Frank where he was a corporate partner.

Asia and Middle east

DLA Piper has appointed Pattie Walsh as a partner and head of the Asia employment practice. She was previously head of employment for Greater China at Minter Ellison. Senior associate Alison Smith, also of Minter Ellison, joins alongside Walsh.

Linklaters has moved three of its partners to its Hong Kong office: white-collar crime lawyer Tom Lindstrom and corporate lawyer David ­Ludwick have relocated from the London base, while finance partner Jon Gray moves from the New York office.

US

Sidley Austin has hired former Lehman Brothers in-house lawyer James Seery as a ­partner in the corporate reorganisation and bankruptcy practice in New York. Prior to joining Sidley, Seery was a managing director at Barclays Capital.

Dechert has taken on financial services ­partner Christopher Harvey from WilmerHale. He joins the Boston office.

John Bentivoglio has joined Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom as healthcare partner in Washington. He was previously at King & Spalding. 

Covington & Burling has hired Kurt Wimmer, who most recently worked as general counsel of news group Gannett, as a partner in the digital media practice in Washington.

Jennifer Goldstein, associate chief counsel in the Food and Drug Administration, has moved to the Washington office of Reed Smith as ­counsel in the life sciences health industry group.

The bar/bench

Information commissioner Richard Thomas has been appointed as chair of the ­Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council. He will replace Lord Newton in September after standing down from his current role.

Commercial barrister Andrew Emery, formerly of Holman Fenwick & Willan, has joined Malins Chambers as a tenant.