Commercial law firm Square One Law has strengthened its team in its Newcastle and Teesside offices, welcoming three new lawyers and a digital marketing manager.
Senior associate Bal Manak joins the commercial property team and advises a diverse range of clients including employers, consultants, building contractors, funders and suppliers on commercial developments as well as developments in the housing, healthcare and education sector.
Corporate associate, Luke Philpott qualified as a solicitor at national law firm, TLT before joining boutique commercial firm, Turner Parkinson, relocating to the North East from Manchester in 2018.
He has particular expertise in private equity and venture capital having worked on a number of investments during his time in the North West.
Francesca Lilley joins the employment team and has worked on an array of employment tribunals and on strategic projects in relation to redundancy, national minimum wage and output work, gender pay gap reporting and TUPE.
The Newcastle firm has also created a new digital marketing position to support the brand and the firm’s growing online presence.
Claire Duns brings 10 years’ digital project management experience to the firm and has extensive and varied experience having lived and worked in France before moving to London where she worked for Ralph Lauren and Marks and Spencer. She returned to the North East in 2015 and worked agency side before joining Square One Law.
Managing partner, Gill Hall said: “The legal marketplace is seeing great change, with increased mergers, but we are confident that our flatter and more agile structure, coupled with our enviable client base is continuing to attract talented people in all areas of our business.”
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Abby Dorani and Tom Bridge have been appointed as solicitors by regional law firm Hay & Kilner after successfully completing a two-year training programme.
The pair carried out four blocks of six months in different departments within the Newcastle-headquartered firm, which helped them gain a range of practical legal experience and identify their particular strengths and areas of interest.
After completing two vacation placements with Hay & Kilner during her French and Spanish degree at Edinburgh University and then taking her graduate diploma in law, Ms Dorani joined the firm in 2016 as a paralegal in its residential property unit. She then passed her legal practice course and began her training contract in the following year.
Tom graduated from Newcastle University in 2015 with a first in English language and returned to the North East two years later after completing his graduate diploma in law and legal practice course qualifications.
He undertook training seats with Hay & Kilner’s private client, family, clinical negligence and commercial property teams before taking a solicitor role in the private client team, with a particular specialism in wills, trusts and tax planning.
Jonathan Waters, managing partner at Hay & Kilner, said: “Abby and Tom have both shown themselves to be highly-capable practitioners and have more than justified the faith we showed in choosing them for our training scheme.
Vida Creative has appointed two new team members to support the creation of bespoke website design and content for the business’s growing number of clients.
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Daniel Robson, a former Northumbria University graphic design student, joins the Newcastle-based digital agency Vida Creative as a graphic designer.
Katie Halfyard joins as a content creator, having recently graduated from Newcastle University.
Mr Robson brings his design experience to the team, having recently returned to the North East after spending five years working on global brands at successful design agencies in London. He will be creating unique brand identities, bespoke website designs and other digital and print assets for Vida Creative’s growing list of clients.
Ms Halfyard completed a 10-week summer internship at Vida Creative this year, and is now a fully-fledged member of the team. In her new role, Katie will be supporting Vida Creative director and marketing strategist, Ellen Hedley, on the creation of engaging social media content, website content and blog articles for a range of clients in the creative and tech sectors. The two new recruits take the team to a total of four.
Leon Hughes has joined the rapidly expanding team at Activ Technology, which operates from its headquarters in Balliol Business Park West, Newcastle, and Dumfries, Scotland.
Mr Hughes who becomes head of technology, joins from Pulsant, where he held an identical position.
Activ Technology, which employs over 30 staff, is a managed service provider for IT and telecommunications and the appointment of Leon comes at a time when former head of technology, John Prescott, moves into a new business development role within the company.
Leon, from Haydon Grange, Newcastle, said: “I began my career in IT over 20 years ago and have worked across a range of sectors including oil and gas, legal and financial services.
“I co-founded a specialist IT business in 2002 and sold it to Onyx Group in 2007.
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“This formed the managed services division at Onyx. Within my role as CTO, I introduced cloud services, making Onyx one of the first cloud providers in the North East.
“When Onyx was acquired by Pulsant, I was appointed head of technology, again focusing on the development of cloud-based services in particular, desktop virtualisation and disaster recovery. The role at Activ Technology really appealed. It allows me to build on skills I have adopted throughout my career with more emphasis on building the business.”
Managing director, Ian Gillespie, said: “Leon is a strong addition to the team. He has a wealth of industry experience, whilst also remaining innovative and forward thinking. This can only benefit our customers and will add great value to our growing team.”
Newcastle civil and structural engineering specialist RWO Associates is gearing up for expansion with three new appointments to strengthen its experienced team.
Alex Whittemore joins the firm as a structural BIM engineer, while Brad Reid comes in as a graduate structural engineer and Kieran Smith is appointed as a senior civil engineering technician.
With an MSc in Structural Engineering from Newcastle University and a strong background in BIM, Alex Whittemore brings five years’ industry experience to the role. He will be a key part of the structures team, working on a diverse portfolio of projects for national house builders, contractors and developers.
Brad Reid, who comes from a large multi-national engineering consultancy, will also be part of the structures team, assisting on projects. He is the current North East representative on the Institution of Civil Engineers’ national graduate and student (GSNet) network.
Bringing more than three years’ experience to the role, Kieran Smith will be involved in new build infrastructure schemes and commercial developments.