Womble Bond Dickinson—multiple promotions

 

Jonathan Blair (pictured), WBD’s UK managing partner, said: ‘Congratulations to all of our new partners, legal directors and associates, who have all made fantastic contributions to our business. Their hard work, commitment to the firm and first rate legal expertise deserves to be recognised and celebrated.’

 

‘The career development opportunities of our people continues to be a high priority and these promotions signify an important investment in the future of our firm.’

 

The promotions bring the total number of UK partners at WBD to 132. The new partners include Bristol-based Jo Martin—an employment lawyer advising on issues including discrimination, whistle-blowing, redundancy, parental rights, corporate transactions and employee terminations—and Tom Caplen, a banking specialist who advises financial institutions and real estate clients on a broad range of finance transactions.

 

Further promotions include Leeds-based Vicky McCombe and Sam Dixon. Vicky works in WBD's construction and engineering team, advising developers, local authorities, retailers and manufacturers on transactional construction work. Sam works in the restructuring and insolvency team, and has particular experience in the education, healthcare and technology sectors. 

 

In Plymouth, the firm has promoted Stephen Panton in the commercial disputes team. Stephen acts for public and private sector clients on all aspects of health and safety, environmental and consumer protection law, as well as handling investigations involving financial crime.

 

Finally, two new partners have been appointed in the private client team: Richard Pike who is based in Edinburgh, and Will Bonas in Newcastle. Richard is a dispute resolution private client lawyer, focusing on trusts and inheritance disputes. Will is a corporate and commercial lawyer who advising business and rural estates owners, high net worth individuals and family investment companies. 

 

The new legal directors include Southampton-based Carly Holt and Stephen Baker. Carly works in the corporate team and handles corporate finance transactions. Stephen is part of the developers and investors team and advises on real estate requirements.

 

Newcastle-based Sarah Daun in the commercial team has also been promoted to legal director. With a particular focus on the manufacturing and chemicals sector, Sarah advises her clients in relation to all aspects of the supply chain. Another newly promoted legal director is Bristol-based Janice Cowley in the private client team. Janice specialises in residential conveyancing, commercial property and agricultural property transactions.

 

The 20 new associates include: