header-logo header-logo

27 May 2026
Categories: Movers & Shakers , Profession
printer mail-detail

WSP Solicitors—David Ashcroft & Jessica O’Shea

Commercial property and child law teams expand with senior hires

WSP Solicitors has strengthened its commercial property and child law practices with the appointments of senior associate David Ashcroft and associate solicitor Jessica O’Shea. The hires form part of the Gloucestershire firm’s strategic growth plans following increased demand for its commercial property and family law services.

Ashcroft joins the commercial team with more than 40 years’ experience in commercial property. His background includes advising on leases for a major Swedish household goods retailer, working on the privatisation of nationalised industries in Slovenia and Europe, and handling security and defence contracts.

O’Shea, a child panel accredited solicitor with 13 years’ experience, specialises in care proceedings and cases involving social services, kinship care, special guardianship and child arrangement orders. She said WSP Solicitors had ‘a clear direction for the future and a strong client focus’ and described joining the firm as ‘an opportunity I couldn’t pass up’.

Ashcroft said he was ‘keen to build on the team’s existing expertise’, while managing director Camella Cephas said both hires brought ‘a wealth of experience and specialist expertise’ that would further strengthen the firm’s teams.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Sackers—Zak Ullah

Sackers—Zak Ullah

Sackers welcomes new associate

Christy Davies—Birmingham Law Society

Christy Davies—Birmingham Law Society

Ward Hadaway lawyer joins Birmingham Law Society Council

Ellisons—Stephanie Westwood & Anisa Khan

Ellisons—Stephanie Westwood & Anisa Khan

Ellisons expands Chelmsford commercial litigation team with two appointments

NEWS
Construction workers injured in comparable accidents can face sharply different routes to compensation on opposite sides of the Atlantic
Victims of undue influence may have more options than simply unwinding a tainted transaction, with courts able to order profits accounts, compensation and, exceptionally, severance
Disabled people could lose vital safeguards following the Supreme Court’s reversal of the Cheshire West test for deprivation of liberty, two barristers warn
A formidable reputation cannot protect a law firm when partner departures, fragile finances and client uncertainty begin feeding each other
Businesses incorporating open-source software into commercial products could face obligations to disclose valuable source code, with AI-assisted development making licensing risks harder to track
back-to-top-scroll