people Movers and risers ...


Specialist tech law firm Boyes Turner has boosted its growing international capability by adding a highly-experienced dispute resolution director to its team. James Quinn joins the leading Thames-Valley based business after 12 years in the litigation and arbitration team at Silver Circle firm Herbert Smith Freehills in London. Quinn, who joins as a director, brings significant experience of handling disputes in the energy, construction, banking and maritime industries as well as general commercial cases and litigation involving technology, in line with Boyes Turner’s reputation in the tech sector in the UK and overseas.


Thames Valley-based B2B PR consultancy Jargon PR has appointed ex-CC Group founding director and former CIPR president Kevin Taylor as its first non-executive chairman. As one of its original directors, Taylor helped CC Group grow from a four-person team in Reading to a leading B2B and tech specialist consultancy before exiting the business in 2009 to start his own specialist practice, Robertson Taylor PR. Today, Taylor works with start-ups and niche mobile industry players, as well as providing both tactical support and strategic consultancy to a small portfolio of consultancies and clients.


One of the country’s top business lawyers has been promoted to partner at South law firm Ellis Jones Solicitors. Neil Cook, head of business services at the firm, was personally recommended in the 2020 edition of the industry bible The Legal 500. He hails from a business background and has headed up legal departments in London and New York where he worked for seven years, helping build a billion dollar business and qualifying as a US attorney in 1990. Cook returned to the UK in 1993 and worked for an insurance giant in the City before launching his own property development company. He was praised in the 2019 edition of The Legal 500 for his ‘good commercial background’.


Business advisory firm Quantuma has appointed Nick Parsk as an appointment-taking director in the region. Parsk joins Quantuma from Wilkins Kennedy, where he spent 18 months as a director, specialising in corporate insolvency and restructuring across the south of England. During his career, Parsk has advised on a number of high- profile administrations and insolvencies across a range of sectors including leisure, hospitality, property and professional services. In his new role, Parsk will work alongside Quantuma partner Chris Newell to support the firm’s Thames Valley operations, as well as utilise his extensive contact base across the South East.


Darren Smith joins Herrington Carmichael as a partner in the employment law team, bringing with him over 13 years of experience. He has a wealth of experience advising businesses and senior executives on employment law and HR related issues, focusing on solutions that work for them. Smith previously sat as part of the leisure and hospitality sector within his last firm and brings significant experience of working with clients in that industry.


Red Funnel Ferries has appointed Leanna Lakes (left) as its new operations director. Lakes is a master mariner with over 20 years’ experience in the industry at both a national and international level. She joins Southampton-based Red Funnel from Condor Ferries where she held the position of head of safety and compliance for the past three years, working closely to drive cultural improvement and bring practical solutions to reduce operational risk. Her appointment will attain executive board gender equality for Red Funnel Group as she joins CEO Fran Collins (pictured right) and HR director Debbie Reed to make up a 50% female executive board of directors.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MARCH/APRIL 2020


South Coast law firm Lester Aldridge has appointed David Healy, who has joined as a partner in the personal injury team. Healy brings over 21 years’ experience in the industry and has previously led the personal injury and medical negligence teams in various firms. Specialising in cases for those seriously injured, Healy has acted in many high-profile cases, typically involving spinal cord damage, brain injury, amputations and/or serious burns. He had been accredited with the Law Society Personal Injury Panel for over 10 years and has been an approved solicitor with both the Headway and Spinal Injuries charities.


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