West law firm Thrings has appointed five new partners including recruiting respected corporate lawyer Alex Pyatt from rivals Withy King. The appointments take the number of partners at the firm, which has its largest office in Swindon, to more than 60.
Alex, pictured, described by the Chambers UK 2013 legal guide as “commercial, pragmatic and sensible” has joined as a partner specialising in corporate and commercial law. Danae Carrick, Anna Cole, Melissa George and Mike Tomlin, already at the firm, have also been made partners.
Alex, who attended Clifton College and the University of the West of England before joining law firm Wilsons, said he was delighted to have joined Thrings, which has offices in Bristol, London, Bath and Reading as well as Swindon, at a time when it was strengthening its commercial and corporate services.
“Thrings offers some excellent opportunities to continue my specialism acting for technology clients, to expand on my experience acting for agri-businesses and, in terms of mergers, acquisition and sales, to advise on some substantial corporate transactions,” he said.
Thrings managing partner Thomas Sheppard said Alex’s appointment and the four promotions reflected the firm’s strategic approach to growth and its focus on providing professional commercial services for entrepreneurs at various points in the business life cycle.
“We are very fortunate in that we have a very strong pool of talent internally, with many stars who are keen and able to take on the challenges and responsibilities associated with being partners,” said Thomas.
“But we are equally lucky that our reputation means we are also able to attract potential partners of Alex’s calibre and I am pleased to say that we will be in a position to make one or two more exciting announcements in the near future.”
Melissa George specialises in all aspects of insolvency, both corporate and personal, and has more than 10 years’ expertise in advising financial stakeholders, including insolvency practitioners, fixed charge receivers, directors, creditors and individuals on a wide range of issues including business disposals and acquisitions, asset realisation and preservation, security, challenging antecedent transactions and misfeasance, and defending disqualification proceedings.
Danae Carrick specialises in commercial disputes and dispute resolution, with a particular expertise in professional negligence claims (she is a member of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association) and in the financial services sector.
Anna Cole has more than 20 years’ experience in handling personal injury claims. She is chair of Headway Swindon and District and devotes significant amounts of her free time to forming, implementing and managing their strategy.
Mike Tomlin has established a specialism in commercial and corporate work for a wide-range of business clients, and is regularly instructed in the negotiation and drafting of complex commercial agreements, distribution and joint venture arrangements, as well as the preparation and review of standard contract documents and procedures.
