Legal
Employability charter launched to support young professionals Alsters Kelley LLP announces new office to open in Southam Coventry & Warwickshire law firm Alsters Kelley LLP has announced it will be opening a new office in the centre of Southam in the next few weeks. Cathy Wahlberg, Operations & Finance Member at Alsters Kelley LLP, said: “The opening of this new office in Southam is important as we aim to be more accessible to our existing and new clients. We are able to deliver specialised legal advice in a manner that is kind, helpful and excellent which is very important to us. We are looking forward to being an active part of the local community in Southam and the surrounding areas.” The office, which is located in Daventry Road, is being refurbished but will be open every day Monday to Friday from 10.00am – 6.30pm and every Saturday from 10.00am – 1.00pm. The firm already has offices in Leamington Spa, Coventry and Nuneaton and employs over 90 people providing a full range of legal services for most individual and family issues and some commercial services.
A leading Coventry and Warwickshire accountancy firm has become one of the first companies to sign a new charter to help budding young professionals. Harrison Beale & Owen (HB&O), which has offices in Coventry and Leamington Spa, has put its name to the Warwickshire Employability Charter which pledges to provide young people with vital employability skills which will prepare them for the working world. The charter is a collaboration between businesses, education providers and partners to offer a variety of opportunities for young people. They pledge to give insight into their respective industries and inspire young people, recruiting directly from schools and colleges to offer work experience with companies. The scheme is designed to enable young people to develop and enhance a host of employability skills including numeracy, self-motivation, team work and interpersonal skills. The Warwickshire County Council initiative is supported by the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Federation of Small Businesses. Sarah Wilson, a director at HB&O said: “This scheme is a great way to offer employability skills to young people and allow them to get a taste of the working world. We have always prided ourselves on the standard of training we provide to our staff of all ages and levels. “Nowadays young people are increasingly under pressure to have a set of skills that companies need, but without work experience it can be hard to get your foot in the door and develop those skills in the first instance.
Sarah Wilson (HB&O), Peter Burns (Chamber of Commerce), Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Rob Kendall (HB&O), Cllr Philip Johnson, Brandon Tatlow and Elliott Webster (both from HB&O)
“We feel that this is a great stepping stone into the working world, which will equip the young people with the skills that will serve them well throughout their careers. “At HB&O we have committed to supporting this charter and are really excited to see how the scheme will benefit everyone.” The scheme is hoping to significantly reduce youth unemployment and address skills shortages by the end of 2018. Councillor Izzi Seccombe, leader of Warwickshire County Council said: “Our vision is for every young person to have the opportunity to gain employability skills which will help them to secure and sustain employment in a vibrant economy. “By doing this, businesses will be able to recruit young people more easily as
they’ll already have many skills that companies look out for. “We believe this will boost their confidence and raise the aspirations of young people. Reducing youth unemployment is very important in this economy. “We’re delighted that HB&O are on board with the scheme as they’re setting a great example for other local companies in the area which can also help young people.” Harrison Beale & Owen signed up after hearing about the initiative and launch of the new Young Chamber. Peter Burns, past President of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber, said: “We are keen to see as many companies embrace the principles of the charter and pledge their support by signing up.”
Real estate team is strengthened formerly of Shoosmiths, as an associate with a focus on social housing. Planning solicitor Ben Arrowsmith has been recruited from Pinsent Masons, while Lauren Perkins, Daniel Macleod and Harinder Kundhi have been appointed solicitors. Paralegal Raminder Kaur completes the new arrivals. Wright Hassall’s real estate team acts for developers, registered providers of affordable housing, land owners, investors, banks and corporate occupiers across the UK. Wright Hassall’s new real estate team recruits, with partners Sat Bhandal, Claire Waring and Mark Miller at the front centre In the last six months the development team has New partner Terry Dickson has joined from Midlands law firm Wright Hassall has been involved in a string of important Birmingham practice Emms Gilmore strengthened its real estate team with the developments including Tata Technologies recent appointment of a further 10 lawyers. Liberson, while James Richards and Andrew Beresford, both formerly of Gowling WLG, and £16m European HQ development in Warwick, The Leamington-based firm now has one of the relocation of Birmingham Wholesale Andrew Jones, from HCB, have all been the largest real estate team in the region Markets, the relocation of cleaning technology appointed as senior associates. outside of Birmingham. company Karcher UK and Warwickshire Development solicitor Fiona Martin joins The team now draws together more than 30 College’s new state-of-the-art automotive and from London-based Charles Russell specialist real estate, construction, product creation engineering facilities. Speechlys as an associate and Natalie Owen, environmental, and planning lawyers.
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The team has also continued to be involved in the region’s largest strategic land residential development transactions. Development Partner Mark Miller said: “Wright Hassall’s Real Estate Development team continues to grow from strength to strength offering developers and other clients involved in land development a credible alternative to the law firms they may have considered using previously. “Developers no longer have to look to the second city or London to find the development specialists that they need to make development deals happen. We offer all of that expertise under one roof. Miller added: “The last year has been a very strong 12 months for Wright Hassall generally and specifically for the real estate team. The firm advised on over 50 bank lending deals during the year with a funding value of £175m, completed a significant number of development land transactions including acting on some very exciting development projects across the region. “We are able to attract real estate lawyers to the firm who have worked in City and national practices and are excited to work with our fantastic client base. “We expect 2016 to be a strong year for the region from a real estate development perspective in particular and Wright Hassall’s real estate team is well placed to play an integral part in supporting this growth.”
www.cw-chamber.co.uk