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NEWS
NEWS
High-Profile Hires to Support Stevens & Bolton Growth Strategy
Independent law firm Stevens & Bolton recently announced the appointment of Aaron Pendlebury as its new Head of HR and Darren Cleveland as the new Head of Business Development and Marketing.
Aaron was formerly Global Director of Workforce Planning at international law firm Reed Smith, having previously held positions at EY, Norton Rose Fulbright, and Flex Legal – a flexible legal resourcing scale-up that was acquired by Mishcon de Reya – and brings a wealth of expertise in HR, people development and training to the role.
Darren joins the firm from Shoosmiths where he worked for nearly 11 years as Head of Divisional Business Development, having previously held roles at Jones Day and DAC Beachcroft.
These latest appointments follow a series of high-profile moves, including the appointment of Wayne Heyes as Head of Technology from Penningtons Manches Cooper, Ryan Murphy as Head of Facilities from JLL, and the appointment of Laura Walliss as the firm’s first Responsible Business Manager.
The roles play a critical part in helping the firm to continue to meet its aim of efficiently providing the best possible platform to deliver excellent legal services to clients, and one that enables all its people to develop and thrive.
James Waddell, Managing Partner, commented: “We have an ambitious growth strategy to double revenue over the next four years, and investing in the best talent to lead our people and BD streams is of critical importance to achieving this. We are delighted to welcome Aaron and Darren to the firm who both bring extensive industry expertise and experience into their roles.”
Commenting on his appointment, Aaron said: “Here at Stevens & Bolton we have a combination of ambitious growth and a genuinely people-first culture, not just in words, but in practice. As Head of People and Talent, my focus will be on evolving a strategy that empowers our people to be part of that ambition, one that supports the firm’s independent ethos, and strengthens our culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and commercial excellence.”
Darren added: “Stevens & Bolton enjoys a reputation of quality – in its work, its people and its clients. Joining in the second year of a five-year growth strategy, I see a huge opportunity for the firm to build on this reputation to further evolve our market offering, leverage the talent we have in the business and deliver even greater service to our clients.”
Blackfords LLP Promotes Lucinda Shand to Partner and Head of Criminal Defence Team
Leading dispute resolution law firm Blackfords LLP (Blackfords) has recently announced the promotion of Lucinda Shand to Partner and Head of Criminal Defence in its Croydon office.
Blackfords, the independent law firm with offices in London, Cardiff, Woking, and Croydon, offers clients unparalleled levels of expertise in dealing with the highest-profile cases and dispute resolutions across an array of practices including high-profile criminal defence, private prosecutions, family law, regulatory, and white-collar crime.
Lucinda Shand began her legal career as a trainee at the firm in 2008 and has since been involved in some of the country’s most high-profile cases including representing an individual involved in the alleged bribery and corruption of Government Officials in the Turks and Caicos Islands; securing recognition of “battered women’s syndrome” in cases of drugs importation in the Appeal of Goldie Coats; and representing a defendant alleged to be the ‘controlling mind’ in the running of a fraudulent company selling investments in rare earth metals totalling £7 million.
A member of Women in Criminal Law and the Association of Regulatory & Disciplinary Lawyers, Lucinda represents individuals in the UK and internationally on a plethora of criminal offences including serious fraud and money laundering offences; serious violent offences including murder; sexual offences including complex historic allegations; weapon offences; drug offences; immigration offences; trademark and counterfeit goods offences; and Traffic Act offences. More recently, Lucinda has also widened her practice to encompass aspects of Regulatory Law, representing professionals before a range of regulatory bodies, challenging decisions made by the Disclosure and Barring Service and Ofsted and representing those involved in Inquests.
This is the latest in a round of promotions over 2025 and follows the February partnership promotions of London based female partners Naureen Shariff, Rachel Wilson and Jennifer Wilson, Woking partners Helen Worden and Hannah Giles, and Croydon-based partner Lisa Towell. The 2025 female cohort brings the total number of partners at the firm to 12, elevating the female to male ratio to 67/33% respectively.
Commenting on the latest promotion, Trevor Francis, Managing Partner at Blackfords LLP commented:
“We are pleased to welcome Lucinda to the partnership here at Blackfords and to have her serve as Head of Criminal Defence in the Croydon office. Having joined us as a trainee in 2008, we are particularly proud to have helped and nurtured her throughout her legal career to reach the partnership. We take career progression and mentoring very seriously at the firm and this is testament to that.
We all, across the firm and partnership, congratulate Lucinda on this achievement and look forward to further benefitting from her legal prowess, determination, significant experience, and leadership. We are confident that she will take these roles in her stride."
Partner and Head of the Criminal Defence Team in Croydon, Lucinda Shand added:
“I have been overwhelmed by the career support that I have received from the partnership at Blackfords over the years. I aim to provide the same guidance and mentorship to my other colleagues in Croydon and across offices to ensure that they all have the same opportunities that I have been presented with. Having begun my legal career at Blackfords as a trainee and to climb the ranks to partnership, I hope serves as an attainable inspiration to our trainees today and junior lawyers that they too can make it.”
Downs Solicitors LLP announces new leadership
Leading Surrey law firm, Downs Solicitors LLP has announced a key change to the leadership of the Firm effective as of 1st April 2025.
Julian Harvey and Amber O’Connor will take on the roles of Managing Partners.
As part of the transition, Julian and Amber will be taking over the baton from Chris Millar who will be stepping down from his role as Senior Partner after 10 years of dedicated service to the Firm. Chris has played an instrumental role in Downs’ growth and success and has continued to uphold the Firm’s reputation for providing outstanding legal advice to businesses and private clients within the Surrey community.
Reflecting on the leadership transition, Chris Millar commented: “After 10 years as Senior Partner, I’m proud to be handing over the reins to Amber and Julian. Their experience and vision make them the ideal team to lead Downs into the next chapter, particularly as we expand with our new office in Reigate.”
Commenting on her new role, Amber O’Connor said: "I am honoured to step into this position alongside Julian. Downs has a long-standing reputation for excellence and I look forward to continuing to build on our success by ensuring we provide the very best legal support for our clients. With a strong leadership team in place, we are excited about the future and the opportunities ahead."
Julian Harvey added: "This is an exciting time for Downs as we continue to grow and evolve. I look forward to working closely with Amber and the rest of the leadership team to ensure we maintain our high standards of service while exploring new opportunities to strengthen our offering.”
For more information, please visit www.downslaw.co.uk
Taylor Rose parent AIIC Group rolls out cloud-based practice management platform
Salesforce-based system aims to enhance efficiency, productivity and service levels while supporting talent attraction and retention
AIIC Group (“AIIC”), the legal group behind law firms Taylor Rose, FDR Law and Kingsley Wood, is rolling out a new fully cloud-based practice management platform as part of its ongoing investment in technology aimed at enhancing efficiency, productivity and service levels.
Already live in FDR Law, the group’s property-focused legal services business, AIIC is rolling out the system across Taylor Rose - the largest business in the group - over the summer, and plans to onboard Kingsley Wood, its corporate-focused law firm, later this year.
Developed with a sharp focus on the needs of a modern-day lawyer, the Salesforce-based system is market-leading in terms of stability, scalability and reliability. Staff can access the system on any device, including a mobile phone, to maximise flexibility for fee earners. By housing all the data in one place, the system aids ease and productivity for lawyers as well as central support departments such as supervision, audit, complaint handling and data protection.
The platform will enable AIIC to develop near-term AI opportunities, including intelligent document processing and the development of numerous other use cases driven by AI agents.
The investment is critical to driving service levels, efficiency and productivity that AIIC believes can differentiate it in its markets. It is also expected to be of huge value in providing its lawyers with a platform and infrastructure capable of giving them the best and most productive experience, therefore aiding talent attraction and retention.
Adrian Jaggard, CEO of the AIIC Group, commented: “This is a hugely important strategic investment for the group. Giving our lawyers and support teams the best and most productive work-life experience possible is an essential part of our strategy; if they are satisfied with our platform, our IT and central services, that will ultimately deliver better results for our clients and the business.
“The platform is already delivering great results in FDR Law and we’re confident that it will bring similar benefits in Taylor Rose and Kingsley Wood, taking away administrative and process-driven headaches and allowing lawyers to do their core jobs more effectively than ever. Crucially, it gives us a platform on which we can continue to scale and innovate as we look at the opportunities brought to us by AI in particular.”
The group is tailoring the platform for all its specialisms, which in Taylor Rose include areas such as property, including
conveyancing; private client; family; civil litigation; and commercial law.
Workflows have been designed with compliance in mind, to help fee earners easily view everything they need to see on one system and undertake the tasks required of them.
The system will also introduce functionality for a wider range of business support functions, including client care, IT, finance, new business, and legal support operations.
Designed to be intuitive and easy to use, all employees and consultants are being trained on the new platform with interactive demonstrations, a suite of video training materials and virtual drop-in training sessions, as well as on-site support across the group’s locations.
AIIC recorded revenues of £97.3m (+16%) in the financial year ending 30th September 2024.
In March this year AIIC was listed in the prestigious FT 1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies by the Financial Times for the third consecutive year, one of only 22 UK companies to have appeared in the rankings in all of the past three years.
