Leading South West law firm Foot Anstey is continuing its nationwide search for top legal talent and has attracted three new partners.

Angela Bridges joins Foot Anstey from the Norwich office of Mills & Reeve bringing with her over a decade of experience in advising landed estates, farmers, trustees and entrepreneurs on wills, trusts and tax planning issues.

She is joined by Juliette Clarke who specialises in high value personal injury claims for those people who have been seriously injured with particular emphasis on those with acquired brain injuries, spinal injuries and those working within the military.  Juliette was formerly a partner at Bond Pearce.

Foot Anstey’s third lateral hire is Mike Bird, the former Deputy Coroner for Derbyshire who specialises in complex clinical negligence and brain injury work for clients. He is a very experienced inquest advocate and has experience of General Medical Council representation. Mike qualified with national law firm Eversheds before joining Freeth Cartright.

All three are joined on the Foot Anstey partnership by company and commercial lawyer Helen Wallwork and employment specialist Matt Huddleson – both of whom have been promoted in these two key growth areas for the firm.

Commenting on their appointments, Foot Anstey’s Managing Partner John Westwell said: “We are delighted to appoint five new partners who will increase the depth of expertise on offer to Foot Anstey clients.  The arrival of Angela, Juliette and Mike represents the first phase of our continued search for talented senior lawyers, which will have an immediate impact on the firm’s ability to proactively service our clients.”

The announcement by the firm follows the news that it will have a record thirty lawyers identified as “leaders in field” by the Chambers Guide which is widely regarded as the most authoritative guide to the legal profession in the UK.  The Guide, which will be published later this year, is compiled after detailed research over a six month period including thousands of telephone and face-to-face meetings with clients and other law firms.

Photo: (left to right) Mike Bird, Juliette Clarke, Angela Bridges, Matthew Huddleson, Helen Wallwork.

Posted by: Martyn

A record number of lawyers at leading South West firm Foot Anstey have caught the eye of the researchers working on the Chambers Guide 2011 – 30 of the firm’s experts will be listed as “Leaders in their Field” in the next edition due to be published later this year.

The Chambers Guide, widely regarded as the most authoritative guide to the legal profession in the UK, is compiled after detailed research over a six month period including thousands of telephone and face-to-face meetings with clients and other law firms.

New “leaders” at the firm this year include John Pindard for Tax; Marlene Howels for Intellectual Property; plus Rob Antrobus and Mike Bird for Clinical Negligence.

Lawyers from each of Foot Anstey’s offices in Truro, Plymouth, Exeter and Taunton were singled out for recognition across a wide range of legal disciplines including Agriculture & Rural Affairs; Banking Litigation, Charities, Clinical Negligence, Construction, Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions, Defamation/Reputation Management, Defendant Personal Injury, Employment, Family/Matrimonial, Information Technology, Licensing, Planning and Real Estate.

Commenting on the news, John Westwell, Managing Partner at Foot Anstey said: “It is really pleasing to see more of our lawyers afforded ‘leader’ status following detailed research by Chambers.  That research has taken into account feedback from clients who have clearly benefited from specialist advice over the past 12 months – we look forward to recruiting and developing more high quality lawyers in the near future who can have an immediate impact in supporting clients in a tough environment.”

Posted by: Martyn