Mincoffs – Luke Philpott, corporate partner
Mincoffs Solicitors has welcomed Luke Philpott as a new partner in its corporate team.
Luke qualified as a solicitor at a national law firm in 2015 and relocated from Manchester to Newcastle in 2018, working for two North East firms before joining Mincoffs Solicitors as a partner.
Luke specialises in private equity and venture capital. Deal highlights include: acting on the sale of Barnsley Football Club, the management buyout of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Albion Capital Partners investment in MPP Global, the merger of Wilson Insurance Brokers with Bollington Group.
Luke also acted for 8 of the top 100 tech companies listed in the 2018 Northern Tech 100 League Table published by Tech Nation as well as acting for Boohoo.com.
As well as acting for clients on private equity and venture capital matters, he will also play an active role in continuing to build the firm’s profile in the region’s business community.
Commenting on his appointment, Luke said “I’m delighted to be joining Mincoffs and I can’t wait to get started. After meeting the team and discussing the firm’s plans for growth, I knew joining them was the correct decision for me. Mincoffs’ corporate team is understated, however it is without doubt one of the top corporate teams in the region.”
Paul Hughes, head of corporate, said:“Luke is the perfect fit for Mincoffs and I’m thrilled to welcome him to the team.”
“His proven track record of developing excellent client relationships and his commitment to his clients fits perfectly with our ethos and will provide a significant boost to our corporate team. We are very much looking forward to working with him and I have no doubt Luke will excel in his new role.”
Babners – Jessica Parry, property litigation specialist, and Amanda Bailey, private client
Independent law firm Brabners has made two new partner hires.
The firm has appointed property litigation specialist Jessica Parry within its 95 lawyers-strong real estate team, while Amanda Bailey joins to add significant wills, tax and family trust expertise to its private client team.
The two appointments follow a period of “significant investment” across the firm, which has seen it named in the ‘UK 100 Best Companies to Work For’ list for the second consecutive year.
Ms Parry joins from the Manchester office of international firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, having previously spent five years in London with Charles Russell Speechlys. Ms Bailey joins from DTM Legal where she was head of the trust and estates team.
Nik White, managing partner at Brabners, said: “The pandemic and Brexit have created a range of new challenges for clients across both our commercial and private client practices – be they related to matters such as high street rent arrears or the management of family estates.
“All such evolving issues require specialist support, which is why we’ve moved to further strengthen our offering across the board. In Jessica and Amanda, we are adding two exceptional and highly regarded lawyers to an increasingly diverse partnership which is committed to making the difference and helping our clients to achieve their ambitions.”
DF Capital – Will Jones, head of marketing, and Gabrielle Donnelly, marketing manager
Manchester-based DF Capital, the specialist savings and business finance bank, has announced the appointments of two senior marketing professionals to support the company during its next phase of growth.
Will Jones has been appointed in the newly created role of head of marketing, and Gabrielle Donnelly joins as marketing manager. Together, they will be responsible for helping develop and execute the business’ plans to broaden its footprint in the industry, enter new markets and create new product lines.
Jonathan Biggin, DF Capital’s COO, said: “Our business is growing and there are exciting opportunities to take advantage of.
“Both Will and Gabrielle bring with them expertise in a broad range of marketing disciplines and they have also worked in a number of different industries which dovetail perfectly with our customer markets.
“It’s a privilege to welcome them to the team and provide them with the opportunity to be part of our growth story.”
Embryo – Steven Woodcock, Client Services Manager, and Suraiyah Khondaker, SEO Executive
Full-service digital agency Embryo are delighted to welcome two new starters to their team. The latest hires are Steven Woodcock and Suraiyah Khondaker who have joined as Client Services Manager and SEO Executive respectively.
Having worked in-house in digital marketing for five years, Steven is responsible for ensuring clients get the most out of their award-winning Embryo experience. Whilst Suraiyah will help strengthen their SEO department by ensuring they keep up to date with industry trends and changes.
As well as focusing on recruiting talent to join their creative team, the digital agency have also won clients that include Sourceful, OnBuy and Payl8r, which they work with across all digital services.
Steven and Suraiyah take the Manchester-based company’s headcount to 43. This figure is expected to increase before the end of the year as more new team members start in November.
SmartCarbon Ltd – Anindya Chatterjee,
Newcastle-based SmartCarbon Ltd has recently recruited Northumbria Master’s graduate Anindya Chatterjee.
Anindya was offered a position having already spent a placement year with SmartCarbon on a project to help The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust calculate its carbon emissions.
SmartCarbon was established in 2016 by Chartered Environmentalist and carbon expert Anna-Lisa Mills to support organisations of any size or sector to calculate, report and reduce carbon emissions. It currently has four team members but is looking to expand as demand for its services continues to grow.
With funding support through the Northumbria Enterprise and Business Support, SmartCarbon was able to employ Anindya and pay his salary as an intern.
Commenting on his internship, Anindya said: “This has been a fantastic opportunity for me, both to develop my own career and to contribute to the work and success of SmartCarbon. My role includes helping clients both understand and resolve technical carbon management issues, and to further develop the SmartCarbon calculator.
“No two clients are the same; they are from different industries, different backgrounds and have different challenges, so this is such valuable learning experience.
“I have also been extremely lucky to work with SmartCarbon Director Anna-Lisa Mills, who has acted as my mentor and who was also an Associate Lecturer on my course at Northumbria.”
Graeme Mills, Operations Director at SmartCarbon, said: “Anindya’s experience and expertise is proving very useful as we support organisations to engage their suppliers in their next zero strategy.
“Businesses and governments are realising the urgency in responding to the climate emergency and measuring your carbon is the first step on this journey. We are hoping world leaders at COP 26 will show the same sense of urgency and action.
“Having a talented and highly qualified graduate like Anindya is hugely beneficial for us and our clients – something that was made affordable and really simple to do through the support of NEBS2.”
