A national law firm has promoted 84 colleagues to associate and senior associate roles, with a record number of women recognised in 2020 for their achievements.
Irwin Mitchell has begun the new decade by promoting 51 colleagues to associate and a further 33 to senior associate status across the firm’s legal, financial and group services teams.
The Manchester office has seen no less than 15 promotions, with 12 new associates and three new senior associates in both the group services and legal teams.
Brooke Atherton, Wyatt Matthews and Sophie Mawdsley from Human Resources are all new associates. They are joined as associates by Louise Ward (Private Wealth) and four colleagues from Personal Injury – Chris Noblett; Edward Joy; Nicola Ashton and Shahin Master.
The associate promotions are made up by Anamika Pandey (Corporate); Saoirse de Bont and James Betts from the Court of Protection and Amanda Goral from Technical Litigation.
The three new senior associates are Lynne Carrick-Leary (Sales and marketing); Sarah Sharples from Personal Injury and Heather Roberts from the Wills, Trusts and Estates disputes team.
The firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion was further reinforced with a record 71% of the promotions comprised of female employees.
Irwin Mitchell is already one of the top law firms in the UK for gender diversity, with 65% of its lawyers being female, the highest proportion in the UK.
The promotions include 68 colleagues on the legal side of the business, while the 11 non-lawyers come from within the HR, Finance and Marketing departments. A further five work in the asset management and financial planning team or Ascent a debt recovery business in the Irwin Mitchell group.
The figures are made up of people from 11 of the firm’s regional offices, together with staff who work from home, highlighting the growth and popularity of flexible working options.
Andrew Tucker, Group Chief Executive at Irwin Mitchell, said: “The announcement of our associate and senior associate promotions is always a major milestone for the business and the individuals concerned.
“Associate promotions recognise the leaders in the firm and flag their expertise to colleagues and clients alike, so are not made lightly. These new roles reward achievement, while recognising the leaders of tomorrow and those best placed to support colleagues in their own development.
“With 60 female colleagues recognised for their efforts this year our commitment to gender diversity remains clear, as does the strength in depth on display across all our departments.
Our people are vital to the success of the business and promotion naturally brings a step up in terms of responsibility and as such, is a significant career step all involved can be proud of.
“I congratulate all those involved and look forward to seeing their continued progress throughout 2020 and beyond.”
