Commercial law and insurance risk specialist, BLM, has continued to grow its Commercial Advisory and Private Wealth team at pace with three senior appointments. James Beresford joins the Commercial Advisory and Private Wealth team as a partner, whilst partner Jonathan Askin, an expert in non-contentious commercial law, joins alongside partner Daniel Jones, a specialist in family law for high net worth private clients.

BLM’s Commercial Advisory and Private Wealth group has had a successful period of significant growth securing more than 25 new clients following its launch in January 2018. The 40-strong team has advised a number of national household names including Radisson SAS Hotels, the Bank of England and Black & Decker.

James has an established background in dealing with the administration of complex estates and advising clients on estate planning matters including the drafting of Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney. He is a wealth preservation specialist and assists clients with inheritance tax planning and business owners on succession planning. The addition of James to the Commercial Advisory team extends the firm’s ability to execute a multi-disciplinary approach and to continue to target nationwide growth.

 Specialising in advising healthcare, TMT, public and third sector clients, Jonathan Askin brings significant experience in contract law, procurement and public sector commercial matters. Prior to joining BLM, Jonathan has worked with the UK Government, Public Health England and as a Commercial Partner at Weightmans.

Daniel Jones adds to the team’s recently established private wealth offering, following the appointment of James Beresfordearlier in May 2018, and will head up its family law portfolio in England and Wales. Daniel has extensive experience in dealing with complex financial matters relating to divorce and civil partnerships, particularly in matters involving business and overseas assets, as well as a particular emphasis on the relocation of children within or outside of the UK and child abduction concerns.

Welcoming the new partners, senior partner Matthew Harrington commented: “The early success of the Commercial Advisory and Private Wealth team on joining us reflects our successful multi-disciplinary approach. The new team is an important part of our firm-wide diversification and critical to our vision of providing innovative and comprehensive client services.

 Commenting on the appointments, Head of Commercial Advisory and Private Wealth, Siri Siriwardene, added: ”We have experienced an exceptional period of growth since January 2018, attracting new clients and new partners. Jonathan and Daniel bring considerable knowledge that compliments and enhances our client proposition and we have already begun to see the impact. I’m looking forward to the team developing further with both partners playing an integral role.”

Kings Chambers is reporting record growth with billings for the first half of 2018 jumping 19.1 per cent to £17,000,000 to the end of June 2018.

The civil set, founded in 1946, now boasts 110 barristers as members, including 19 QCs.

Kings Chambers was recently named the first barristers’ set to become a Northern Powerhouse partner. It will work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to promote the North of England.

The Chief Clerks at the set have attributed growth to an increasing volume of work secured from international sources including commercial litigation cases, international arbitration, contract issues, construction disputes, professional liability claims and company law cases.

With a national and international client base, areas of specialism at Kings Chambers include chancery and commercial, planning and public law, personal injury and clinical negligence.

Members are instructed by law firms to appear in cases involving major institutions, PLCs, limited companies and individuals.  Members have been admitted to foreign jurisdictions including the Courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre, the Bar of the Republic of Ireland, the Bar of Northern Ireland and the Bar of the British Virgin Islands.

Bill Brown, Chief Clerk for Planning, Environment & Public Law, said: “I’m proud that we continue to secure instructions regionally, that would have traditionally been won by London sets. We have a national client base who recognise our barristers as ‘Market Leaders..’ (quote from Chambers UK Guide 2018) practicing from our chambers in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.”

Gary Young, Chief Clerk for Business, Property & International Law, said: “We have earned an excellent reputation for handling complex cases, giving individuals and corporate clients the very best representation in court. Our strong growth in the first half of the year reflects the calibre of our talent as we continue to attract the finest legal minds. All practice areas have had a part to play in helping us achieve these impressive results.”

Stephen Loxton, Chief Clerk for Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence, said “We’ve experienced controlled growth over a number of years and our wide breadth of experience means our clients have an unrivalled choice of barristers, all of whom are distinguished in their own fields.

“Growth of the personal injury team has been driven by increased market share in our core practice areas such as asbestos related disease as well as closer relationships with key clients in all areas of personal injury litigation.   The Clinical negligence team continues to attract increasing numbers of high value cases nationally from market leading firms.”