Issue 7: In-House Legal News - NORTH WEST

It's that time again. Welcome!

My last newsletter was posted way back in October 2025, which feels like a lifetime ago! As ever, I focus on permanent moves in and out of North West in-house legal teams. 

I posted recently that the North-West in-house legal talent pool is world-class and I meant it. Andy Balmer and I were busy mapping out GC and Head of Legal candidates for a role that we are exclusively working on in Manchester, and it occured to us that the calibre of senior solicitors here is outstanding. 5-stars to all of you! It's actually quite a difficult process to go through to whittle senior legal candidates down into a workable short-list when the quality is so good. 

Any moves or promotions that I've omitted, I don't mean to offend, please let me know. It's hard to keep track of all of the moves across the North West, and I am solely reliant on me making notes and filing them in the right place. 

Four exciting things/shameless plugs before we kick off:

1. Did you know that Think Legal is 10 years old this year!? I'm told that some new "Think Legal is 10" merch is coming soon! Seriously good decision from Paul Warburton Legal Recruitment Consultant and Manchester Real Estate legend Joe Gregory to team up all those moons ago. 
2. We have been working on a brilliant new Sole Counsel role for Northstone - and this is a plug to make sure that we aren't missing any suitable candidates. Part of The Peel Group, they are looking for their first ever legal person. Focused on governance and compliance, the new recruit will likely work part-time for two days a week from the Manchester office. 
3. Our In-House Legal team is about to launch The Archive. This is an ongoing web based publication documenting the careers, perspectives and views of General Counsel and senior in-house lawyers across the UK. We have been in touch with select few individuals already. 
4. I'm turning down the no-doubt excellent breakfast on offer at a&o Hostels Manchester (a luxury hostel in Chinatown) for a hopefully Alpine-themed NQ legal market breakfast event at Albert's Schloss in Manchester from 8am on Thursday 26th March. Think Legal Recruitment is teaming up with MTSG - Manchester Trainee Solicitors Group.  

Let's kick off: MARKET MOVERS

• Christopher Rea, previously at The Pools in Liverpool, started a new Senior Legal Counsel position at White Hat Gaming. 
• Jodi Oosthuizen made a first in-house move from Mills & Reeve to financial planning and wealth management specialists Perspective Financial Group Ltd. She works alongside excellent (ex Addleshaw Goddard) GC Thomas Rowen. 
• Radhika Aggarwal joined Transport for Greater Manchester from Weightmans - she will be busy as she is also working with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service as in-house employment lawyer. Good luck! 
• I missed this one last time around. Salma Ashraf is now Legal Counsel at Chess after working for competitor Daisy Group and Daisy Corporate Services for a long time. 
• Sharon Adebanjo transferred to MONY Group plc after leaving THG / THG Ingenuity where she trained. 
• The BAE Systems legal team is still growing and took on Legal Counsel Yasmin Brown from Hill Dickinson LLP - her first in-house move. 
• Zena Al-Kassab left DWF and took a well deserved career break to travel 3 continents and 17 countries, before starting with Lucie Grant's lovely team at Genus PLC. 
• Another world traveller, Sharon Tapfumaneyi, started a new role as Legal Counsel with Creditinfo Group. 
• Urmina B. took on a really interesting sounding new role in Legal Tech and AI with Thomson Reuters after leaving ANS Group in Manchester. 
• Christopher Emery made a move from In-House Legal Solutions to United Utilities. 
• Hilti Great Britain took on Craig Sapio who joined as Legal Business Partner in Large Projects. I love how on-brand all the Hilti employees are. It's a sea of red merch and power tools on LinkedIn! Craig was previously at SGN and is a true gent. 
• Alex Caldwell joined Freyja Handy's legal team at Manchester based live events, venues and brands business Legends Global. He moved from Spectrum Brands (UK) Limited, famously home of the iconic fat-reducing grill line George Foreman! And another one for Legends Global (Europe) in Legal Counsel Joel Power, previously with Addleshaw Goddard. 
• Wrexham based Chetwood Bank secured Alison Chu from HCRG Care Group in Runcorn. 
• Holly Allen is Senior Legal Counsel in the team at N Brown Group, now working with leading fashion retail talent James Iveson and Christian Wells. She was previously with Qodea. 
• A first in-house move for Grace Walker who joined NCC Group from Squire Patton Boggs - always good to see. There are less of these first in-house moves from private practice out there at the moment - lots of clients come to us and insist on at least some previous in-house experience from candidates. 
• Joe Brierley moved back to THG Ingenuity as Senior Legal Counsel - as we've previously commented, it's always good to see these moves back to a previous company.
• Bianca Ali moved from N Brown Group to Isabel Smillie's team at ZIGUP.
• ABB were lucky enough to secure ex- Lloyds Banking Group Chris Parkin as Senior Legal Counsel. He's excellent. 
• Olivia McConvey joined Stockport-based Stagecoach Group Limited as Legal Counsel from Kuits.
• New Balance secured Anastasia Morris from Addleshaw Goddard. Addleshaw Goddard your reputation as a premier finishing school for in-house talent remains intact. Keep up the good work! Our newsletter depends on it.
• Previously Part of Maria Burquest's team at Liverpool John Moores University, Rowena Blackburn made an excellent move to The University of Manchester as Contracts Manager (Solicitor). 
• Emily Brooke (née Flaxman) moved from CMS UK to COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS LIMITED (otherwise known as Marshall CDP!). 
• Jodie Knight is now Construction Solicitor at Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure in Manchester. She joins from Pinsent Masons. 
• Jack Beech and Debra Coady manage a tight-knit team at Softcat in Manchester and recently secured Chelsie Murtagh from CMAC Group. 
• Jamie Mitchell is now Legal Counsel at WEALTH at work, joining from TLT LLP after a background in Financial Services Disputes and Investigations work. We've seen several moves from FSDI into in-house over the last few years - a good training ground it turns out! 
• Joanna Maddocks moved from NSG Environmental Ltd to Framatome UK.
• Ellie Evans moved from Synectics Solutions to GBG Plc after qualifying as a Solicitor. 
• Joining Lookers Motor Group Limited as Legal Counsel 1 month ago is Jessica Faulkner, who trained and qualified with Co-op. 
• Previously with frozen food retail pioneers Iceland Foods, Sioned Parsonage joined The Billington Group as Senior Legal Counsel.

Promotions

• I noted Emma Walmsley's move to Project Better Energy last time. She is now Head of Legal and Compliance, after Gillian Hill moved on to take on a role as Head of Legal at AmberWolf (great name for a cyber security business).
• Calvin K.J. Chan has been promoted to Senior Legal Counsel and Sophie Merchant has been made Head of Legal in the Legends Global team. Lots of good news.
• Oona Cassidy's excellent team at Lookers Motor Group Limited continues to evolve and Emily Helm was promoted into a new position as Senior Legal Counsel. Matthew Flanagan-Roberts in the team was also promoted and is now Head of Legal - Corporate Lawyer. Congratulations all!
• Katie Somerville, congratulations on your promotion to General Counsel at The Vita Group!
• Lucy Shepherd was made Senior Legal Director within Global Travel and Commercial (EMEA) at WEX. 
• Hilton Grand Vacations have made James Dickinson Vice President of UK & European Legal!
• Victoria MacLean is now Division General Counsel (MOIM) (what does that stand for!?) at ABB.

GC and other Senior Movements

• Mark Bennett at Autotrader didn't move, however did make the Legal 500 GC Powerlist, as did Alex Simpson at B&M Retail and Simon Cliff at Manchester City Football Club. I like this comment from Legal 500 about the job of a General Counsel these days: "the modern in-house counsel is far more than a legal advisor: they are strategic partners, tech savvy and, perhaps most importantly, empathetic leaders at the core of their organisations". 
• Hilti Great Britain took on Craig Sapio who joined as Legal Business Partner in Large Projects. I love how on-brand all the Hilti employees are. It's a sea of red merch and power tools on LinkedIn! Craig was previously at SGN and is a true gent.
• Jayne Perry joined Alliance Medical UK as Group Chief Legal Officer. She previously completed a decade at Sinclair! I loved reading Jayne's comment when she announced it: "During my time in the business, I worked hard to create a collaborative culture and focused on shaping an environment where people could thrive, one built on ethics, transparency and trust." 
• "Car finance made simple" high?growth, PE?backed, FCA?regulated car?finance fintech Zuto took on the excellent Emma Ferguson from Starbucks. She is Head of Legal there.
• Kelsey Mcglynn set sail from the legal team at Booking.com and is now Global Legal Director at cruise vacation company Royal Caribbean Group. 
• Lauren Fitzpatrick is now Head of Legal and Compliance at Zeno Operations - I wasn't previously aware of this business - they do legal and compliance foundations for recruitment businesses including guidance on international expansion. 
• John Driver made a move from PwC UK to specialist financial consultancy K3 Advisory Group. He is Group Legal Counsel.
• Joe Brierley moved back to THG Ingenuity as Senior Legal Counsel - as we've previously commented, it's always good to see these moves back to a previous company. 
• Ross Hegarty joined leading global sports platform Fanatics as Vice President, Legal. He was previously Legal Director at FARFETCH in London. 
• The Pools, the home of Pool Betting since 1923, now have Sarah Crawford in place as Group Head of Legal. 
• Ex Asda Real Estate specialist Anna Hudson is now Head of Property Legal at JD Sports Fashion.
• Tara Fishburne left Chester-based GBG Plc after 11 years with a lovely goodbye message, joining Synectics Solutions as Head of Legal and Compliance. 
• Laura Egerton joined Stephanie Allen's Giacom team as Head of Legal. She was previously at dentsu.
• Frances Moseley secured her first Head of Legal role (and her first in-house move!) into T&M PROPERTY INVESTMENTS LIMITED (the Kamani family business). 

In Summary

I'm feeling a little less "gung-ho" than I was on a very positive morning in February when I said that it is a really healthy market at the moment and that other recruiters should stop spreading DOOM AND GLOOM! I stick by it being a healthy in-house legal market, and the jobs list is indeed bulging. However, time to hire is frustratingly long at the moment - jobs stick around for longer than they should. GCs and internal recruitment teams are being very selective and discounting candidates who don't tick every box... I understand why: in-house legal department budgets are being scrutinised closely, and it's more and more difficult to get hiring approval - but you do need to hire someone at some point, right? 

My advice to the hiring community? Having a role on the board for six months or more breeds suspicion. Candidates start asking, "What’s wrong with them?" instead of "That sounds interesting, please tell me more Mr Recruiter". It costs money, it exhausts your existing team who are covering the workload, and it risks missing out on some "near-miss" candidates who could brilliant with a little bit of close supervision for a few months.

Clients who are nimble and move fast are able to secure the best candidates at the moment. It's well worth reviewing whether you need so many steps to your recruitment process, or whether you can get all relevant decision makers and team members together in one or two meetings. 

As always, it’s an absolute pleasure to put this together. A huge thanks to our lovely North West in-house clients for keeping us doing the job we love.

See you next time. 

Adam Z