The new partners

Irwin Mitchell has announced that it will be promoting 7 people to Partner status from May 1st 2007. This matches the record number of new Partners promoted in 2006.

Following the firms recent rapid expansion, including mergers with leading Clinical Negligence firm Alexander Harris and Scottish law firm Golds in the last 12 months, it will now have 105 Partners from May 1st.

With a business model aligned to the changing legal marketplace, Irwin Mitchell is also keen to promote non-lawyers to Partner level positions with their Director and Associate Director roles. This year, as again it did in 2006, the firm is promoting 4 non-lawyers to the Partner equivalent level of Associate Director, making the total number of Directors and Associate Directors at the firm, 35.

The new appointments represent the diversity of the firm, ranging from those specialising in compensation claims and legal challenges for individuals funded through legal aid, to business law specialists advising management teams on corporate law, offering clients a wide range of legal advice including one of the largest dispute resolution teams in the country.

Included in the seven new Partners in May will be:

Yogi Amin, the lawyer who successfully fought for the right of Ann Marie Rogers to receive the breast cancer drug Herceptin. Yogi specialises in Public Law, conducting judicial review work against a range of public bodies mainly in the fields of health, education and social care. He was recently included in the Lawyer magazines Hot 100 for his successes in the High Court.

Katherine Allen a new Partner in Irwin Mitchells Birmingham office, has been acting on behalf of clients who received stolen body parts in the recent scandal in which human tissue and bone were allegedly stolen and sold on for profit in the US. Katherine qualified in 1996 and has always specialised in personal injury, she currently heads a team representing clients suffering illness or involved in accidents abroad.

Raminder Bhabra is a member of the Irwin Mitchell Insurance Services team dealing with motor claims and employer liability claims, specialising in orthopaedic claims following road traffic accidents.

Laurence Gavin joined Irwin Mitchell in 2002 from Norton Rose, he specialises in Company and Commercial work in the public, charity and education sectors, from the firms Sheffield office.

Gillian Coverley provides the Will Writing, Probate, Estate Administration and Tax Planning services the firm offers to its own clients and to large organisations such as Banks and Insurers whose customers benefit from the legal services supplied by Irwin Mitchell.

Steven Richardson has made the journey from Trainee to Partner with Irwin Mitchell. Steven qualified in 1993 in the firms Sheffield office; he deals with a wide range of commercial property deals ranging from small transactions for individuals to multi-million pound developments for PLC clients.

Fran Mayes has also been with the firm since trainee level. She becomes a Partner of the firm in their Newcastle office; she specialises in Catastrophic Injury claims of maximum severity including a recent successful claim for £3m on behalf of a 50 year old woman who suffered brain damage from negligent treatment whilst in a Northumbrian hospital.

Among the 4 non-lawyers attaining Partner status, as an Associate Director, is Keith Barrett who works within Irwin Mitchells London Personal Injury team. Keith has been acting Pro Bono on behalf of several of the victims of the July 2005 London bombings, working to get those victims of the terrorist attacks, and bereaved families, compensation under the criminal injuries compensation scheme.

Keith is also the chairman of the London branch of ILEX (The Institute of Legal Executives) the professional body which represents Legal Executives and trainee Legal Executives and enhances their role and standing in the legal profession.

Other promotions to Assistant Director level include Stuart Robinson who leads the firms Management Accounts team. Alison Matthews the firms Compliance Officer and a founding member of the Law Society's highly respected Money Laundering Taskforce and Paul Haycock, part of the Regulatory and Investigations Group in Sheffield who specialises in representing individuals and companies investigated and prosecuted for offences before the criminal courts.

Irwin Mitchells commitment to diversity in terms of promotion and reward within the firm was recently recognised when the firm was named Law Firm Employer of the Year in the 2006 Paralegal Awards. The Award was presented for Irwin Mitchell's commitment to providing quality work, support, recognition and training to their paralegal staff which the judging panel said was "second to none".

You can see a full list of partners and their profiles here.