Bircham Dyson Bell announces 11 new legal directors

Leading law firm Bircham Dyson Bell (BDB) is pleased to announce the appointment of 11 new legal directors, including 1 external hire. The appointees cover the breadth of BDB’s departments; 5 in business services, 3 in government and infrastructure, 2 in private wealth and 1 in real estate.

The following senior associates have been made up to legal director in BDB’s business services department:

• Robert Chidley acts for a range of clients in relation to mid-market private mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments and public company transactions. He has a particular focus on AIM and corporate insolvency related queries.
• Andrew McGlashan advises on a broad range of corporate matters including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and was recommended in the Legal 500 last year for mergers and acquisitions of up to £50 million.
• Toby Richards-Carpenter has particular expertise in drafting shareholders’ agreements and advising on property ‘special purpose vehicle’ transactions.
• Tessa Trevelyan Thomas is instructed on a broad variety of transactional matters and has extensive experience in corporate governance, disclosure issues and the Takeover Code.
• Sarah Williams provides advice to a wide range of charities and not for profit organisations on governance, commercial and fundraising matters in the context of legislative developments and increasing regulatory scrutiny.

The firm’s private wealth department, which remains one of the largest specialist teams in the UK, has been further strengthened by Hamish Frost’s appointment as trust director and Patrick Lynam’s appointment as legal director:

• Hamish is head of trust management and is an expert on UK tax compliance affecting resident and offshore trusts. He also deals with the day-to-day management of trust assets, with a specialism in trustee investing.
• Patrick works closely with the tax trusts and estate planning team in relation to the capital tax planning and administration of estates. Patrick is instructed by individuals, trustees and institutional landowners on matters relating to the management of rural property holdings and has a particular expertise in bloodstock law.

BDB’s award-winning government and infrastructure team is further bolstered by the appointment of 3 legal directors:

• Rahul Bijlani has over 15 years’ experience in public law with a focus on major infrastructure projects. He has a unique expertise in road user charging, in particular environmentally based charges such as the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
• Elizabeth Paraskeva’s practice consists of property, development and compulsory purchase law, she has acted for public and private sector clients for nearly two decades.
• Lee Tearle is a specialist infrastructure planning lawyer and has experience of both promoting and objecting to major infrastructure projects, particularly rail, electricity and harbour developments under different consenting regimes.

Robert Young has joined the firm’s real estate team from Watson, Farley & Williams as a legal director. He has notable experience in investment management as well as advising on the acquisition, disposal and financing of sites for renewable energy projects.

Andrew Smith, managing partner of BDB, comments:

‘We are delighted to have appointed these exceptionally talented individuals as Legal Directors enabling us to continue to deliver the highest level of service to our clients.’