Legal and professional services group Ampa has announced 30 promotions, including nine in the West Midlands, across its Shakespeare Martineau and Lime Solicitors brands.
Within the region, there have been four promotions to partner level, including employment specialist Esther Maxwell and residential development expert Lucy Haynes, both in Shakespeare Martineau’s Birmingham hub.
In Stratford-upon-Avon, agricultural law professional Jennie Wheildon and personal injury specialist Peter Jones, who work within the Shakespeare Martineau and Lime Solicitors brands respectively, have also been promoted to partner.
Esther Maxwell – who qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and joined Shakespeare Martineau three years ago – predominately works for clients in the education sector, supporting universities, further education colleges and schools with sensitive and complex employee-related matters. Recently, Esther has completed a seven-year tenure sitting as a lay member on Teacher Disciplinary Tribunals.
With more than nine years’ experience, Lucy Haynes joined Shakespeare Martineau in 2019, acting for housebuilders, promoters and landowners on a range of matters, including instant land, strategic land transactions and land promotion.
Jennie Wheildon has been practising in agricultural law since qualification in 2010 and has always enjoyed the variety and complexity of the area – as well as the opportunity to get outside and visit her clients on their farms. She has worked for Shakespeare Martineau since 2020 and is looking forward to helping grow the firm’s agricultural law offering.
Peter Jones has almost 40 years’ experience in a wide range of serious or catastrophic personal injury claims, including fatal accidents, head, brain and spinal injuries and often arising from cycling or motorcycling accidents or accidents at work.
In Birmingham, employment experts Lubna Laheria and Emma Glazzard have been promoted to associate level, alongside contentious probate specialist Tamsin Walker and corporate solicitor Gweni Rees-Evans, all from the Shakespeare Martineau brand. They are joined by their social housing colleagues Sonal Panesar and Michael Lang in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Victoria Tester, managing director at Shakespeare Martineau, said: “It’s our people who make our business – and it’s our clients who benefit from our investments in them, so recognising and rewarding high performance is part of our culture across all our brands in Ampa.
“We are committed to the continued investment and development of our people in the West Midlands, empowering them to provide excellent customer service to clients regionally and nationally.”
All brands across Ampa are recruiting lateral hires and teams in the region.
