People: Bevan Brittan; DWF; R&Co Communications; Evolution Claims Management

Bevan Brittan’s Birmingham office has promoted two of the law firm’s former trainees, including one to partner.

Promotions from the Birmingham office include new partner Raj Kang, an experienced healthcare lawyer who started his career at the firm as a trainee in 2008.

He became a senior associate in 2022 and now joins the partnership through his latest promotion.

Raj Kang

Two other members of the Birmingham team have also started new roles as associates, Hannah Cons, who began her career with Bevan Brittan as a trainee in 2017, and property law expert Raman Thandi-Bal.

Rebecca Pendlebury, partner and head of Bevan Brittan’s Birmingham office, said: “Each of our successful colleagues has played a major role in our growth and in meeting the growing demand for advice on a wide range of issues .

“Based on a decade of steady growth, we keep going from strength to strength. This year’s promotions reflect both the breadth and depth of expertise and experience within our business, as well as our commitment to equality and the value we place on diversity. The fact that two of our promoted people from Birmingham are former trainees also shows the career development opportunities we can offer our existing and future colleagues.

“Following this round of promotions, 52% of our partners are women. Because we know that diversity enriches our business, we will continue to support talented people to succeed. This year we have also welcomed 32 senior laterals into our business, six of them here in Birmingham. This is testament to the reputation we have for the work we do and the clients we act for. Our new hires also tell us they appreciate the career development support and hybrid work environment we offer to enable them to balance their lives.”

DWF, the global provider of integrated business and legal services, has announced Birmingham-based partner Melanie Williams as head of its global business and real estate practice.

Williams has worked for DWF for over 10 years with a presence both nationally and in Birmingham and has mainly spent his 25 year career advising on property development projects.

Melanie Williams

She has built a solid reputation in the hospitality sector with particular expertise in the acquisition, financing and development of hotels, as well as in the public sector and development projects.

Williams has led DWF’s built environment sector for the past six years and also leads DWF’s hospitality sector, which she will continue with in her new role, as well as playing a key role in her local real estate community in Birmingham (including her non-executive directorship on the board of the Colmore Business District (BID)). Melanie will also continue to manage some of the group’s key client relationships.

She said: I am honored to be appointed Global Head of Real Estate at DWF. It’s an exciting time for our global team, especially given our recent take with Inflexion. We will continue to focus on providing innovative solutions and services for our customers and I look forward to further developing our strategy to ensure the continued growth of our team and theirs.
capabilities at our various locations.”

CEO of Commercial Services at DWF, Paul Rimmer added: “Melanie’s wealth of experience and dedication to excellence aligns perfectly with our commitment to providing exceptional service to our clients around the world. Congratulations Melanie on this well-deserved achievement. Melanie takes over as Global Head of Real Estate from Toby Askin, who held the role for over 10 years
years. Toby remains at DWF as a senior partner in the global real estate practice.”

A West Midlands communications agency has further strengthened its digital team by appointing three new members of staff.

R&Co Communications, based in Leamington and Birmingham, has grown its social media team with the appointment of Kirstie Robinson as account director and Joe Tabb as account manager.

Jack Stocking also joins the R&Co team as SEO Account Director, following the agency’s multiple new contract wins since the end of 2023.

Joe Tabb, Kirstie Robinson and Jack Stocking

Robinson is an expert in social media and creative digital campaigns, having gained experience in PR and digital agencies in Birmingham.

She has worked with national and international consumer brands in healthcare, travel, property and FMCG.

Tabb’s social media career spans five years and includes agency and in-house roles, working with a wide range of B2C and B2B brands, including a wide variety of budget sizes.

She has worked with various brands and businesses including theatres, feminine care, pet, automotive and apparel brands and also has experience in email marketing and SEO.

Stocking has seven years of experience in SEO, boasting an adaptable and versatile approach to working as part of managing teams of SEO executives.

He has particular expertise in website auditing, SEO strategy creation, website migration and content production.

Peter Robinson, managing director at R&Co Communications, said: “We know clients don’t want their PR agencies to bog them down with jargon-laden pitches and vanity values ​​– they simply want to work with talented people who deliver results.
their promises. By assembling a team of high-performing senior staff, it means clients work with the people pitching them, rather than being sold the dream by a pitch team and then having the work delivered by junior office staff.

“We are attracting an outstanding caliber of talent to our agency as we continue to grow and evolve in this way, and the appointment of Kirstie, Joe and Jack is further evidence of this. Our approach means our team will tell you what the agency will do for you and then deliver it themselves – a strategy we know works.”

Evolution Claims Management’s new managing director has hired a new managing director, Russell Crewe, to continue with the firms growth plans.

Drawing on a wealth of experience growing insurance non-life businesses, Russell, who was most recently director of property and casualty operations for professional services and technology specialists Davies Group, says he has been impressed by the recent growth of the business and the culture and ethos created by the team.

Earlier in his career, Crewe was director of the claims management business unit for Direct Group from 2012 until it was acquired by Davies Group in 2018.

Russell Crewe

He also held the role of director of loss adjustment services for Merlin Claims Limited.

Started with Evolution on March 1st.

He said: “Since starting in the business I have been incredibly impressed with Evolution Claims Management as it is a superb business that can only get better. It was fulfilling to meet the people here who are passionate about delivering results for clients and want to drive the business forward. They are not afraid of change or worried about challenging the market because there is cohesion in the direction we are going.

“The acceleration of the business has been impressive, but there are still new growth opportunities ahead of us where we can add to the portfolio of services we offer. Moving here has already been one of the most rewarding starts of my career. There is no doubt that this business is destined for great things.”