Top full-service law firm promotes 11 across specialist teams

Forbes Solicitors has announced 11 new promotions across a range of its specialisms including employment, insurance, contentious trusts & probate, commercial property, crime, housing & regeneration, and commercial litigation.

The promotions, which are effective from 1 May, will create two new partners, two senior associates and seven associates across the firm’s Manchester, Salford, Leeds and Lancashire offices.

John Lambe becomes a contentious trusts partner in Manchester and Andrew Halpin has been named an employment partner in Preston.

Louise Goss has been made a senior associate in the firm’s insurance team and Emily Jordan is now a senior associate in housing & regeneration (litigation). Olivia Jack, Joanna Dunstan, Loretta Woollams, Fern Gordon, Adil Hussain, Sheroze Nadeem and Samuel Martin have all been named associates.

Speaking of the promotions, managing partner Pauline Rigby, said: “We’re a full-service regional law firm with national reach and we’re proud to be at the top of our game. This is down to our talented team’s expertise, experience and client service. We have deep specialisms in every discipline, as well as rich sector expertise, and the latest round of promotions really demonstrates this.

“It’s so rewarding to see our people growing as we grow as a firm and I want to personally congratulate each of these well-deserved promotions.”

Regarding the latest partner promotions, contentious probate partner, John Lambe has been with the firm since December 2020. Having trained as a teacher, he taught law to students from GCSE to post-graduate level before qualifying as a solicitor. John has 25 years’ experience in legal practice.  He spent 15 years with a national law firm handling a wide range of complex and high value disputes on behalf of both businesses and private individuals before deciding to specialise in contentious trusts and probate work more than ten years ago.  John is passionate about this work and has a proven track record of achieving a positive outcome for clients.

Andrew Halpin joined Forbes’ employment team in January 2021, having previously been an employment solicitor at The University of Liverpool and Head of Legal and HR for a large group of GP Practices in Liverpool. As well as advising on day-to-day HR issues, Andrew is a confident advocate in the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal for public and private sector clients.

Partner, John Lambe said: “I’m delighted to be joining a fantastic and supportive partnership. What sets Forbes apart from other firms is the focus on culture and our people. Clients regularly feedback that that they enjoy working with the firm, not just because of our exceptional legal expertise, but because we are friendly and approachable. With these foundations, I look forward to working towards our combined growth ambitions.”

Andrew Halpin, partner, added: “As a team, we’ve grown considerably over the past two years – in terms of capabilities and headcount – and are ideally placed to support organisations of all shapes and sizes with their HR and people-related matters. I look forward to continuing to build on our reputation for delivering pragmatic, commercial advice.”