Alumni Network - Issue 7

Brian Marshall Head of Alumni Network

brian.marshall@mills-reeve.com

Welcome to the seventh issue of our Alumni newsletter

Welcome to the seventh issue of our Alumni newsletter.

After all the uncertainty and abnormality over the last two years, Mills & Reeve colleagues were able to catch up in person once again as we returned to the office. And boy, it’s been a year of reunions! Once it was clear that it was safe again to congregate in groups, many of our teams organised away days to reunite with old team members, some of whom they hadn’t seen in person for years, and welcome new members to the team. Marketing, the partners, insurance, and CoCo (which included 200 people descending on Birmingham for a day of workshops) were just some of the groups that organised meet ups.

Other exciting news includes the opening of our new Oxford office and seventh Mills & Reeve office to open in the UK on page 20! With the increasing interest in education, life sciences, real estate investment, private wealth and technology sectors based in the area, we couldn’t say no.

Since its opening, we have welcomed three new partners to help grow the firm’s partnership, William Downing (employment), Dominic Jones (construction), and Matt Heyworth (family) and we’ve been busy making new connections throughout Oxford.

In January we formed an ESG team who have been working hard to minimise our impact on the environment. We’ve committed to net zero by 2050 and, in alignment with the Paris Treaty’s target to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, we aim to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 35% by 2031. To communicate this process we’ve created our first ever comprehensive sustainability report with a review of the steps we’ve taken in the last 12 months and the next actions in achieving our goals.

In other news, we celebrated being ranked 18th in the UK Best Companies to Work For list 2022, our highest ever ranking (that is up until we smashed it again in 2023).

We also received great results from our Fearless Feedback survey which revealed overall improvement in client satisfaction and recommendation on page 26. The firm has set an ambitious goal of achieving a 95% client recommendation score by 2025, promoting continuous improvement and striving to evolve our culture by absorbing client voices in everything we do.

Overall, it’s been a busy and exciting year for us. We hope you enjoy reading about what we’ve been up to.

We love hearing from our alumni and keeping up to date with your news. If you want to get in touch to let us know how you’re doing, or you want to appear in our “where are they now” feature please let us know! Email us at: alumni@mills-reeve.com. Join our LinkedIn group or follow us on Twitter @Alumni_MR We’d love to hear from you! If you know of any other previous Mills & Reeve people who might like to join the network please do point them in our direction!

Mills & Reeve in memory of...

As many of you will know Angela Moore, a colleague from our Birmingham office, sadly passed away after a long battle with cancer. Angela was a much loved friend and colleague to many within the firm. Having joined in 2009 she worked across a number of teams over the years, including family and insurance, while also becoming a document production specialist in June 2018.

Angie was incredibly positive and always wore a smile, and I know that many of you will miss her greatly.

A number of our colleagues attended her funeral and, at the request of her son Daryl, we have made a donation of £5,000 from the Mills & Reeve Charitable Trust to Cancer Research in Angela’s memory.

Sandra Bearcroft, known to many of us in Real Estate and more widely across the Cambridge office from Francis House days, died peacefully at her home in March 2023.

Sandra, a friend to many of us, was a first-rate lawyer and a key member of our fledgling PSL team. Our thoughts are very much with her husband, and their children.

Sandra had been battling against cancer for over 15 years and was inspirational in her bravery and stoicism throughout.

Angela Moore

Sandra Bearcroft

Where are they now?

Alumni from Mills & Reeve pop up in some of the most unexpected places. This issue we catch up with a past colleague to see where their journey has taken them...

Sarah

Position

Counsellor and Psychotherapist

Position while at Mills & Reeve

Principal Associate

Dates employed by Mills & Reeve

2007 - 2018

Transferring my legal skills to counselling

After leaving Mills and Reeve, I completed an MSc in Psychology. One of the modules was in counselling, and I realised then that this was what I wanted to do going forwards. I am now a qualified integrative counsellor, which means I practice from a personcentred modality, but bring in other modalities like CBT, psychodynamics and TA, where it’s appropriate for my client. My placement was in the NHS, and as well as starting to build up my own practice, I currently volunteer as a counsellor at the Meridian Counselling Centre. Training to be a counsellor takes a long time (partly because they like to make sure you have dealt with all your own stuff before letting you loose on anyone else!) but it’s also flexible, part time and term time, so it has allowed me a great balance between doing what I love and being around for my teenagers.

Mills & Reeve was a great place to work. I joined when I was four years qualified, having trained at DACB. The difference in culture was astonishing – it took me a while to understand that you could work in a law firm and be treated nicely from the top down! What I loved most about Mills & Reeve was the people - colleagues and friends who you could laugh with and who had your back when needed. But I don’t miss trying to keep on top of rules around disclosure and witness statements, nor an overflowing email inbox – I sometimes still shudder at the thought.

People ask me if I was unhappy being a lawyer given that I have taken up a very different career. Being a lawyer suited me in my twenties and thirties, and I really enjoyed it.

What’s your favourite Mills & Reeve memory?

Lots of life events then converged, which led to me deciding to make a change. There are so many transferable skills between the two professions.

It’s just that with counselling I am aiming to empower clients to find their own resolution rather than advising them on what I think it should be. The organisational and administrative skills that I’ve learned are also of huge benefit in setting up my own practice.

On one away day we were all asked to anonymously reveal something work related and personal on a post-it and stick them up round the room. I confessed to sometimes taking a 5 minute nap in the toilets after being up half the night with small children. This was slightly more personal than most responses and caused a lot of hilarity at the time.

Plus, dancing and karaoke in nightclubs and office parties – I still smile thinking back to some of those great nights out.

At the end of the day, in both careers you are hoping to get to a resolution of a problem or situation.

Adventure in the great outdoors

Mills & Reeve Charity Challenge

17-19 June 2022

Mills & Reeve colleagues head to the Peak District for this year’s Charity Challenge. A total of £19,177.74 was raised for our two chosen charities: Young Minds and DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Journey to the Peak District

Over the summer, around 90 colleagues made the journey to the Peak District for a day of hiking, climbing and abseiling. After the terrible weather forecasts in the week leading up to the day, in the end we all managed to avoid being rained on which made the climbing and hiking (a bit) less slippery than expected.

Many thanks to Georgie Blears, Nicola Warren, Olivia Mechan, Justine Rae, and Amy Harker for all their hard work to bring about such a fantastic weekend!

We also held some Mini Charity Challenges that staff could get involved with at the office, including a British Summertime Bakesale and a office walk with riddles on how to get you to a particular city landmark. Staff had the option to guess the number of sweets in a jar and win a whole tub of Skittles!

And a little something for nostalgia. Inspired by a photo of a Norwich office typing competition in the 1990s shared on the innovation hub by Tracy Stevenson, we held an oldfashioned typing competition just like the one in this photo.

In support of Young Minds and DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

This year we chose to support two charities. The firm voted for Young Minds as their first chosen charity, a leading mental health foundation that makes sure all young people can access the mental health support they need. They provide young people with tools to look after their mental health, such as counselling and therapy, and empower parents and adults to offer the best support they can through a parents’ helpline and webchat.

After the invasion of Ukraine, we also chose to support DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, a charity that hopes to aid the 13 million people displaced by the conflict. They deliver food, warm shelter, clean water and medical care to people in Ukraine as well as vital support to refugees in neighbouring countries. To date they have provided over 70,000 people with primary healthcare services and over 40,000 with hygiene kits.

Cal from Peak Mountaineering said “As I was out and about with various groups it was so lovely to see and hear some of the participants, who were a bit nervous, overcoming their fears and having a go at the climbing or abseiling. What a fun and social group your company are.”

With the support of clients, colleagues, family and friends, this year’s charity challengers managed to raise £9,588.87! This was matched by the Mills & Reeve Charitable Trust giving us a total of £19,177.74 for our chosen charities.

“It was so lovely to see and hear some of the participants, who were a bit nervous, overcoming their fears”

Firmwide fundraising activities

Our CSR team have been busy over the last few months! We’ve had bake sales and quizzes across many of the offices.. all for a good cause of course.

• The Cambridge office made food donations to Cambridge food bank, ran the Chariots of Fire relay race and and held an easter bake sale.

• The Birmingham office sponsored two volunteering breakfasts, involving paying for hot food and handing it out to people living on the streets. They also had a bake sale.

• The Manchester office took part in the Three Peaks Challenge and Kelly Rogers shaved her head for Cancer Research and donated her hair to the Little Princess Trust. They had a bake sale and a grand national sweepstake.

• The Leeds office took part in an office charity walk.

• The London office hosted quizzes, wore jeans for Jeans for Genes and had bake sales.

• Kevin Calder and James Fry completed the Rat Race (Coast to Coast) in the Scottish Highlands to raise money for charity.

• Michael Whatley, Andrew Playle and Alison Bull took part in IntoUniversity’s sponsored bike ride, Tour d’Oxford, to raise money for the charity. IntoUniversity provides local learning centres where young people are inspired to achieve.

• The Mills & Reeve Charitable Trust has made a £10,000 donation to the Pakistan DEC Appeal.

• The trustees of the Mills & Reeve Charitable Trust made a donation of £10,000 to BritishUkrainian Aid, a charitable organisation who have been supporting people suffering from the conflict in Ukraine since 2014.

The numbers

In 2021/22, the firm continued to have a productive year and we’re pleased to announce that our turnover rose by 5% to a record £131.2 million. As a result of this strong financial performance, the firm announced an all-staff bonus pool of £2.4 million (£200,000 more than last year) meaning that anyone working full time for the whole financial year received £2,231.

Justin Ripman, senior managing partner, says that everyone plays a vital role in generating financial success for the firm, so he’s glad that everyone can have a share in these profits.

“On behalf of every partner in the business, I am extremely grateful for the role that everyone has played in winning work, being a leader in client experience and pulling together to support each other and push the business forward. Being able to pay a bonus reflecting the great performance of the firm is really pleasing.”

Here’s just some of this year’s highlights:

• Improved client metrics in all key areas of the latest “Fearless Feedback” client survey - client recommendation and client satisfaction both 91% (+2%), and client loyalty 90% (+5%)

• A first ever ranking in the Thomson Reuters Top 20 UK Law Firm Brand Index

• A best ever position (18th) in the UK 100 Best Companies to Work For list - featuring for an unparalleled 19 years running

• A record 13 principal associates being promoted to partner

• A top four spot for the sixth year running in RollOnFriday’s best law firm awards

Partner promotions

Record year of partner promotions at Mills & Reeve Leeds

On 1 June 2022, Mills & Reeve promoted 13 principal associates across the firm including four in Leeds, the highest number in any of our regional offices which reflects the growth in the local marketplace. This cohort also includes the highest proportion of female partner promotions (69%) on record.

Justin Ripman, senior partner at Mills & Reeve said: “It’s great to see so many of our principal associates making such powerful cases to join the partnership this year, each of them having built a strong client base and reputation in their respective areas of legal expertise.

“This record year for promotions shows the business is in a strong position and continuing to build and grow as we continue to face the many challenges that the world has experienced in recent years.”

Birmingham

Helen Tringham - Helen has significant expertise advising on contentious data protection and cyber matters. She advises frequently on loss of personal data and confidential information, as well as data breaches and subject access requests.

Ellie Milner - Ellie specialises in advising clients in relation to wills, estate planning, asset protection and personal tax.

Alex Kenworthy – Alex has 20 years’ experience advising private and public companies, large international groups, owner-managed mid-market businesses and high net worth individuals.

Andrea Newman - Andrea is a property lawyer with a strong background in complex development projects.

Rebecca Pallot - Rebecca is an employment lawyer with extensive experience working for healthcare and charity clients.

Katherine Kennedy – Katherine, who is leading the family team in Birmingham, deals predominantly with finances post-divorce or relationship breakdown, particularly when businesses and trusts are involved, as well as advising on related children issues.

Ellie Milner Alex Kenworth

Andrea Newman Rebecca Pallot

Helen Tringham

Katherine Kennedy

Cambridge

Amanda Narkiewicz - Amanda specialises in regulatory and healthcare law. Her practice includes coroner’s inquests and assisting healthcare providers with various regulatory issues.

London

Rob Day – Rob is a corporate commercial lawyer within the health and care sector who heads up the primary care and NHS governance practice.

Norwich

Elizabeth Field – Elizabeth advises a range of private clients on estate planning and asset protection through inheritance tax and capital gains tax advice, flexible wills, trust restructuring and powers of attorney.

Mark Davison - Mark is an experienced international arbitration and cross border litigation specialist who has helped clients navigate resolving disputes across multiple jurisdictions and systems of laws during his career.

Manchester

Vicky Protano - Vicky is a corporate lawyer with a particular focus in the life sciences and technology sectors. She acts for a number of owner managed businesses and large enterprises and builds long standing relationships with clients.

Alexandra Pike – Alexandra advises clients on construction and engineering projects. As well as preparing and negotiating construction contracts, she supports clients during the course of projects to seek to avoid formal disputes.

Matthew Short - Matthew is a corporate tax lawyer, focussing on real estate, corporate and charity taxation

Amanda Narkiewicz Alexandra Pike

Elizabeth Field Matthew Short

Rob Day Mark Davison

Vicky Protano

We’re thrilled to be able to share our success with you and look forward to continuing the upward trend in 2023!

Focus on: A jam packed year in Oxford

Hello Oxford!

On 19 April 2022, an overcast morning but with high spirits, Mills & Reeve officially moved into its Oxford office. It followed years of interest in moving into the region due to the large volume of work that we continue to advise on in the education, life sciences, real estate investment, private wealth and technology sectors based in Oxford, the wider Thames Valley region and Oxford to Cambridge arc.

Winning ‘best law firm’ in the OxPropFest Awards in September 2021 was a great indicator that we were ready to open an office in the region and the award programme’s comments cemented this, saying: “Mills & Reeve justify their participation in the OxPropFest Awards not only through their work over many years for Oxford colleges but in recent months for Thomas White Oxford and with Kadans at Abingdon Business Park. Maybe also time to get an office in Oxford?”

Fast forward to nearly one year on and with a lot of work from various people across the firm, led by managing and senior partners Claire Clarke and Justin Ripman, alongside Peter McLintock, Angus Turner and Mark Pearce who gave their initial commitment to the office, we were officially open for business!

And like many of our offices, it is just a stone’s throw from the train station which is brilliant for clients as well as those working from it.

For the first few months, we even had a lovely bar attached to our office. Called the Jam Factory, it was home to a number of internal and external meetings, lunches and after-work catchups so when it announced its closure in September 2022, it broke a few hearts! We look forward to seeing what opens in its place and in the meantime, various team members are enjoying trying to find a new ‘local’!

An important part of the city’s history, the building had been a mixed-use commercial building for many years before Oxfordshire County Council embarked on a £6 million refurbishment in 2015.

The office itself is part of a Grade II listed property known as the Jam Factory due to its beginnings producing Frank Cooper’s marmalade and is an Oxford landmark.

L-R: Claire Clarke, Wendy Thomas, Angus Turner and Julie Mortimer

Getting out and about in the region

Since moving into Oxford, it’s safe to say that we have hit the ground running. This was supported by Matt Skipper in his role as head of new business attending various networking groups, making new contacts and building relationships. Peter McLintock, head of our Oxford office, has also been out making lots of new contacts alongside a host of other lawyers who have enjoyed various events in the area.

This business development was accelerated after being joined by senior business development manager Robert Pinheiro, previously at RWK Goodman, back in August who has a huge wealth of contacts and Oxford knowledge. His focus is to continue and grow awareness of Mills & Reeve in Oxfordshire.

We have also been joined by William Downing, employment partner, and Dominic Jones, construction partner, both from Blake Morgan. They bring a huge experience and knowledge of the Oxford area and have been a very welcome addition to the office.

And just last month, Matthew Heyworth joined us from BDB Pitmans, Reading. A leading family lawyer, he specialises in complex cases involving business interests, trusts, foreign assets and property portfolios. Principal associate, Claire Burton and associate, Kerry Haugh, also from BDB Pitmans, joined us that month too creating an instant family team in Oxford to support the head of Oxford’s family team, Tim Whitney

L-R: William Downing and Dominic Jones

L-R: Matthew Heyworth, Kerry Haugh, Tim Whitney and Claire Buton

Focus on: A jam packed year in Oxford

The firm signed a one year commitment with Business & Innovation magazine which covers a wide area around Oxfordshire, to have a feature in each publication. This has been a brilliant relationship and has allowed us to gain some great coverage in the region - view them here!

Our real estate team also hosted the first ‘away day’ from the new office in September 2022 with David Williams, Senior Commercial Manager, Harwell ARC delivering the closing keynote on the state of the local market and the opportunities for Mills & Reeve.

And on 7 March over 50 of our life sciences team came together in Oxford at the brand new SuperLab for the Life Sciences Sector Away Day.. We secured Professor Chas Bountra, Vice Chancellor for Innovation, University of Oxford as our keynote and it was a really productive and innovative day, full of ideas and inspiring conversations.

As a thanks to those across Oxfordshire who supported our move, introduced us to new contacts in the area and continue to invite us to events and networking opportunities, we were really pleased to host a drinks event in

October in local bar and restaurant, Wilding. We were blown away when over 80 people attended. (Pictures above)

To celebrate one year in Oxford, we will be hosting an ‘Oxford turns one’ party in May and can’t wait to see all the hard work from the events team come to life!

Award wins

Despite having only had a physical presence in Oxford for a matter of months, we were overjoyed to get an award win under our belt winning ‘law firm of the year’ at OxProp Fest 2022 for the second year in a row!

We were also highly commended for our use of technology in the Thames Valley Business Awards 2022.

We have signed up to the Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s Collective Business Fund to make our county a better place to live and work and through the Mills & Reeve Charitable Trust, made a considerable donation to the Oxford Food Hub.

We’ve also created Oxfordshire Unlimited with the following initial objectives:

o To bring together the senior local decision makers of the professional service firms to create a group that showcases Oxford and Oxfordshire as a world-leading innovation region that contributes to UK’s competitiveness and local prosperity

o To minimise the leakage of work out of Oxfordshire and keep more in the county

o To bring together a cohort of business leaders who can share ideas and network in a collaborative and collegiate community

What’s next?

Our move to Oxford has been very successful so far and I think it’s safe to say that we have all fallen in love with the city.

We can’t wait to see what we can achieve with this initiative and look forward to all that is still to come for Mills & Reeve in Oxford.

L-R: Mark Pearce, Peter McLintock, Angus Turner, Wendy Thomas, Michelle Hunt, Matt Skipper, Christine Joyce, Tim Whitney and Fay Colegate

L-R: Christine Joyce, Fay Colegate, Peter McLintock, Tim Whitney, Michelle Hunt, Angus Turner, Wendy Thomas, Matt Skipper and Mark Pearce.

Photographs from our opening day

In the news Head of New Business appointed

Q: How long have you been working at Mills & Reeve?

A: I have been working at Mills & Reeve for 9 ½ years.

Q: When did you start your new role as Head of New Business?

A: April 2020 but I had been working in an external facing role well before then.

Q: What are your main responsibilities?

A: As head of new business at Mills & Reeve, I’m responsible for developing our firm profile, professional networks, partnerships, new business opportunities, location and sector based business development activity and supporting lawyers by coaching BD and sales skills.

My nearly twenty years’ experience in marketing and business development enables me to work with lawyers helping them to think differently about how they approach new client relationships and referral partnerships and have a passion for coaching on a variety of business development topics and developing new ways to approach the market.

I have built a strong network of likeminded connections to help share profile among our peers, make introductions and generally support each other with introductions, business intelligence and insights.

Q: What are the most enjoyable projects you’ve been involved in this past year?

A: I have been working with the lawyers based in our new Oxford office to grow our profile in Oxfordshire and the wider Thames Valley Region. We started with almost a blank contact list and have grown this through targeting individuals, businesses and other professionals and getting out and about in the market through attending events and getting to know what makes the region tick. We’ve had fascinating meetings and events, from tours of facilities researching Fusion technology that’s hotter than the sun, quantum computing and vaccine laboratories to attending start-up and spin out pitch events in a pub! We are now six months in and are hosting our first networking event. We are experiencing a very nice problem to have that is we have too many people accepted for the size of the venue! This just shows the value of raising profile and being present in the market.

I’ve also been involved in lots of lawyer and network training. It’s something I’m passionate about, particularly supporting the development of younger professionals and students by coaching on personal brand, networking and utilising LinkedIn as a sales tool. I present these sessions internally but also have spent time with clients, contacts, other professionals and a range of NextGen and business networks. Giving confidence to those at the very start of their career and others looking to step up to the next level is one of the best parts of my role. Please contact me if you know of any opportunities for me to speak on these topics.

Q: What hobbies do you have outside of work?

A: I love being by the sea. I live in Norfolk with a stunning coastline only 30 mins from home. Walking, exploring, surfing or just taking time out to read a book by the sea is my way of getting down time. I also love music and, although I have a classical music background, I have a wide musical taste and love going to gigs, particularly those in small venues where you can be up close and personal with the bands playing.

An interview with Matt Skipper

Matt shares his top tips on networking:

1) Be genuine and authentic – why would you be anyone but yourself? People do business with people they know, trust and like!

2) Never ever sell anything –communicate, build relationships, show an interest in others and if you can offer help (like an introduction to someone else) it will get you goodwill.

3) Be curious and ask lots of open questions – get others around you talking. Networking can feel a little forced sometimes but once people start talking they will relax and then so can you.

4) Prepare for events so you have a plan – Things to consider might give your confidence a boost include: What are your objectives for the evening? What you are going to say about yourself. What questions are you going to ask people? Research who might be there that you want to meet and try to find familiar ground.

5) Always follow up – make sure you get in touch with people you meet post event so you can build an effective network. If you show an interest in others by following up, you will grow your network.

Mills & Reeve news

Fearless feedback survey

We’re pleased to announce the results of our Fearless Feedback survey that showed clients are more impressed with Mills & Reeve than ever before! Compared to the 2021 survey results, the client recommendation score increased from 89% to 91%, client satisfaction increased from 89% to 91% and client loyalty increased from 85% to 90%.

To add to this success, Fearless Feedback was judged as standout in the innovation strategy category of the Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyers: Europe Awards. We’ve now set an ambitious goal of achieving 95% client recommendation score by 2025.

Five new heads of office

Committed to reaching net zero by 2050

Last year we appointed our first sustainability manager, Jessica Wilkes-Ball, who has experience of driving forward change in communities across the UK with a focus on ESG.

Jess joined our newly formed ESG team alongside head of ESG, Neil Pearson, and ESG advisor, Angie Morley, and has pushed forward a wider environmental strategy.

We’re working towards reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 35% by 2031, in alignment with the Paris Treaty’s target to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. We’ve further pledged a 90% reduction in emissions by 2050 and to validate all targets through the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). How we’ll build towards this is explained in detail in our first ever comprehensive

Jayne Hussey Birmingham

Paul Johnson Leeds

Andrew Secker London

Craig Hodgson Norwich

Peter McLintock Oxford

The Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth games were held in Birmingham in the Summer where a number of our colleagues volunteered their time and got involved with the festivities -

• Phil Hutchinson (principal associate) spoke on a panel about law in sport.

• Carol Couse (partner) presented at a breakout session on sports contracts.

• Surj Deuer (head of business development) and Sue Scott (senior risk & compliance solicitor) volunteered as fleet drivers, chauffeuring athletes around the city. Surj even managed to get a seat with some of the Jamaican team for Wednesday evening’s athletics session including the 100m finals and Eilish McColgan’s 10,000m victory.

• Trevor Read (head of pricing) acted as a commissaire in the velodrome for the track cycling.

We stand with Ukraine

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia not only shocked the world but highlighted the risks faced by our legal colleagues across our business who have family and friends based in central and eastern Europe.

In response, we offered the services of our immigration team to the Ukraine Advice project assisting asylum seekers looking to join relatives in the UK. A couple of colleagues even hosted asylum seekers in their homes including Tracy Yates (consultant) and Richard Hanson (partner).

The Mills & Reeve Charitable Trust donated £10,000 to BritishUkrainian Aid, an organisation who work to help vulnerable individuals who have been physically, mentally and socially disadvantaged by the invasion, including orphaned children, people wounded by the conflict, and those who have lost their main family providers.

Introducing our Balance network

Balance aims to promote the interests of existing and future employees in support of gender balance and equality. The inaugural meeting started with an intro from network heads, followed by initial topics of discussion which included the experiences of people working part time, dealing with microaggressions externally across

Proud to be celebrating Pride

This year Spectrum, our LGBTQ+ and allies networks, organised its first in-person Pride events since covid with drop-in events in Norwich, Birmingham and Leeds. Colleagues came along to enjoy rainbow coloured ice cream, cookies and cakes while discussing LGBTQ+ issues and the history of Pride. Meanwhile the Cambridge office sponsored Cambridge Pride in Jesus Green and colleagues took part in a Pride themed firm-wide quiz.

different sectors, and how we can make more of our gender pay gap reports. In other news, we have recently hit our target of 33% female partners ahead of schedule (our original aim was 2025). Although a great achievement, this is just the beginning as we continue to bridge the gap.

Promotions

Partner promotions

• Alex Kenworthy

• Alexandra Pike

• Amanda Narkiewicz

• Andrea Newman

• Elizabeth Field

• Ellie Milner

• Helen Tringham

• Katherine Kennedy

• Mark Davison

• Matthew Short

• Rebecca Pallot

• Rob Day

• Vicky Protano

Senior Paralegal Promotions

• Emmy Batchra

• Isabel Hartley

• Nicola Turner

Associate promotions

Principal

• Adrian Kwintner

• Andrea Stanford

• Andrew Timoney

• Henry Mahalski

• Jacob Cork

• Jenny Perry

• Kate Ledwidge

• Linda Glover

• Melissa McDonald

• Pili Fernandez-Mahoney

• Samuel Lindsay

Senior

• Alice Ogden

• Amandip Dhillon

• Bethany Webb

• Catherine Noble

• Danni Belbin

• Ellen Wilkinson

• Faith Gandhi

• Grace Endley

• Hayley Rowland

• Hollie Licence

• Holly Hill

• Ian Tattersall

• James Field

• James Shiel

Newly Qualified Associates

• Abi Macey

• Abigail Smith

• Alexandra Illingworth

• Aurelie Tegho

• Chantal Elian

• Claire O’Reilly

• Eve Beere

• Hatti Briggs

• Holly Morrison-Carter

• Jack Wright

• Kristyna Petrosjanova

• Louis Geary

• Maeve Canavan

• Medi Evans

• Morsal Sherzad

• Omar Nwoko

• Peter Lennon

• Randle Brooks

• Robert Beveridge

• Robert Jackson

• Suzanne El-Safty

• Kate Rushworth

• Laura Wells

• Louise Brownsey

• Rebecca Auster

• Robert Douglas

• Tim Evans

• Tom Hasoon

Executive/ Business support services promotions

• Aimee Kelly – Recruitment Manager

• Alex Brown – Senior Administrative Assistant

• Amy Cordingley – Executive Assistant

• Caroline Ward – Senior Central Inception Team Assistant

• Chris Smith – Senior CRM Executive

• Christine Joyce – Senior Business Development Advisor

• Clare Hobley – Events & Hospitality Manager

• Courtney Quille – Senior Administrative Assistant

• Danny Marr – IT Infrastructure Team Leader

• Elsie Evans – Executive Assistant

• Emma Farmer – Client Care Manager

• Emma Manuell – Head of Research & Information

• Emma Sanderson – Senior Research & Information Assistant

• Fay Colegate – Senior Communications Executive

• Fiona Toolan – Senior Debt Recovery Executive

• Frances Cutmore – Senior Executive Assistant

• Hadley Rutherford – Senior Reprographics Operator

• Hannah Shipman – Executive Assistant

• James Rushmer – Senior Facilities Assistant

• Jo Robinson – Senior Document Production Specialist

• Joanna Jamieson – Payroll Manager

• Josh Lomax – Senior IT support Analyst

• Julie Massey – Senior Document Production Specialist

• Karen Cornelius – Executive Assistant

• Kavita Mahey – Senior Executive Assistant

• Kelly Newman – Senior Administrative Assistant

• Kloe Wright – Senior Executive Assistant

• Kris Apron – Websites Manager

• Laura Jones – Senior Executive Assistant

• Lenoor Courage – Senior Executive Assistant

• Liliya Tsapenko – Senior Executive Assistant

• Lorrain Urry – Senior Finance Assistants

• Lucy McDonald – Senior Executive Assistant

• Lucy Murphy – Research & Information Advisor/IT Trainer

• Lynne Lawn – Senior Chartered Legal Executive

• Michelle Davies – Senior

Receptionist

• Michelle Hunt – Business Development Manager

• Nicola Sierzega – Senior Client Innovation Assistant

• Rachel Chapman – Senior Graduate Recruitment Manager

• Rosanna Gilligan – Senior Executive Assistant

• Ryan Brown – Senior Assistant Buyer

• Sam Reeve – Senior E-disclosure Advisor

• Sarah Lavell – Senior Administrative Assistant

• Sasha Pejovic – Senior Executive Assistant

• Steven Riley – Senior Research & Information Advisor

• Su Williamson – Senior Executive Assistant

• Tricia Hearn – IT Training Team Manager

• Vicky Stagg – Senior Executive Assistant

• Victoria Sears – Innovation Engagement Manager

• Wendy Thomas – Head of Facilities

Hatches and matches

Congratulations to our colleagues who have hatched and matched since the last issue!

Eve Isabelle Luna Cherry-Hales Jessica Cherry

Florence Beatrix Bloom Amanda Narkiewicz

Imogen Opie (with big sister Olivia) Melissa Opie

Ivy Amelia Williams Adam Williams

Rory Graham Gilbert Naomi Shelton

Rupert Dunkley Sophia Dunkley

Married on 28th May 2022

Kam and Jonathon Prasad

Sikh ceremony (picture above) 17 April

Hindu ceremony part -15 May

Civil ceremony – 28 May

Hindu Ceremony part 2 in Fiji– June

Jennifer Squibb and David Baldwin

And finally…

Sue Darling

Position

Retired in Spain

Position while at Mills & Reeve

Group Coordinator: September 2001 – October 2005

CRM Administrator: October 2005 –December 2020

Dates employed by Mills & Reeve

From September 2001 – December 2020

I started working at Mills & Reeve in 2001 and was based in the Cambridge office in the corporate team as a group coordinator. I was in that role for four years until I started working with Helen Packwood on InterAction in 2005, then I became the InterAction CRM Administrator and moved to the Marketing Team.

In my role I would monitor InterAction tickets, respond to InterAction queries, and run training sessions. I would also often help the finance team with bill dispatching every month and other billing and finance queries that came through.

Working from home was only just being introduced firm wide when I was leaving for my retirement. I was pleased to continue working remotely 15 years from Spain but I did really miss my girls in Cambridge. Looking back, I loved that job and the busyness of it. Something I don’t miss is some of the many recurring InterAction queries.

One of my favourite and funniest Mills & Reeve memories happened on a Friday morning. We used to take it in turns buying breakfast and on this particular day Brian Marshall managed to get runny egg down his shirt sleeve right before his meeting. I remember having to frantically wash and dry his shirt sleeve in the ladies bathroom so that he didn’t turn up with a stain.

Since retiring, we (my partner Gordon and I) decided to renovate our newly bought house to the north of Malaga. Meanwhile, we had to rent a house for 18 months while our new property was in the middle of buildings work. We decided to move to be nearer to amenities in walking distance after living in the countryside for 17 years.

We can now walk to the local shops and meet friends and neighbours for a coffee with ease. The village has a square with bars and restaurants and is a very sociable village because of that. One thing I don’t miss from the old house is harvesting all the almonds, but I do miss the views and peace and quiet.

The original upstairs hadn’t been remodelled in 100 years and so needed a touch-up! The house now has 3 bedrooms and 3 ½ bathrooms. The lounge and kitchen were extended so we could have an open plan. Upstairs now had 2 ensuite bedrooms and we treated ourselves to a walk-in wardrobe. There are still some things left to do in the house including the banisters, the downstairs bedroom and ensuite, utility room and cloakroom and outside the garden walls need to be rendered. The outbuilding will eventually be rebuilt to become my studio where I will be able to get back to my hobby of making mosaics again.

Our new house, which is over 100 years old, has had a complete re-vamp. We knocked down walls and built an extension.

I moved to Spain to the Almeria province in October 2005. I believe I was the first Mills & Reeve employee to work remotely and so was well ahead of the times.

Kitchen before

Sue and her partner Gordon

We’ve adopted a stray cat (or should I say she adopted us) and called her Pickles. She’s no older than 18 months. Along with Pickles, we somehow also adopted a chicken that we found in our garden, although we had no idea where it came from. Four of us had to run around for an hour to catch it and put it in a box and then we managed to re-home it, but what a commotion that hour was!

When we’ve finished the house we plan to have a housewarming party to thank the neighbours for their patience with all the noise and the mess. Then here’s hoping for plenty of short breaks and holidays and, of course, spending time in our lovely house we have been working on.

Kitchen and Downstairs after

Upstairs before and after Pickles the cat