TLT has recruited Victoria Zivkovic as partner in its Manchester corporate team from Irwin Mitchell, where she built its corporate practice, having joined from PwC Legal.

Linklaters has recruited Richard Spedding as M&A partner in its London corporate team. He has joined from Travers Smith, where he spent 25 years. He trained as a lawyer with Freshfields.

Shakespeare Martineau has made three hires to its corporate team in the East Midlands: Raksha Agarwal (1) as an associate in Leicester, and Renee Freeman (2) and Aryaan Bassi (3) as solicitors in Nottingham.

Agarwal has joined from Rothera Bray. She qualified as a solicitor in 2020 at Clarke Willmott, where she worked for a decade. Freeman qualified in 2023 at Actons Solicitors, and Bassi qualified with DLA Piper.

A&L Goodbody has promoted Adam Magill (1), Andrew McClintock (2) and Matthew Nesbitt (3) to solicitors in its Belfast corporate team following the completion of their training contracts.

Cleary Gottlieb has recruited Alexander van der Gaag (1) as partner and Joanna Roberts (2) as lawyer in its London private equity team office. 

Van der Gaag is a debt finance lawyer, advising private equity firms on M&A transactions and buy-outs. He has joined from Kirkland & Ellis, where he spent nine years, having trained as a lawyer with Baker McKenzie. 

Roberts is a private equity transactions lawyer, who spent 12 years at Travers Smith. Prior to that she worked for Hogan Lovells, where she trained as a lawyer. 

And in the New York office, Matthew Mao has returned to the law firm he trained with as partner in the debt finance practice, and Rachel (Grand) Gerwin has joined as a counsel in the global private funds practice.

Roger Hart (1), who has been a corporate partner at Addleshaw Goddard since 2006, has been appointed head of the law firm’s Manchester office. 

Across the Pennines, the firm has appointed real estate lawyer Lucy Sturrock (2) head of its Leeds office. And Robin Hickman (3), a finance partner specialising in debt restructuring, has been appointed head of the Middle East.

Lynn Ammar has joined Clifford Chance as partner in its global M&A practice. Based in the law firm’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices, she has joined from Cleary Gottlieb, where she spent 12 years in the firm’s Abu Dhabi and Paris offices. 

In Germany, Cristina Freudenberger has joined as capital markets partner from White & Case. And in Luxembourg, Arvine Nooralian and Philippe Sadler have been appointed to senior associates in the corporate team.

Taylor Wessing has recruited Toon Rummens (1) as partner and Emile Vanrobaeys (2) as associate in its corporate/M&A team in Brussels. Rummens has joined from Seeds of Law in Ghent and Vanrobaeys from lawyers MVVP.

Simmons & Simmons has recruited Richard Li as partner in the corporate and commercial team and head of healthcare and life sciences for China. Based in Hong Kong, but working across the region, he has joined from biotech company I-MAB, where he was the chief legal officer.