Firm hires: JMW Solicitors welcomes 10 partners

Full-service law firm JMW Solicitors has expanded its litigation and corporate teams with the appointments of Lee Ranford and David Fendt as restructuring and insolvency partners.

Ranford joins JMW’s London office after spending 24 years at Russell-Cooke. He started his career in the post room at Eastbourne-based Stephen Rimmer & Co in 1984, before qualifying as a solicitor at the firm. Ranford subsequently spent six years at Evill and Coleman, where he became partner in charge of commercial litigation.

Fendt also joins the firm from Russell-Cooke. He is a contentious insolvency expert, and has commercial litigation experience advising individuals and companies in matters ranging from debt recovery to complex contract and corporate disputes.

Sobashni De Silva, Barrington Atkins, Bilal Mirza and Philip Hind have joined the litigation department in London, while Charles Metherell, Edwin Richards and Imran Aslam have bolstered the firm’s corporate offering.

John Andrews, head of the London office, commented: 'Lee, David and the rest of our new partners have joined the firm at an exciting time of expansion. At JMW we are always looking for talented lawyers who can bring market leading expertise to our full-service office in the capital. Lee’s story from post room to partner is a great reminder that given the talent, ingenuity and work ethic that our new partners have brought, our clients can be rest assured that they will continue to receive best-in-class legal advice.'

The firm has also welcomed client relationship partner Lisa Conmy. Conmy has 20 years’ experience of leading global and UK initiatives across businesses to deliver growth of client revenue, embed clients within firms and ensure exemplar client service.

JMW was founded in Manchester over four decades ago and opened its London office in 2019, growing from seven to over 170 staff in under five years.