The latest moves, appointments and personnel changes among wealth management and related organisations in the UK, the rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and select international locations.

Irwin Mitchell
UK law firm Irwin Mitchell has appointed partner and specialist litigator Cara Hough (pictured) to join its Bristol office as part of its continuing programme to grow its will, trust and estate disputes team in the South West.

Hough (pictured), who was formerly at IDR Law, is a highly experienced solicitor specialising in contentious probate. She will work with senior associate solicitor Sarah Bolt who joined in February as Irwin Mitchell’s first private client solicitor in Bristol. Hough and Bolt are also being joined by another private client solicitor, Hannah Coton–Smith.

Irwin Mitchell now has 75 people in its Bristol office and the new recruits will be growing the firm’s contentious probate offering in the region alongside the existing family law, complex personal injury and public law teams.

Irwin Mitchell says it has the second largest private client team in the country and has one of the largest contentious probate teams.

“We’re continuing to invest in all areas of private client across the country and Cara’s expertise, talent and knowledge will be a real asset to our regional team and the national contentious probate team,” Paula Myers, national head of the will, trust and estate disputes team at Irwin Mitchell said.

Last month, Irwin Mitchell announced a record turnover surpassing £300 million ($394.17 million) for the first time. It has recently opened a new office in Brighton to increase its offering in the South East of England as well as completing deals with Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie in Scotland and Silk Family Law in the Northeast to increase expansion.

Ocorian
Ocorian, a specialist in trust, fund administration, fiduciary and corporate services, has just recruited Jeanette Rooms as its new chief people officer. She will join Ocorian’s executive committee.

Rooms joins Ocorian from Kingmakers, a sports and digital entertainment platform, where she was group head of human resources. Her career in HR spans over 25 years across many industries including financial services where she has worked for GSA Capital, Egg and Prudential, the firm said in a statement.

“The company is enjoying strong growth, and this requires a robust HR strategy to ensure the company maintains its focus on being client and people centric,” Rooms said.

Man Group
London-based Man Group, a global alternative investment management firm, has appointed Lee Matthews as managing director, head of retail sales for the UK.

Matthews is replacing Richard Phillips, who is retiring after 27 years with the firm. Phillips worked at Société Générale Asset Management prior to its acquisition by GLG, which was later acquired by Man Group in 2010. Matthews previously spent seven years as head of retail for the UK and Ireland at AllianceBernstein. Before that, he was senior business development manager – discretionary, at Aberdeen Standard Investments. Earlier in his career, he served in distribution roles at Liontrust Asset Management, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and JP Morgan Asset Management.

Paradigm Norton
Paradigm Norton, a UK-based financial planning firm, has appointed Philippa Hann as the new CEO. The appointment – effective next April – is subject to regulatory approval. 

Hann will be succeeding Barry Horner, who is approaching his 65th birthday, the firm said in a statement. Horner will remain as chair of the main board and will work part-time.

Hann has been a non-executive director on the Paradigm Norton board for the past 18 months and will continue in this role for the remainder of 2024.

Most recently, Hann served as the head of litigation at Clarke Willmott solicitors, where she led a team of more than 120 professionals.

In March 2019, the business moved to an employee ownership model, requiring the firm to consider its long-term leadership succession.