Law firm Hill Dickinson has appointed two new partners as it prepares to expand its Commercial Litigation and Commercial, TMT and IP practices within the firm’s Business Services Group offering.

James Lonsdale and Raj Pabla join the firm’s Manchester and London offices respectively.

James Lonsdale, a commercial lawyer, joins from DWF as partner in Hill Dickinson’s Manchester TMT and IP team.

James has over 25 years of experience of advising a wide variety of clients on a range of different commercial arrangements including supply, distribution, agency agreements, IP acquisition and licensing, IT and outsourcing arrangements. His experience spans a broad range of sectors including IT, telecoms, retail and manufacturing and he has acted for a wide variety of clients, from startups to large listed companies. He is ranked as a leading individual in the Legal 500 for IT and telecoms and in Chambers & Partners 2021 as a Band 1 lawyer within the North West for information technology.

Raj Pabla joins Hill Dickinson Commercial Litigation team in London (City) as a lateral hire from London law firm Teacher Stern, where he spent the last 13 years, becoming a partner in 2014.

His arrival at Hill Dickinson adds capacity to the firm’s plans to boost its national Commercial Litigation team with further senior level capacity in London. Further hires are due to be announced by the end of the year.

Raj manages a broad commercial litigation practice for clients from a diverse range of business sectors, including real estate, IT, sports and media, fashion, banking and travel, fintech and finance. His key areas of work include corporate and shareholder disputes, civil fraud, debt and asset recovery, disputes arising out corporate transactions and commercial contract claims. He also practices in several fields of professional liability with particular emphasis on claims against lawyers, financial institutions and advisors, surveyors, and architects.

Welcoming James and Raj to the firm, Craig Scott, Hill Dickinson’s head of business services, said:

“Sustainable profitable growth over the past few years in line with our strategic plan for expansion in our key markets in London and across our regional centres has opened up opportunities for us to invest in further expanding our senior legal teams in key practice areas. I am delighted to welcome James and Raj to Hill Dickinson as highly regarded experts in their respective areas of specialism, reflecting our commitment to providing excellence across the full range of business services to our clients across the UK and internationally.”