Forbes Solicitors has announced the promotion of four new partners as part of 18 promotions across the firm.

Jenny Burke and Nick Hodgson become the firm’s third and fourth partners in Forbes’ 13-strong corporate and restructuring team, while Gemma Duxbury in the governance, procurement and information team, and Craig MacKenzie in the crime team, have also become partners.

The four promotions see Forbes Solicitors’ partnership grow to 57 partners across the North of England and follow a series of successes across the firm’s specialisms during the past 12 months.

Jenny Burke has played a key role in the development of the firm’s Greater Manchester strategy, whilst maintaining an impressive cohort of clients and introducers, as well as leading some of the team’s largest transactions.

Nick Hodgson’s promotion to partner follows his strong management of a portfolio of clients, leadership on significant deals and a lead role in the development and training of all corporate team members.

The corporate and restructuring team have completed deals totalling more than £170m in the last twelve months, which continues to be a key factor in the growth and development of the team.

Gemma Duxbury has been instrumental in helping public sector organisations to address changing procurement regulations, supporting local authority schools to navigate the process of academisation and managing public contracts, as well as working closely with private sector businesses to manage data protection and governance structures amidst growing remote working trends.

In addition to becoming a partner, Craig MacKenzie has also been made head of the crime department’s High-Profile and Private Crime Division. Craig, a specialist in regulatory crime, is a Higher Court Advocate with rights of audience in all criminal courts and will draw on his experience and network of national connections to expand the division going forwards.

Other promotions have seen seven professionals become associates at Forbes Solicitors and another seven move up to senior associates.

Associate promotions include Chris Threlkeld and Louise Goss in the insurance team, Samantha Robinson and Lyndsay Baxter in housing regeneration, Joanne Higham in the commercial property team, family law specialist Adrienne Baker and commercial lawyer Daniel Fletcher.

Insurance team members Louise Alasirt and Natalie Argent, Mohassan Mehmood from commercial property, accredited data protection practitioner Bethany Paliga, corporate lawyer Rebecca McCann, Lauren Fisher in the housing regeneration team and wills, tax and probate lawyer Elizabeth Whitaker have all been promoted to senior associates.

Pauline Rigby, Managing Partner, at Forbes Solicitors, comments: “It’s fantastic to see so many promotions across many of our different specialisms. Each promotion marks a well-deserved personal achievement underpinned by a vast amount of effort, time and commitment. The promotions also represent the success of our people working collaboratively across teams and working together with clients to understand and realise their goals.”