New Senior Hire to lead Expansion of Ashfords’ Business Risk & Regulation team

National law firm Ashfords has appointed partner Ian Manners to head up its Business Risk & Regulation team, as the firm looks to expand its offer to clients.

Ian will lead a team advising on compliance & risk issues as well as investigations and prosecutions. His arrival builds further the firm’s experience across a wide range of regulatory issues including health & safety, environmental, transport, fire, product safety and trading standards.

Ian is recognised by Legal 500 as a next generation partner and is a member of the Health & Safety Lawyers and UK Environmental Law Associations. Ian joins from DAC Beachcroft where managed the firms Health and Safety Regulatory team in the South-West and was head of the firm’s Environmental Regulatory team.

Commenting on his appointment, Ashfords’ Head of Business Risk & Regulation Ian Manners said:

“My experience is all about helping clients across a wide range of sectors to manage regulatory risk – whether that’s proactively identifying and mitigating potential risks in advance, or working as part of a crisis response or defence team to provide support immediately after incident has taken place. I’m excited to join Ashfords and develop further the support we can offer clients in this area as well as to contribute to the firm’s wider growth plans.”

Ashfords’ CEO Louise Workman commented:

“Ian's many years of experience in this area bolsters the support we can provide clients, and that experience really matters when you are looking to understand and mitigate risks or manage a live incident or investigation. The expertise he brings advising on matters in the construction, energy, healthcare, marine, natural resources and real estate space will be particularly relevant. It’s great to have Ian in the team supporting Ashfords’ clients.”

Ian’s appointment is part of Ashfords’ continued growth across its offices, with recent partner hires including corporate partner Kim Hawkins, property litigation partner Warren Reid and real estate partner Robin de Wreede. The firm also made seven internal partner promotions during 2021, with Amy Gallimore (restructuring & insolvency), Andy Young (corporate), Barny Croft (wills, trusts & estates), Ben Tarrant (real estate), Emma Warren (real estate), Lara Moore (marine) and Simon Bailey (real estate).