The banking lawyer, a consultant at Shakespeare Martineau, is the Society’s 121st president and succeeds Mushtaq Khan.
A Liverpudlian by birth, John has been practising as a solicitor in Birmingham for more than 20 years. He was a partner at DLA from 1995 – 1999 and senior partner at Needham & James from 1999-2010; he also worked in-house for First National Commercial Bank and the former Midland Bank.
A widely respected lawyer, John is the author of ‘Law of Property Act Receivership’; council member of the Non Administrative Receivers Association; and a member of the both the Society of Expert Witnesses and the Notaries Society. He is a regular lecturer on banking and receivership.
During his year in office, John has pledged to carry on the initiatives started by Mushtaq Khan, including developing closer ties with other professional bodies within Birmingham and the West Midlands. He is also keen to engage with both local and national politicians and will be arranging a number of meetings with local councillors and MPs during his year. John also aims to extend membership of the Society to other law societies in the region.
He said: “It is a great honour to be able to represent a great profession in a great city. I am very much looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead. The environment in which the profession is operating is changing rapidly and we must ensure that we as a profession adapt accordingly but at the same time maintain the high standards of service and integrity which our clients rightly expect of us.”
Taking over the role of vice president is Andrew Beedham of Clarke Willmott; James Turner of Tuckers Solicitors becomes deputy vice president.
Inez Brown, partner at Harrison Clark Rickerbys and Chaitali Desai, a solicitor at Weightmans, replace Professor Bernardette Griffin of The University of Law Birmingham and Ann Houghton of Anthony Collins Solicitors as joint honorary secretaries.