A leading law firm has made two key appointments in its local government department.
Wright Hassall, which is based in Leamington Spa, has drafted in David Elliott and Pritpal Singh Swarn to take on the growing amount of public sector work the firm carries out.
David joins the 200-strong practice after 15 years’ experience in local government law having worked for Ashfield District Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Cannock Chase Council and, for the last 10 years, Warwick District Council.
He said: “Local Government in general is being asked to do more and more with static resources. Wright Hassall’s dedicated public sector unit already provides legal services to housing associations, district councils, metropolitan borough councils and charities.
“Our relationship with public sector bodies can either be on an ad-hoc or partnership basis, but either way our experience in this field will provide a valuable asset for local government bodies, including police authorities, which will complement their in-house expertise.”
Pritpal trained in the public sector with the London Borough of Camden. On qualification he was jointly responsible for building up the planning and environmental legal team to be one of the success stories of legal services.
He has since worked for Greenwoods in Peterborough and helped create and run the planning and environment department acting for private sector, central government departments and local authority clients.
He has until recently also worked as a consultant to Northamptonshire County Council, advising on strategic matters.
Pritpal said: “I have spent most of my working life away from the area so it is great to be back in and Warwickshire.
“I enjoyed my time in other areas, but you can become so much more involved when you are working within your local area.
“With the recent changes in planning legislation the process will affect us all in one or another. Wright Hassall has appreciated the potential implications of such changes and I am delighted to be on board.
“I hope my appointment will significantly boost the services Wright Hassall offer to its commercial property and developer clients as well as local authority clients.”
