Shoosmiths boosts planning and environment team with partner hire

Law firm Shoosmiths has bolstered its planning and environment team with the hire of David Mathias as a partner from Weightmans.

Shoosmiths said his appointment was “seen as a key hire in expanding the firm’s presence regionally from the office in Manchester, and also nationally”.

Significant projects Mathias has worked on include advising Liverpool City Council on the delivery of its Knowledge Quarter, promoting the highway improvement scheme at Junction 10 of the M6 with Walsall Council and Highways England, as well as advising Peterborough City Council on the delivery of 7,500 new dwellings as part of sustainable urban extension.

Lisa Tye, Shoosmiths’ Joint national head of planning and environment, said: “Although we are one of the biggest planning and environment teams in the UK, we are extremely ambitious about increasing and improving our offering wherever necessary. David’s appointment is key to this, and we are extremely pleased to welcome such a high-calibre planning lawyer to the team.”

Mathias said: “Shoosmiths is an extremely exciting firm to be joining with major growth ambitions across the board, not just within the planning and environment team headed by Kathryn Jump and Lisa Tye.

“I am really looking forward to helping supplement and drive that growth here in Manchester, across the north and nationally.”

Partners hires made by Shoosmiths over the past year include Karen Howard and Fraser Mitchell into the planning and environment team, as well as Paul Alger and Choisanne Man into the wider real estate team.