We have announced 12 promotions across our legal and consultancy practices at our Manchester office.

There are 10 promotions within Gateley Legal, headlined by the appointments of residential development lawyer Nick Molloy and intellectual property, commercial & technology lawyer Tom Hughes to partner.

Molloy joined Gateley in 2022 and has been instrumental in growing the residential team in the North West at a time when development is accelerating on a number of projects in the region, in part thanks to initiatives like the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Good Growth Fund.

Hughes specialises in commercial contracts, IT and intellectual property, with a particular focus on cloud-based and SaaS solutions, consumer contracts and regulatory issues such as data protection.

In addition, Michael Rock (corporate), Jonathan Burton-Baddeley (real estate) and Hannah Carter (real estate dispute resolution) are all promoted to legal director, with Ben Yates (construction) appointed legal director PSL.

Banking lawyer Katrina Groark and corporate lawyer Adam Noble are also promoted to senior associate, with Danielle Beaumont (commercial dispute resolution) and Kady Upton (construction) stepping up to associate.

There have also been a duo of promotions at built environment specialists Gateley Vinden, with Mike Baldwin appointed senior associate director and Mark Wills promoted to associate director.

Gateley Vinden specialises in consultancy services for all aspects of the built environment, with our comprehensive offering comprising building and quantity surveying, cost and project management, fund monitoring, dispute management, surety bond claims support, corporate and insurance services.

Reflecting on this year’s promotion round, co-heads of the Manchester office Hayley Sullivan and Stuart Evans, said:

“Congratulations to all of those who have been promoted and to our two newest partners Nick and Tom. Each of these appointments are testament to the hard work we see daily as the team delivers fantastic results for our clients, and we look forward to supporting them with the next step in their careers.

“It is an incredibly exciting time to be a business in Manchester, as the city continues to attract investment, support growth and retain talent and we are proud to be playing our part.”

These promotions are part of 69 announced by Gateley across the UK and Dubai, including 11 made up to partner.

Photo of Gateley Manchester 2026 promotions
Pictured: Manchester office co-heads Hayley Sullivan (far left) and Stuart Evans (far right) with this year’s cohort of newly promoted colleagues.