EY has appointed Elliott Morley and Gabriel Iliuta as partners in its UK private credit tax team, focusing on international financial services tax and transaction services. Based in London, Morley brings more than 22 years of experience in the banking and funds industry across both commercial and tax roles. He joins EY from PwC where he advised some of the largest funds investing in the credit sector. Also based in London, Iliuta joins EY from Deloitte where he worked across central Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and in the UK within credit and restructuring tax.

MHA Moore and Smalley has appointed Russell Cooper as an audit partner at its Manchester office to support the team’s ongoing growth. He has joined the firm from HW Fisher in London, where he began as a graduate in 2012 and progressed to director. His appointment brings the total number of partners at the firm to 31 with 13 in the audit team alone. Originally from the Kendal area, Cooper has returned to the north west as part of his move to MHA Moore and Smalley.

Johnston Carmichael has strengthened its business advisory team with the appointment of Jim Lockhart as a partner in the Glasgow office. He has over 25 years of experience working across the finance sector for firms of all sizes. A chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser, Lockhart’s role will involve leading audit projects and growing the firm’s engineering and manufacturing offering. He joins the firm from Armstrong Watson where he was a partner. He has also been finance director of Triathlon Scotland for the last years.

Grant Thornton UK LLP has strengthened its forensics offering with the appointment of Justin Cooper as partner to lead the forensics data analytics team with a primary focus on fraud and compliance analytics. He has over 20 years’ experience advising clients across a range of sectors including retail, financial services, real estate, manufacturing, and oil and gas. He joins from Charles River Associates where he was data analytics lead for risk investigations.

Azets has announced six senior promotions across the Yorkshire region. Becky Maguire and Claire Needham have been appointed office managing partners of Leeds and York respectively, while Nick Barker, Stephen Garbett, Jessica Lawrence and Chris Blackburn are promoted from director to partner. Maguire, head of tax for the Yorkshire region, will now also oversee the 120-strong Leeds office. Needham, who leads the technical accounting and valuations team, will now also manage the team of 140 in York. Barker is a corporate finance specialist while Garbett focuses on mergers and acquisitions deals. Lawrence specialises in audit from owner managed businesses through to large corporates, and leads the region’s audit work for the charity and non-profit sectors. Working within the accounts and business advisory services team, Blackburn specialises in providing advice to owner managed businesses in the hospitality sector, as well as the equine sector.  

Alvarez & Marsal has strengthened its tax advisory team with the appointments of Andy Murray and Prasam Patel as managing directors. Murray has more than 25 years’ experience in international tax, tax policy and investment banking, with a primary focus on M&A transactions and private credit markets. Previously he was a managing director at Kroll, where he led the transaction tax practice in the EMEA region. Patel brings over 17 years of experience in real estate and infrastructure tax, advising investors and developers to help complete deals, improve tax efficiency and manage risk. He joins from Mazars LLP where he was a partner and head of real estate.

Quantuma has appointed crypto specialist Rob Moore as a senior consultant in its London based disputes, investigations and valuations team. He has over 15 years’ experience in blockchain, crypto assets, and data analytics. Previously he held senior consultant roles at a range of boutiques and large professional services firms, most recently at Arrowsgate. His specialist expertise includes cryptocurrency tracing and blockchain forensic analysis, crypto exchange audits and investigations, and crypto business restructuring and insolvency.

Hentons Corporate Finance has hired Lingyu Jiang as a solicitor with Hentons Legal, and Jack Myers as corporate finance executive, both based in the London office. Jiang specialises in in corporate, banking, conveyancing, and commercial matters, and is also training to be a chartered tax adviser. She joins from TWM Solicitors. Myers was previously at Crowe, where he was an assistant manager in the corporate audit team. The firm has a joint venture with Hentons Chartered Accountants.

McDermott Will & Emery has appointed Rob Marshall as a partner in its employee benefits & executive compensation practice group in London. He will lead the firm’s cross-border executive compensation and benefits practice, and boost the international transactional practice. He is a highly skilled lawyer in global equity and cross-border executive compensation and has experience practicing in London and Silicon Valley on complex, cross-border equity and executive compensation projects for large multinational companies. He joins from King & Spalding where he was a partner.

Sovos has announced that Christiaan van der Valk, VP of strategy & regulatory, has been elected as vice chair of GENA, an international trade association for e-invoicing service providers. An expert on e-business strategy, law, policy and best practice, he previously served as chair of the public policy and compliance working group at GENA for 11 years. He also holds a leadership role at the digitalisation dialogue of the Inter-American Centre of Tax Administrations (CIAT).