THERE have been significant moves in the region’s legal profession this week.

Solicitor BOB ELLIOTT, an expert in Intellectual Property (IP) and technology law is joining North-East law firm Crutes to head a new team.

Mr Elliott, who joins Crutes as a partner, will be leading a dedicated IP, technology and IT practice at Crutes, which has offices in Teesside and Newcastle.

Mr Elliott has more than 20 years experience in this area of the law, and is one of few IT lawyers in the North who sit on the legal panel of UK domain name authority Nominet. He also sits on the equivalent panel for .eu domain name disputes.

■ Leading North East divorce lawyer MARGARET SIMPSON has been appointed head of family law at Dickinson Dees’ offices in Yorkshire. Ms Simpson, who has been working for Dickinson Dees for six years, is a partner in the firm with 23 years’ legal experience behind her.

■ AWAY from the legal profession, industrial services company Pyeroy has appointed a new business support director for the group. PHILL MAURER, 45, joins the Gateshead firm from Cape, bringing 17 years experience in the multi-discipline specialist industrial services market sector to the post.

He was previously Cape’s Far East and Australia divisional director.