Commercial law firm, St James' Square has appointed industry leading Partner, Gemma Iceton, to head its Family Services department
Gemma, a highly regarded family lawyer, joins St James’ Square with over 16 years’ experience in family law. She has worked for a number of leading law firms in the North East and advises on all aspects of family law matters including divorce, separation, complex financial matters, children, pre-nuptial agreements, living together agreements and estate administration. Gemma’s move comes at another exciting milestone for St James’ Square as her appointment further increases the number of Partners at the firm and adds to the offering available to their client base.
Gemma has a breadth of experience on matters relating to matrimonial and non-matrimonial property, assets held in trust, complex pensions on divorce to include offsetting and lifetime allowance, spousal maintenance, and estate administration. She is a member of Resolution, a community of family justice professionals who work with families and individuals to resolve issues in a constructive way, and has recently been appointed as a leading North East lawyer by WiseLaw.
Gemma said: ‘I am thrilled to have joined the team at St James’ Square. It is fantastic to be part of such a vibrant, forward thinking and expanding team and I’m excited to be working with such driven people.’
Paul Monaghan, Managing Partner, continued: ‘We are delighted to welcome Gemma to the team. As part of our strategic plan for long term growth, the Family Services department will further diversify the services we are able to offer our clients. Gemma is a leading lawyer in the area of family law and I have no doubt that her expertise will be invaluable to our client base.’ The appointment takes St James’ Square to 7 Partners offering commercial services in areas ranging from Corporate and Commercial law, Dispute Resolution, Employment and HR, Real – Estate Commercial Property and Sports law, to name but a few. The firm also announced this month its continuing support for the Chronicle Sunshine Fund through 2021 and 2022. St James’ Square is committed to raising monies for North East based charities that specialise in helping children that suffer from severe disabilities. The firm raised over £40,000 for Heel and Toe in 2019 and hopes to break this figure in 2022. It has committed to raising an initial £20,000 for The Chronicle Sunshine Fund in 2021.
Siobhan Sargent, Charity Director at The Chronicle Sunshine Fund said: ‘To say we are blown away by the generosity of the SJS team would be a huge understatement. We want to say a special thank you to staff and clients who will contribute to this donation.’
St James’ Square was established three years ago and, given its significant investment in technology and forward-thinking working practices, it has been well placed to respond to the demands and challenges of the pandemic.
St James’ Square has expanded rapidly since initially operating from one room at Hoults Yard. The firm now employs over 30 staff, occupies 7,000 sq ft of Grade A premises at Esh Plaza and has a turnover exceeding £2.6 million. It has expanded its commercial departments to include services in Employment and HR, Corporate and Commercial Services, Dispute Resolution, Real Estate – Commercial Property, Real Estate – Residential Property, Corporate Recovery and insolvency.
