* Mandie Lavin, director of fitness to practise and legal affairs at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, is to join the Bar Standards Board (BSB).

She will take up the post of director on June 23 in succession to Mark Stobbs, who joined the Law Society as director of legal policy earlier this year.

Lavin is a barrister by training and has held senior posts at a number of professional bodies, including the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. She will arrive at the BSB as it seeks to modernise the Bar’s practice rules in preparation for the implementation of the Legal Services Act.

Ruth Evans, chairman of the BSB, said: “I am delighted that Mandie will be joining the BSB. She led a strong field of candidates and will bring to the role a broad background in regulation and a strong management focus.”

* Lovells is celebrating the hire of Chris Ashworth, one of the City’s leading corporate lawyers.

Ashworth, a former head of corporate at Ashurst, has joined Lovells from O’Melveny & Myers, where he was head of European M&A and co-managing partner of the US firm’s London office.

At Lovells he will head the corporate finance practice, which forms part of its international corporate practice stream. In recent years Ashworth has advised on a string of prominent deals, including Philip Green’s attempt to take over Marks & Spencer and the bid by Deutsche Borse AG for the London Stock Exchange.

David Harris, managing partner at Lovells, said: "The health of any international law firm is judged by the strength of its corporate practice and we are committed to long-term strategic investment in this area.”

* Catriona Smith has joined Rouse Legal, the UK legal arm of Rouse & Co International, an intellectual property (IP) consultancy.

She joined the firm as a consultant on May 12 from Allen & Overy, where she was a partner in the IP group for 15 years. She specialises in IP and IT disputes and takes credit for gaining the first European-wide Community Trade Mark injunction.

Commenting on her move, she said: “I have had a long and successful career at A&O and am very much looking forward to the fresh and stimulating challenges that my new role will bring. Moving to Rouse gives me a unique opportunity to join a team with a broader mix of IP disciplines, which I think will bring a new perspective to my work.”

* Field Fisher Waterhouse has signed up a three-lawyer franchising team from Eversheds, which is led by Chris Wormald, who was head of franchising.

The team also includes Wormald’s immediate predecessor as head of franchising, Martin Mendelsohn, and Shelley Nadler, a senior associate. Their arrival at Field Fisher boosts the number of lawyers in its franchising group to 24.

Mark Abell, Field Fisher’s head of franchising, said: “The Eversheds team have been our competitors for many years. We have always seen them as the only other real player in this area.”

*To submit information for this column, please send an e-mail to legalmoves@thetimes.co.uk

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