Bristol-headquartered law firm Burges Salmon has announced 20 new director appointments across the business, marking its largest director promotion round to date.
The appointments took effect from 1 May 2026 and span a wide range of legal teams, as well as business services roles.
The firm said the promotions reflect its continued focus on strengthening leadership capability and creating long-term career pathways for talent across the business.
For the first time, Burges Salmon has also appointed two business services directors, recognising the role of its technology, transformation and projects teams in supporting client delivery and the firm’s future growth.
The two new business services directors are Eddie Twemlow, director of technology, and Louise Thomas, director of transformation and projects. Both are based in Bristol.
The legal director appointments cover teams including corporate, pensions and lifetime savings, dispute resolution, banking and finance, planning and compulsory purchase, real estate, tax, trusts and family, and construction and engineering.
The Bristol-based appointments include Briony Barber and Hannah Barton in corporate; Elena O’Leary and Hannah Taylor in pensions and lifetime savings; Rebecca Byczok, Lloyd Nail and Andrew Walls in dispute resolution; Elin Blundell and Chris Herford in banking and finance; Laura Fuller and Matt Tucker in planning and compulsory purchase; Sally-Anne Hayles and Alix McKenzie-Wain in real estate; and Andrew Kerr in tax, trusts and family.
Other director appointments include Kelly Beattie and Jack Gillions in pensions and lifetime savings, Patrick Bettle in dispute resolution and Mark Summers in construction and engineering.
Alice Bretherton, chief people officer at Burges Salmon, said
This year’s director promotions represent our largest appointment round to date and reflect the strength and breadth of talent across Burges Salmon.
The range of departments represented demonstrates our continued momentum and investment in our people, building leadership capability for the long term and ensuring we continue to deliver an exceptional service to our clients.
I am also particularly pleased that we have appointed Business Services directors for the first time, recognising the vital role our business services teams play in supporting the firm’s success and future growth.
The promotions further strengthen Burges Salmon’s senior leadership pipeline and underline the firm’s continued investment in its Bristol base, where many of the newly appointed directors are located.
