Appleby has announced the promotion of two Senior Associates to Counsel at its Isle of Man office.

Corporate department members Andrew Harding and Tom Brook are among 17 promotions being made across the global offshore law firm.

The appointments, which include six new partners and 11 lawyers promoted to Counsel, come at a time of renewed strategy for the legal services group, which announced the private equity-backed management buyout (MBO) of its fiduciary services business during the summer.

Appleby Isle of Man Managing Partner Faye Moffett said: “These appointments are a signal of our growth ambition as we enter into this new phase of our strategy. It is also a direct recognition of the significant talent and hard work shown by Andrew and Tom.

“The strategic rationale for the MBO of our fiduciary business was to enable each business to remain competitive. For the law firm it is facilitating further investment in our ‘client-first’ strategy, delivering more innovation and step-changes to our ability to advise and service clients in the global, 24/7 business environment.

“Andrew and Tom, with their colleagues across the group, will be an integral part of these plans in their new roles, and I would like to offer them my congratulations on their well-deserved promotions.”

Andrew, who joined the firm in 2005, specialises in Isle of Man financial services regulatory advice and the formation, restructuring and termination of all types of Isle of Man investment funds. In 2013, he spent time working with the Funds and Investment Services team in Appleby’s Cayman Islands office, and has experience in a wide variety of fund structures including alternative investment funds, protected cell companies and limited partnerships.

Tom, who advises on a wide range of corporate finance transactions taking place in the Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands, qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2007 and worked for seven years in the banking and finance teams of two UK-based international law firms. Tom also gained significant client-side experience during an extended secondment within the legal team at Barclays Bank in London. In 2011, he was called to the bar in the British Virgin Islands.

The new appointments are effective 1st January 2016.