Freshfields appoints director for Manchester operations
London-based 'magic circle' law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed Anup Kollanethu as director to lead the establishment of its legal and business services centre due to open in Manchester's Arndale House in summer 2015.
Kollanethu was previously managing director of global shared services and transformation at Aviva Investors.
Freshfields instructed Knight Frank on a 100,000 sq ft requirement in central Manchester earlier this year, as part of plans to relocate some legal and support staff from its Fleet Street London office by 2017 as a cost-saving measure.
Contracts were then signed on 40,000 sq ft in Manchester's Arndale House in April, as an interim base while the firm continued its hunt for a new-build office.
Kollanethu will work closely with corporate partner Gareth Stephenson who is responsible for setting up the legal services operations in Manchester. Stephenson has run the pilot project in London for the past 18 months and will lead the transition to and implementation in Manchester.
The services centre is due to open in Arndale House by the second half of 2015.
David Aitman, managing partner of Freshfields, said: "Anup's extensive experience in building and managing shared services centres, together with his business and technology acumen will be of great value to us in establishing our Manchester office."
Arndale House is a 23-storey office building set within the Manchester Arndale Shopping Centre. M&G Real Estate and Intu are the landlords. The joint letting agents are JLL and TSG Property Consultants.
