The Legal 500

London and South East law firm Penningtons Solicitors LLP is pleased to announce that it has recruited John Hargreaves to head its healthcare team. John joins Penningtons as a partner from Stephenson Harwood, where he had led the health and care group for the past five years. He will be based at Penningtons' City office.

John focuses particularly on advising property and service companies, healthcare and student accommodation providers but he also maintains a broader commercial practice encompassing real estate, corporate and finance work. He has substantial experience in advising on procurement and funding within the healthcare sector, joint ventures, profit share arrangements and third party development structures. The Legal 500 has described him as 'highly pro-active' in his field.

John was one of the founders of the Primary Care Premises Forum and remains an active committee member and spokesman. This association of predominantly private sector organisations with specialist knowledge in the provision of primary care premises supports providers and investors in healthcare and aims to remove unnecessary barriers in the development of primary care facilities. It provides an informal route for discussions between the Department of Health and the Valuation Office.

Commenting on John's arrival, Penningtons' chief executive David Raine said: "We are delighted to welcome John to the firm. His particular combination of experience, both in property and the wider commercial environment, means that he will add additional strength to our core practice teams in addition to expanding the capability of our healthcare and education sector groups. He will be a major asset to Penningtons' growing client base in these two fields."

John's recruitment brings the total number of partners at Penningtons to 65.

For more information please visit www.penningtons.co.uk