A SERIES of new appointments has been made by York-based commercial law firm Denison Till to further strengthen two of its key departments.

Corporate lawyer, Valerie Stevenson, has joined the corporate department's transactions team after eight years in Leeds with national law firms Addleshaws, Garretts and DLA. She specialises in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity work.

Mike Ward, who joins the same department as a trainee solicitor, is starting a second career after being a director and company secretary of an Anguilla-based business specialising in the management of offshore businesses including an international client base of entrepreneurs and newly-listed public companies. He is due to qualify early next year.

Employment lawyer, Tiggy Clifford, has joined the employment department as a solicitor from the Hull office of Rollit and Matthew Morton has joined the same department from York College of Law, where he gained a commendation in the Legal Practice Course, as a trainee solicitor.

Managing partner, Chris Barton, said: "Our clients are at the heart of our business and our strategy is to add value to our service by attracting quality lawyers with valuable legal expertise and a thorough understanding of client needs.

"This strategy's success has led to further expansion into the top floor of our premises in Stamford House."

BEN Lester has been appointed to oversee the operation of Yorwaste's 23 household waste recycling centres across North Yorkshire and the City of York.

The 31-year-old has joined the Northallerton-based waste management company from another waste firm Onyx, where he was responsible for the disposal and recycling of waste generated by Glaxo Smithkline at Barnard Castle.

Ben has ten years' experience in the waste management industry and as household waste recycling centre operations manager, he will be responsible for the day-to-day running of sites operated by Yorwaste.

It is a challenging role because Yorwaste's 23 recycling centres cover a radius of more than 100 miles, from Stokesley in the north to Selby in the south and from Scarborough in the east to Settle in the west.

Ben, who lives in Darlington with his wife, Lindsay, said: "New legislation is putting a lot more emphasis on household waste sites and they are becoming a very dynamic part of the waste management industry.

"I am really looking forward to my new role and, in particular, helping Yorwaste work with the local authorities to further improve recycling rates."

Yorwaste managing director Steve Grieve said: "We are pleased to welcome someone with Ben's considerable waste management experience.

"Ben will have an important role to play in the business. There is a new increased focus from local authorities in regard to recycling and one of the main areas they are looking to recover recyclable material from is through household waste sites."

Cicada Public Relations of Harrogate has appointed Liz Rogers, 27, as account executive.

This strengthening of the team follows 12 months of expansion for the PR consultancy, whose growing client base includes The Viking Fund, McCormicks Solicitors and national property consultants Carter Jonas.

Liz, an English graduate, spent five years working in a publishing environment and joins Cicada with a wealth of experience in writing on a broad range of topics.

She will be working on a number of accounts, including the Institute of Directors, the Royal Entomological Society and the Institute of Export.

She has already worked closely on two major launches - the Royal Entomological Society's National Insect Week, and Shopbox, which is a new concept for online shoppers.

Di Burton, managing director of Cicada, said: "The qualities Liz brings to Cicada round off our team,"

TWO new advisers have been appointed to Yorkshire Water's award-winning PR team.

Steve Parsley and Louise Wylie are now part of the five-person team whose accolades include winning Best In-House PR Team in last year's Institute of Public Relations Pride Awards.

Steve has almost 20 years experience as a journalist in broadcasting and the printed press, taking his first job as a reporter with the Ripon Gazette in North Yorkshire in 1985.

He joined Harrogate's Stray FM, and was the first voice on air when the station went live for the first time in 1994.

But, six years later,he returned to newspapers, joining the Evening Press's sister publication, The Northern Echo, in 2000.

Stories Steve has covered during his career include the war in The Balkans, when he joined a British mercy mission rescuing families fleeing the Serbs, the Selby rail crash and the war in Iraq, where he spent time with British troops in Basra last year.

Louise moves into the PR team having first joined Yorkshire Water's marketing team in 2001.

Graduating from The University of Hull, her first marketing role was for Leicester-based IT firm, XKO Group Plc.

Louise joined Yorkshire Water in preparation for the company rebrand and has since been responsible for the company website, production of company literature and has been involved in numerous campaigns.

Yorkshire Water's PR manager, David Simister, said: "I'm delighted to have both Steve and Louise joining the team. Both bring different disciplines to the mix and I'm confident that together we can build on existing successes and continue to improve the reputation of the department and the company."

Updated: 09:16 Tuesday, July 27, 2004