The Birmingham office of Irwin Mitchell has appointed restructuring and insolvency partner Stephen George.

Mr George joins from Squire Sanders in Birmingham and brings experience in all aspects of insolvency, corporate recovery and turnaround work.

Acknowledged as an expert on pension deficit issues, his clients include insolvency practitioners, banks, corporates and asset-based lenders. The move will see him reunited with former Squire Sanders’ partners, Andrew Watson and Jon Bew.

Mr Bew joined Irwin Mitchell in 2013 and heads up its banking and finance team in Birmingham.

In addition to boosting Irwin Mitchell’s insolvency and restructuring expertise, Mr George will work alongside Mr Bew to offer a complete asset-based lending solution for clients.

Chris Rawstron, partner and head of business legal services at Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham, said: “Stephen is a well-respected lawyer and his appointment demonstrates the type of high-quality recruitment that we are undertaking in order to enhance our range of services to financial institutions and bolster our market position across corporate and commercial work.”

Mr George is the latest senior hire within Irwin Mitchell’s business legal services team in Birmingham.

Last year, it appointed corporate and commercial partners Nick Dawson and Sarah Riding, as well as senior corporate associate, Rob Laugharne.

It also recruited education employment law specialist Surinder Dhillon from Birmingham City Council.

Irwin Mitchell appointed nine partners in 2014, including national head of pensions Martin Jenkins.