Lovells has appointed Michael Stancombe as joint head of real estate alongside Bob Kidby, as Kidby prepares to retire from the firm to join property developer Welbeck Land.

Kidby, who has headed Lovells’ real estate practice since 1995 and is a longstanding adviser to Welbeck, took up a non-executive director role at the company last week. He will begin working in an executive capacity for the development company when he retires from Lovells in April 2010.