UK law firm Wedlake Bell has launched a family team headed by Charmaine Hast, who has joined the firm as a partner.

Family lawyer Hast joins from TWM Solicitors, a law firm where she established and headed a family department. Before that, she was partner at South African law firm Berkowitz Kirkel Cohen.

The new department will work closely with the firm’s private client team and focus on wealth preservation strategies.

Legal 500, the world’s largest legal referral website, recently named her the “leading individual in the southeast” of England for the fourth year on the trot.