ALTRINCHAM law firm McHale and Co has appointed a multilingual international client liaison specialist working with the firm's growing portfolio of Russian clients.

Nadya Smirnova Leandro, a former Russian Embassy Attaché, 32, originally from Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia, speaks fluent Portuguese and English as well as her native Russian. She also has well as a working capability in Spanish, French, Swedish and German.

"We recently opened an office in Berkeley Square, London, to cater for our growing portfolio of Russian clients - but London is such an international city that language requirements don't stop at English and Russian," said Maria Udalova-Surkova, a partner with the firm.

"In fact, we're now conducting business in at least eight languages because we also have a Polish-specialist team. Nadya will be working in both our Altrincham and Berkeley Square offices."

Nadya, who currently lives in Warrington, grew up in Russia where she gained a PhD in Philology - the study of languages, and qualified in teaching Russian as a foreign language.

She has held the role of chief of protocol and ambassador's secretary at the Russian Embassy in Lisbon in Portugal, first as attaché and then as third secretary, and has worked as an interpreter in both the political and commercial worlds.

McHale and Co, founded in 2001, employs 50 people in the North West of England and in Berkeley Square, London. It provides professional support services for individuals, businesses, and sportsmen and women and their clubs and agents and employers, primarily in football, as well as employing experienced specialists in Spanish, Russian and Polish personal and business matters.