Gateley has announced it is set to open a new office in Reading, which will be headed up by Pitmans former managing partner Christopher Avery.

Avery specialises in commercial property law and joined Pitmans in 1980. He became managing partner at 31 and led the firm for 25 years until stepping down in June, to be replaced by John Hutchinson.

Under Avery’s leadership Pitmans grew from 25 staff to 200 and generated fee income of £20m in 2014/15.

Gateley CEO Michael Ward said Avery had been appointed to develop a full-service commercial practice in the Thames Valley.

“We indicated at the time of IPO that whilst we had a fully invested UK network of offices we’d consider opportunities in one or two other geographical locations if the right opportunity presented itself and Reading is such an opportunity,” said Ward.

The office will be the first to be opened by Gateley since the firm set up a base in Leeds in 2012. The Leeds office originally opened with two partners but has since grown to a nine-partner practice with over 40 staff. The office has continued to grow and recently recruited its first trainee in Leeds.

Earlier this year Gateley became the first UK law firm to float on the London Stock Exchange. The IPO allowed the firm to raise £30m in capital during the first day of trading and valued the firm at £100m. However, the selling shareholders raised £25m of the funds while the company itself only raised £5m.

The firm recently announced that its revenue for the first six months of 2015/16 stood at £29.5m, 10 per cent higher than the same period last year. During the last full financial year the firm saw its turnover rise by 10 per cent, from £54.6m to £60m.

Gateley’s share price increased marginally after the news, from 103.5p to 104p.