Last summer, one of The Lawyer’s cover stories focused on the UK mid-tier. It put forward the proposition that many of the firms outside the UK top 50 were ‘boiling frogs’ – surfing comfortably on the surprisingly small amount of growth needed to maintain market position without necessarily adapting to the slowly changing conditions that […]
Listed law firm Knights has continued its rapid expansion with the acquisition of two firms in the UK 100-200 bracket. Shulmans of Leeds and ASB Law of Crawley are the latest firms to be taken over, following a spate of acquisitions including North West firm Turner Parkinson; Leicester-based Spearing Waite and Cummins Solicitors, as well […]
Two firms in South East England are to merge in the spring. Southampton’s Moore Blatch and Guildford’s Barlow Robbins will tie the knot on 1 May 2020, creating a combined firm which will be named Moore Barlow. The firm will have offices in Southampton, Guildford, Woking and Lymington, as well as two London outposts in […]
West End firm Forsters is to gain a new managing partner, with the incumbent of 21 years stepping down.
Blake Morgan has continued its run of underwhelming financial results since the 2014 merger that created it. When South of England firm Blake Lapthorn and Welsh stalwart Morgan Cole tied the knot that year, the combined revenue of the two firms was £76.2m; however, Blake Morgan has yet to reach that figure in the five […]
Penningtons Manches is to merge with London shipping specialist Thomas Cooper to create a £90m firm, the latest development in ongoing mid-tier consolidation. The merger is due to go live on 31 June and the combined firm will be known as Penningtons Manches Cooper. Thomas Cooper managing partner Tim Kelleher will join the management board […]
As detailed in this week’s long read, some mid-tier firms have thrived since the recession a decade ago while others have merely survived. One of the regional success stories is Foot Anstey; a firm that has undergone significant change since 2008. John Westwell recently celebrated 10 years in charge of Foot Anstey. He became managing […]
One of my biggest bugbears is the prediction that the City mid-tier is doomed. That opinion is simply not rooted in evidence; these firms with revenues in the £100m-£250m band constitute a perfectly healthy and unconsolidated market. Rather, the problems lie elsewhere. The Lawyer UK 200 data shows that the most vulnerable group of firms […]
How have firms in the second half of The Lawyer UK Top 100 fared since the recession hit many of them so hard a decade ago? The Lawyer data shows the winners and losers in the mid-tier