TLT is putting its fledgling Manchester office at the centre of its UK-wide growth plans as the top 60 LB100 firm takes on a 30-strong Irwin Mitchell team, including former commercial litigation head John Lord.
The six-partner team, who will join the 250-lawyer firm’s six month old Manchester office before Christmas, also includes non-contentious property partner Andrew Bell, employment partner Ed Cotton, corporate partner Jon Close, commercial litigation partner Julien Luke and banking and finance litigation partner Tom Seabrook, along with 24 solicitors, paralegals and support staff.
Servicing predominantly financial services, retail and leisure clients as well as offering wider commercial legal services, the team’s areas of expertise builds on TLT’s existing expertise in Manchester and ‘on a wider footprint nationally’, said managing partner David Pester (pictured).
‘This is a clear marker in the sand about our UK-wide growth intentions. We want to get the right people and the right expertise into the business to deliver for our clients when and where they need us. Adding a team of 30 people, which includes six experienced Manchester-based partners, is a major step towards achieving that,’ said Pester.
He added: ‘We’re capitalising on the opportunity to grow market share, as well as deepening expertise, which is what Manchester is about. We don’t manage or drive the firm by office, we’re very keen that we’re seen to drive the firm by a UK-wide offering. But what Manchester brings with it is clients in the industries that we focus on.’
Having launched in July 2013 with the appointment of former Pinsent Masons legal director and commercial litigator Emma Flower and former DLA Piper Manchester head of commercial law Stuart Campbell, TLT’s Manchester arm is currently nine-strong and includes rated former DLA Piper intellectual property partner Graeme Orchison.
Six-office TLT has been in expansive mode recently, in 2012 opening an office in Belfast and separately in Glasgow and Edinburgh following the firm’s merger with Scottish firm Anderson Fyfe. It saw its 2012/13 revenues rise by 10% from £44.5m to £50m, with financial services counting for 40% of its turnover, leisure for just short of 20% and retail for just shy of 15%.
Lord’s arrival date is still under negotiation, but he is expected to join TLT before the end of the year.
francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk
