Chief client officer Andy Raynor will take the chief executive role at Midlands-based Shakespeares, as current incumbent Paul Wilson departs after almost nine years at the helm.
Wilson (pictured left), who joined Shakespeares in 2006, has overseen seven mergers, and a substantial growth in revenue from £10m to £50m. He leaves to become managing director of Canada’s largest intellectual property and technology law boutique Smart & Bigger, with offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary.
Having joined the firm in 2013 originally in a consultancy role before being made chief client officer, Raynor (pictured right) will take up the role at the end of the month. He orignally trained as an accoutant before moving on to taking management roles at private partnerships and public companies.
Speaking to Legal Business, Raynor said there would be a refresh of the firm’s strategy, not necessarily because of Wilson’s departure, but because of the ground the firm has made in the market in recent years:
‘There won’t be a major change because of Paul leaving, but the firm going forward is actually going to do some things differently because of the scale we have reached. We still have ambitions from our regional base to become a national firm, and that means that acquisitions and growth which are part of our DNA will continue when we find appropriate partners. The bit that is changing because of the success that we’ve achieved is that we are starting to reach some very good clients, we are competing with firms that are larger than us or more specialist in a particular market.’
He added: ‘I think this firm absolutely should have the personality of a feisty teenager rather than somebody who is actually substantially set in their ways. We have something to prove at the moment. We will always be that much more aggressive in the marketplace than some of our immediate contemporaries.’
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk
