Jacksons' new base 'will help establish presence in Tyneside'

Nov 18 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

TEESSIDE law firm Jacksons' new Newcastle base should be viewed as a move to re-establish a Tyneside presence - and not as a direct threat to its recently-separated partner Mincoff.

Jacksons’ managing partner Nigel Kidwell told Dealmakers that his firm has a number of long-established clients on Tyneside.

He recalled how the firm had a presence on Tyneside for 15 years prior to the closure of its Team Valley office in 2003. It was then, over five years ago, that the first talks between Stockton-based Jackson and Newcastle-based Mincoff about a possible merger began.

The two firms merged in October 2008, but less than a year later they separated with “cultural” differences between the two said to be the reason for the split.

Speaking from the firm’s Newcastle base in Central Square, near Central Station, Mr Kidwell said the new office would initially house eight staff including one partner.

“This should not be viewed as a move into Newcastle, it should be viewed more as a return to Tyneside.

“Jacksons has had an office in and around Tyneside for 15 years until 2003, when the Team Valley office closed and we began contemplating a merger with Mincoff.

“In some ways it was purely an accident that we were not in Newcastle for those intervening years.”

Speaking of the recent divorce between the two practices he added: “It was unfortunate we went down the de-merger route. However we feel it is important to return to Tyneside to service our Tyneside-based clients.

“We are not looking at Mincoff’s clients. Both practices are bound by a short-term non-solicitation covenant, but this will not affect anything we want to do.

“Jacksons is a full-service law firm and while most of our clients are based in the Tees Valley our Tyneside clients account for 25% of our total turnover.”

When Mincoff merged with Jacksons last October, to form a firm with 21 partners and 160 staff called Mincoff Jacksons, it was described by both parties as an “ideal marriage of similar firms with a similar general ethos”.

But when they de-merged in September the parties said the merged firm had “been affected by the economic downturn in different and unforeseen ways, changing the aspirations of each party over the course of the last year”.

At the time of the merger in October, 2008, Mincoff had a turnover of around £4m and employed 32 solicitors including eight partners. It now has five partners and 15 solicitors.