Newcastle law firm to open up in Leeds
Jun 4 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal
ONE of the region’s biggest law firms is making its first foray out of the North East to open an office in Leeds.
Newcastle’s Ward Hadaway, which employs more than 400 staff and is a UK Top 100 firm, has recruited a team of solicitors for the new office and is close to securing office space in Leeds.
It is the third of Newcastle’s major law firms to open offices outside the region.
Watson Burton opened an office in Leeds in 2005 and a London base in 2006, while Dickinson Dees also has a branch in the capital and one in York.
The new office will be led by Andrew Hoyle, who moved to become corporate partner at Ward Hadaway from Watson Burton last year. he organised that firm’s expansion into the West Yorkshire city.
He said: “We expected to establish Ward Hadaway’s position at the upper end of the Leeds market capitalising on the firm’s reputation for offering the market high quality advice from a keenly competitive Northern cost base.
“Experience has taught me that this is a formula for which there is a clear appetite in Leeds. We are expecting to be open in July and look forward to building the firm in the region.”
The firm said it is the speed of its business growth has meant it is now looking to fresh markets.
Ward Hadaway managing partner Jamie Martin said: “There are still market opportunities here in Newcastle but the concern is that we may not be able to grow at the rate we had been. We are doing this now because we took the view our growth pattern of the last 10 years has been around 13% per annum. We are operating in Newcastle, which is one of the smallest regional legal markets in the country and we were concerned that we would not be able to continue to grow at this level.
“Leeds is the second city after London as far as the law is concerned and we believe the time was right for the business. We don’t under-estimate the challenges we face going into a mature market like Leeds.”
Mr Martin said he would keep a close eye on the economic climate but was confident the Yorkshire team would be able to build the Leeds office slowly and surely due to the “first class” people chosen to staff it.
A team of seven lawyers, with expertise ranging from corporate recovery to employment, property, construction and competition, has been recruited to staff the new office. The majority of the new team have experience working in the Leeds market.
Mr Hoyle said: “Our strategy has been to attract quality lawyers to the firm who recognise the opportunities that the firm can offer them and their clients and we feel certain that with the team we have assembled in Leeds, we will rapidly grow as we expand into Yorkshire.”
