Teesside law firm Jacksons expands into Newcastle

Nov 13 2009 by Jez Davison, Evening Gazette

TEESSIDE law firm Jacksons has expanded into Newcastle just weeks after splitting from its former Tyneside partner Mincoff.

Little more than a month ago Jacksons and Newcastle-based Mincoff announced they were going their separate ways after spending less than a year together.

Jacksons is now opening a new office in the heart of Mincoff’s territory at Newcastle’s Central Square.

The former will retain its Teesside office, which employs around 75, and has recruited two solicitors to work as part of a four-strong team at the Newcastle office.

Nigel Kidwell, managing partner of Jacksons, said the latest move would give the firm a greater foothold in Tyneside, which already accounts for one quarter of its revenues.

He said: “Our aim is to build market share in Tyneside as well as Teesside - although Teesside is a more mature market for us. There are a lot more opportunities at the back end of a recession than when things are more settled.”

Initially Jacksons will look to gain more work in areas such as dispute resolution and debt recovery, which are “still extremely buoyant”, said Mr Kidwell, as companies fight their way out of recession.

Longer-term, the firm plans to boost its share of non-contentious work, including mergers and acquisitions.

The split with Mincoff came after the merged outfit had, according to the official line at time, “been affected by the economic downturn in different and unforeseen ways, changing the aspirations of each party over the course of the last year”.

The £8m merged outfit had plans to boost turnover to £10m and create up to 30-35 jobs within three years.

But Mr Kidwell revealed that not only were the two companies culturally incompatible, but close-up the financial advantages were less apparent for Jacksons.

Mr Kidwell, who has spent 12 years at Jacksons including six in his current position, said the separation was unique and did not indicate that the sector’s appetite for amalgamation was lessening.

“Companies are (still) thinking in terms of safety in numbers. The bigger you are, the more likely you are to secure bank funding and insurance at affordable rates.”

He added that bigger outfits could cope more readily with regulatory compliance, which could be “quite onerous” for small firms.