Mincoffs on course for another great year

Sep 26 2003 By The Journal

Mincoffs completed £200m of deals for clients throughout 2002, reinforcing the growing national reputation of its corporate team.

Having acted for local businessman Allan Rankin in his deal to acquire 37 hotels for £750m and with other transactions looking set to exceed £200m the current year, the Jesmond, Newcastle, firm looks set for another spectacular year in 2003.

Mincoffs has surprised the local market over the years with both the number and quality of legal transactions it handles, relative to its size.

Headed by Howard Gold, senior partner, and supported by the energy and diligence of partners Paul Hughes and John Nicholson, the firm has also earned a reputation for transacting business within tight time scales.

Mr Gold attributes the success of the firm and its ability to both attract and retain clients to the fact that the firm provides expert advice and practical solutions coupled with a personal service to its clients, whatever their size.

Mr Gold said: "The strength of the firm overall is reflected by the fact that we received 16 recommendations in this year's Legal 500 which is excellent when you consider the relative size of the firm.

"We are committed to further strengthening the corporate and commercial team and will continue to recruit within the commercial law field during the coming year.

Paul Hutton has recently joined us from Eversheds and he has already proved his worth on numerous multi-million pound commercial property deals.

"Sarah Smith who heads up our licensing division is also keeping the Mincoffs name at the top of the league in the licensing sector and remains very busy working on behalf of our numerous leisure sector clients.

"We have been described both by Legal 500 and some of our clients as `punching above our weight' and it looks as though this will continue to be the case in the year ahead."

It is a year since Tom Blewitt took over as managing partner.

He is a firm believer in Mincoffs continuing to develop in line with servicing the needs of its clients and not hurrying to keep pace with the growth of some of the larger regional law firms.

He said: "A year ago we identified certain areas where we wanted to further develop the business - commercial litigation, licensing work, corporate and property services and the provision of a wider private client service.

"We have strengthened these areas during the last year with key appointments.

Mark Green has been made an associate and promoted to head of our dispute resolution department and we are delighted to welcome Trevor Robinson, who was a partner in a Sunderland law firm, to our team.

He is joining as head of private client work and will be responsible for conveyancing and all probate.

"Apart from our undoubted ability ,and Legal 500 demonstrates that we have plenty of that, I would say the single most important aspect of our success is due to the emphasis we place on providing access to our experts for all clients."