McKeags builds on its success

Sep 28 2007 by Karen Wilson, The Journal

ANOTHER year of commitment to growth and expansion has paid off for Newcastle and Gosforth based McKeags Law Firm. Not only did the successful practice further increase its business across the board by 29%, the firm acquired 30,000 feet of brand new office space in Newcastle city centre.

After 10 months of building work which started in June 2005, the Newcastle Office opened its doors in March 2006. The state of the art office complex named ‘One Carliol’ is located near to 55° North and is built on the site of a former gymnasium on Carliol Square, an area earmarked for major development projects over the next few ears.

Peter Armstrong, Chief Executive explained: “Unlike a lot of city centre firms, we actually acquired the building and completely refurbished it ourselves. This was a major project but we wanted to remain in the centre of the city and with the area around Pilgrim Street being redeveloped and transformed in the near future in a £600m scheme we like to think that we’ve stolen a march by moving here when we did.

“The joy of this place is its location – we’re only minutes from Central Station and the Metro system with easy access to public transport and parking for both our clients and personnel.”

The new office has served as a platform for the expansion of the Real Estate and Banking Finance teams notably in the areas of equity release and commercial property. The arrival of new solicitors has accommodated the ongoing growth and three new partners were appointed in January 2007 – Jonathan Yates who specialises in Banking Finance and Denise Arnott and Anne-Marie Thompson who are leaders in Real Estate and ‘new build’ areas.

The firm’s sophisticated case management system is supported by an in-house IT department which has benefited from the move in terms of enhanced space and tailored facilities. The IT department provides the very best support services to each department’s bespoke systems (all of which were designed in-house) and ensures that McKeags’ clients continue to have electronic and online updates of their cases.

The firms’ Gosforth office also benefited from a refurbishment programme which was completed in 2007, reflecting the substantial progress which has been made in the areas of Claimant Personal Injury, Medical Negligence, Family, Crime and Private Client.

The firm’s Criminal Department reappears in this year’s Legal 500 as a result of successful prosecutions on behalf of the RSPCA. Criminal lawyer Denise Jackman has been noted for her experience in this field.

In the Claimant Personal Injury and Medical Negligence areas, partners Philip Walton and Patrick Rafferty are named in the Legal 500 for their experience and ‘expertise’. Patrick Rafferty is a member of the Headway Referral Panel (the head injuries charity) as a result of his involvement in numerous head injury cases and he has acted as a professional receiver for brain injured clients in specialised Court of Protection work.

Philip Walton heads a team of 19 fee earners in the field of Personal Injury litigation and has been responsible for some of the biggest settlement awards in the North East.

Peter Armstrong concluded: “We are delighted with what the firm has achieved over the last eighteen months which has exceeded our original projections and the great thing is that the expansion is set to continue for next few years. The client feedback in all disciplines, both locally and nationally has been tremendous and this is testimony to the hard work and commit- ment of our excellent personnel of whom we are incredibly proud. Watch this space.”