Dickinson Dees is leading the way in North legal services

Sep 26 2008 by Robin Bloom

THE publication of this year’s Legal 500 sees Dickinson Dees LLP once again dominating the legal scene in the North East across the board in 28 categories, reinforcing our reputation for quality and service excellence.

It is impossible to ignore the effect that the credit crunch has had on certain aspects of the professional services market. Not withstanding this, our core business has continued to thrive, showing a 12% increase in turnover to £53.4m.

The past 12 months have been very important for us outside the North East, with the firm’s first full year in Yorkshire and the opening of the London office.

Both developments have played a pivotal role in enabling the core firm to deliver yet another year of double digit growth, the 10th in succession.

We have experienced substantial national success in both the public and private sectors and have acted on deals worth over £8bn across the UK. Key corporate deals have included advising the Go-Ahead Group on its successful £1.1bn bid for the new West Midlands franchise and advising Brewin Dolphin Securities in its role as sponsor on the £105m flotation of Scottish insulation manufacturer, Superglass.

New client wins this year include Vertellus Specialties Inc. and PD Ports. The firm is regularly instructed by Middlesbrough-based PD Ports on a range of matters including commercial contracts, regulatory, pensions and corporate legal advice.

We have continued to make our mark as trusted legal counsel to leading organisations, having executed a huge amount of high profile public sector work across the length and breadth of the country with a capital value of public sector deals closed in excess of £1bn.

Key projects of national importance include the firm’s appointment to advise South Tyneside and Gateshead on a unique Building Schools for the Future scheme worth an estimated £142m.

We remain committed to servicing the local market through our focus on individual sectors such as chemicals and pharmaceuticals, oil and offshore logistics and IT and outsourcing.

Our multi-specialist Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Group boasts one of the only teams of lawyers in the country with a specific focus on providing a comprehensive legal service to businesses in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors.

Major chemical manufacturing clients include Huntsman and SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation) UK Petrochemicals Limited. In addition to advising manufacturers large and small in the sector we also act for the CPI (Centre for Process Innovation) Innovation Services, part of a centre of excellence that promotes research and development for the process industries, bringing jobs and prosperity to the North East.

We also continue to advise major suppliers to the sector such as px Limited who provide operations, management and maintenance (OM&M) solutions to asset owners in both the energy and chemicals sector and SembCorp, a key supplier of essential utilities to major international companies.

Over the next year the Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Group will continue to expand into the pharmaceuticals arena where we currently act for clients such as Shasun Pharma Solutions and Excelsyn and will seek to further expand the practice on a national level.

We have also been involved in a wide range of matters in the energy and utilities field, ranging from all aspects of renewable energy projects to ongoing commercial advice on energy and related contracts and emissions trading.

The past year has been a buoyant one in the IT and outsourcing sector where we have gained important new clients, emphasising our position as market leader in the North East and one of the practices of choice outside London.

We continue to seek to offer the best opportunities for ambitious lawyers and other staff within the firm in order to provide the most rounded and in-depth services to our clients.

Our home-grown lawyers are a credit to the region, whilst our growing national reputation has seen us attract new recruits from leading national law firms. This mix of legal talent is a winning combination.

Legal 500 praises us as “unquestionably the region’s number one”. Over the coming year we will continue to strive to maintain this position by actively developing our business in the North East whilst continuing to be a standard bearer for the region on the national stage.

Robin Bloom is senior partner at Dickinson Dees, the leading law firm in the North East, and a Top 50 national law firm.