HBJ Gateley Wareing secure Manchester base
Leading national law firm, HBJ Gateley Wareing, which has Scottish offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, have confirmed to SFSbusiness that 40 former partners from the Manchester office of troubled legal firm Halliwells, have now joined their law firm.
The move covers Halliwells specialist teams in banking & finance, corporate, real estate, real estate litigation, corporate recovery, commercial litigation, intellectual property, employment, pensions and construction. The office in Manchester will now operate under the HBJ Gateley Wareing name and increases the UK presence to seven offices - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leicester, London, Manchester and Nottingham; along with their international office in Dubai.
Staff numbers increase, taking the firm up to 140 partners and with an additional 200 fee earners this takes total numbers to 750. Turnover is consequently expected to reach around £65 million for the year ending 30 April 2011.
Malcolm McPherson, senior partner at HBJ Gateley Wareing said: ‘We are delighted to welcome the Halliwells commercial team in Manchester into our firm and believe that they will be a significant addition to HBJ Gateley Wareing. We have recognised for some time that there was an opportunity to develop our business in the north-west and to strengthen the links between Scotland and the North-West which will be delivered through the new Manchester office. The Halliwells team bring with them a significant client base and a long and distinguished history in the Manchester legal market, which will complement perfectly our existing national practice. As part of the move we also welcome 9 fee-earners to our London office, where we have grown significantly since we first opened there in 2007. With this move, we are being joined by a team of partners and staff of the highest quality and they are looking forward to putting the recent past behind them and focusing on what they do best – delivering the very best client-focused commercial legal service.’
Manchester partner, Rod Waldie, said: ‘We have been delighted to find that the cultures and attitude to client service at HBJ Gateley Wareing are so similar to our own. Our combined strength will provide a formidable national commercial legal practice for the benefit of our clients and staff. I particularly want to thank our clients, contacts and staff for the commitment, loyalty and support over the past few months. We are all looking forward to working with our clients as part of HBJ Gateley Wareing.’
The Manchester office of HBJ Gateley Wareing will continue to operate out of the current Halliwells’ office in Hardman Square, Manchester. Clearwater Corporate Finance advised HBJ Gateley Wareing in the deal.