Nottingham law firm reveals north-west expansion plans

Nottingham-headquartered law firm Browne Jacobson has told TheBusinessDesk.com that is planning the substantial expansion of its Manchester office.

The news comes on the day that the company revealed that turnover for the last financial year was up 9% to £64m, whilst instructions rose by 26%.

Browne Jacobson became a Top 50 law firm for the first time last year, and says it is looking to grow its Manchester operation to around 100 staff over the next ten years through a mixture of organic growth and acquisition.

A spokesperson for Browne Jacobson said: “We haven’t set ourselves any targets but when we opened in Birmingham back in 1999 we grew to 100 strong within 10 years.

“We have ambitious plans to grow our Manchester operation by adding new service and sector lines so there is no reason why we can’t reach similar levels in the North West.”

Browne Jacobson, which can trace its roots back to Nottingham in 1832. It has four other offices in Birmingham, Exeter, London and Manchester.

The Manchester office opened in February 2012, but with growth will come a probably relocation, said the spokesperson: “We are committed to expanding our footprint in Manchester so it is critical our office location meets our current needs, allow us sufficient capacity to expand and enables us to continue to deliver exceptional client service.

“We are currently exploring a number of city centre options which will cater for this expected growth and offer a contemporary and dynamic working environment for our people and our clients. We anticipate making a decision within the next six months.

“To date all our growth has been purely organic and achieved without merger or acquisition. From time to time we talk to law firms and we do not rule out acquisition being part of our strategy going forwards.”

Managing partner Iain Blatherwick, said: “We have had another impressive twelve months and this year’s robust set of results are in line with our expectations.
“We had a solid first half to the year, but really gained momentum in the second half and expect to build on that performance in the new year. All of our sectors have grown as have each of the five offices.

“With a strong balance sheet alongside this result, we are delighted that we are performing so well against our strategy of long term sustainable and profitable growth.”

Chief operating officer Sarah Walker-Smith, added: “It has been another strong year for the firm on many fronts.

“We have now delivered consecutive organic growth over the last seven years which is a testament to a successful sector strategy, our commitment to invest in people and infrastructure and an ability to develop long term client relationships based on trust and a true partnership approach.

“Being recognised as the best managed professional services firm in the country as well as entering the Top 50 law firm is a great achievement, however we can’t rest on our laurels and over the coming year we will continue to invest in those strategically important areas of the business which will help us to improve the bottom line and achieve our ambitious plans for long term growth.”