Newly-merged £100m turnover law firm plans for Leeds expansion
“IT IS about the survival of the fittest” said John Schorah, managing partner of Weightmans, the multi-million-pound turnover law firm that acquired Leeds firm Ford & Warren last month.
The newly-merged Weightmans is set for turnover of £100m this year, and Mr Schorah, of the Liverpool-based law firm spoke to TheBusinessDesk.com about the changing legal industry and the Weightman’s plans for the future.
Weightmans has been around in various guises for 150 years, and before its merger with Ford & Warren, had 1,300 staff and over 170 partners. Revenue to April 2015 had reached £89.2m, and the firm has 650 staff at its Liverpool headquarters.
Ford & Warren, a well-established firm in Leeds, boosted their numbers with 116 staff and 12 partners.
Mr Schorah said that although Weightmans intends to grow, it wasn’t the figures that were important when they were considering the merger. He said: “It’s not all about the numbers of staff, offices or revenue, it’s about what synergies we bring together.
“A big driver for the merger with Ford & Warren was that we had some common clients, and becoming one firm has allowed us to get into wider relationships with clients.
“Combined know-how and thought leadership can add to the talent pool, and there are also some complimentary services that we can offer a combined client base.”
Extending nationwide, the firm had a noticeable gap in the Yorkshire region, and clients suggested that it would be worth setting up a base here.
Merging with an established firm that had expertise in the same sectors seemed the obvious direction.
Mr Schorah, who started at Weightmans in 2003 after several years in industry and a spell at Brabners, said: “Being on the spot is important and merging with an established firm meant we could mine local knowledge. Operating at a distance just isn’t the same and physical proximity. It means that you can see clients more readily, which can be important to them and useful to us.
“It’s not all about local business though. Ford & Warren reach beyond Yorkshire boundaries not dissimilar to our other offices. It goes beyond geographical locations and into where the person with the right expertise for the job is.”
The firm still has ambitions to grow across the board, across sectors and through their involvement in the business community.
Mr Schorah said: “The public sector is definitely an area we can grow from the Yorkshire office. It’s a big part of the business anyway, though it wasn’t a particularly a focus of Ford & Warren, so it’s an area we can offer expertise in for the new region.
“We want to be a good fit in the Yorkshire business community. We’re aiming to be a larger employer, with plans to double in size over time.
“We would like to see ourselves as a good corporate citizen, working with local universities to take on more young people from the area and again, expand our talent pool.”
David Lewis, a senior member of the management team at Weightmans will be the Leeds regional office head with more partners moving over to help with integration”it’s important to have a properly integrated firm, to give a deeper offering to clients.
“At Weightmans we encourage flexibility and are flexible as well. We want to keep good people, so if, for example, their other halves relocate, we try and accommodate that.”
It is a good attitude to have in an increasingly saturated market after the Legal Services Act in 2011, which allows non-lawyers to own or part-own a legal firm.
Mr Schorah said: ”
The legal market was already crowded and competitive, and now having more people entering it you’ve got to be able to compete in any event basically. This competition helps though, it’s a case of only the fittest survives.”
Thankfully Weightmans’ business model seems to be working, developing the firm while “disruptors” to the market are still trying to find their feet, and the Leeds office is no exception.
He finished: “First and foremost, we want to grow the Leeds office, and we want to get it right.”
