Changes at the top for Derby law firm
Derby law firm Flint Bishop has undergone a top-level reshuffle, appointing Qamer Ghafoor as chief executive and establishing a management board.
Flint Bishop’s three equity partners, Qamer Ghafoor, Andrew Cochrane and Ian Beardmore, say they have decided to “revamp and streamline” the management structure of the business, with a move away from traditional law firm management arrangements to a more corporate-style board structure.
Ghafoor, who was the managing partner of Commercial Services, will now oversee the new management board. Ghafoor joined Flint Bishop in 2003, becoming partner in 2005, head of commercial litigation 2008 and an equity partner in 2010.
Wai Yan Fung joined the firm in 2017 from multi-national vehicle rental firm Sixt, where she was finance director of the UK arm of the business. She has been appointed as chief finance and chief operations officer.
Ian Beardmore, as well as being head of commercial property, is now also head of compliance.
Andrew Cochrane has taken up the position of chairman and senior partner of the firm. He will continue to support the management in strategic planning, as well as focusing on his role as head of licensing.
The new management board consists of Qamer Ghafoor (as chair of the Board), Wai Yan Fung, Andrew Cochrane, David Miller, Bev Simms, Robert Tice and Nick Wells.
Ghafoor said: “I am delighted to be appointed chief executive and to have the opportunity to lead and shape the firm in the coming years. The firm is in a very strong position and the focus will be to develop further specialist areas of law, recruit key lateral hires, make significant investment in people and technology and, overall, to ensure that clients continue to receive exceptional and affordable advice.
“I have appointed Wai Yan to bring her wealth of finance and business knowledge to the firm and I hope that her experiences from other sectors will help us to break from the traditional law firm model. The members of the new management board are all very experienced lawyers and have excellent commercial knowledge. Importantly, we all share the same vision, passion, ambition and drive for the future of Flint Bishop.”
Flint Bishop says turnover has increased by 11% over the last year, with net profit up by 15%. The results for the current financial year show turnover to Q3 up by 21% on last year.
