Gateley confirms succession plan as CEO steps down

The long-standing chief executive of legal services group Gateley has stepped down.

Michael Ward hands over to Rod Waldie. Ward, who has been with Gateley for 33 years, stands down as CEO but remains on the Board as an executive director with oversight responsibility for the Group’s non-legal consulting businesses.

In addition to his role as the senior office partner at Gateley Legal’s Manchester office and leading the Group’s national property team, Waldie has been a key member of the firm’s management board since joining Gateley via the acquisition of part of the Manchester office of Halliwells in 2010 and played an instrumental part in Gateley’s IPO in 2015.

Waldie said: “On behalf of all my colleagues at Gateley, I wish to thank Mike for his guidance and wisdom during the handover period. We are delighted he has chosen to remain with the Group with his focus centred on our non-legal consulting businesses.

“I am taking on this role in unprecedented times but have held senior management roles in Gateley for 10 years and have a thorough understanding of the business, which is well capitalised, balanced and resilient. We have a loyal client base and our strong remote working platform enables us to continue to deliver services in line with our core ethos of fully supporting our clients and putting them first. I firmly believe that the quality of our people allied to our economically and geographically diversified model puts us in a strong position to react to the current macro-economic difficulties. I am particularly proud of the positive attitude shown by the whole Gateley team during the last few weeks and by the continued determination and resourcefulness of our people during this challenging period.”