Trio open new East Midlands office of challenger law firm

Three East Midlands legal heavyweights have joined forced to open a regional office of property-focused challenger law firm Gunnercooke.

Former Shakespeare Martineau property specialist Brendan Walsh has teamed up ex Freeths Derby managing partner Mike Taplin and former commercial property partner at Flint Bishop, Bev Simms, to open the hub on Pride Park in Derby.

The trio say they will be looking to recruit for at least two university graduates to join them over coming weeks.

Walsh said: “The needs of clients are changing; we’ve found they’re less interested in how many hours you’ve taken to complete a piece of work, but how well it’s been completed. They want more interaction and are looking for long term planning alongside their legal provider. That’s the route we want to go down.”

Taplin added: “We’re offering a flexibility that is absent in other law firms. It’s a freedom that isn’t to be found in traditional legal practices. We’re not recording time – in many ways we’re own bosses and it’s avery rrefrshing way to work.”

Simms said: “A lot of millennials coming through law firms now want a positive lifestyle balance. We have unlimited flexibility – something that has proven to be very attractive.”

Walsh, Taplin and Simms said they are still positive about the commercial property sector in the region, despite the havoc wrought by Covid-19. They point to high activity levels in the food industry and logistics, student accommodation and residential as being their main focus at the moment.

And they remain upbeat about the future. As Walsh said: “Think positive, test negative!”