Legal and professional services group set to break £100m barrier as merger completes

Ampa, the legal and professional services group with major office hubs in Nottingham and Leicester, has completed a merger with Sussex law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter which will see its turnover pass the £100m mark.

No redundancies have been made as part of the deal, meaning the combined group will employ over 1,200 people. Ampa is best known in the East Midlands as the group behind Shakespeare Martineau LLP.

No money has been exchanged and Mayo Wynne Baxter’s equity partners have merged into Ampa’s membership.

The Sussex firm, founded over 150 years ago in Lewes, will continue to operate as a separate LLP.

Its personal injury and clinical negligence teams will join Ampa’s existing national consumer-focused law brand Lime Solicitors.

Alongside Shakespeare Martineau LLP, Ampa’s brands include cyber security company CSS Assure, uninsured loss recovery firm Corclaim and Marrons Planning.

Ampa CEO Sarah Walker-Smith said: “We’re delighted that Mayo Wynne Baxter will officially join the group from today. Transition for clients will be seamless as Mayo Wynne Baxter remains a standalone LLP in the group. However, clients will benefit from access to experts from our other brands including legal and non-legal teams.”

Dean Orgill, chief executive partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter, will sit on the Ampa group board and work with the firm’s partners to help grow Mayo Wynne Baxter as a regional anchor brand for the group.

He said: “As Mayo Wynne Baxter looks forward to the future, we are excited to be joining a group that shares our ambitions and values. Clients will continue to enjoy our commitment to exceptional service, but that will now be available across the hugely enhanced breadth and depth of skills and expertise that Ampa can offer.”