39 Essex St sets up on King St

A LONDON-based barristers set is to open an office in Manchester later this month.

Well-known set 39 Essex Street, which last year had a turnover of £28m, will set out its stall at 82 King Street from June 22.

The set’s 80 London-based members will initially use the offices as a base when conducting work in the region but it does plan to have barristers, and their support staff, based permanently in Manchester.

Chambers’ director Michael Meeson said: “Our barristers have been working in the district for many years. This is about giving them a base and structure and a name over the door. Manchester is the second largest base for legal services and our move reflects that profile.”

David Barns, director of clerking, added: “We will recruit people from Manchester as soon as it seems possible to do. But that’s a business decision based on turnover and work development.”

Manchester’s Administrative Court opened in January, and the regionalisation of the administrative court was a big influence on the decision, said Mr Meeson.

“We expect the Manchester office to have significant long term impact on turnover. People in Manchester know use but we want to improve on that. We need to earn our spurs with a wider group of people in Manchester,” he added.

Mr Barns added that having a base in Manchester meant the set would start to offer training sessions to its North West clients from Manchester.

The set, which is full service with the exception of criminal and pure family laws, conducts around 40% of its work in the regions, with 40% in London and 20% international work.