Glaisyers opens Liverpool office with plans to hit £1m turnover in two years

National law firm Glaisyers ETL has opened its first office in Liverpool, which will serve the owner-managed sector in the city and surrounding areas, with plans to hit £1m turnover within the first two years.

The opening, in The Plaza, in the central business district’s Old Hall Street, adds to its existing footprint in Manchester and London.

Glaisyers has, since 2018, been part of ETL GLOBAL, a German-based international professional services network which employs more than 15,000 tax, audit, accountancy and legal professionals across more than 50 countries.

The Liverpool office will initially focus on corporate and commercial law.

It is being led by new corporate partner Adrian Rogers, who has joined Glaisyers from Knights. He is working alongside David Jones, executive partner at Glaisyers ETL and overall head of ETL Global UK’s legal arm, who also lives in Liverpool.

Mr Rogers’ new role represents a professional homecoming, having spent the first 15 years of his legal career at Brabners, where he qualified as a solicitor and rose to the position of partner in its Liverpool office.

In 2017 he joined the Manchester firm Turner Parkinson, which became part of Knights in 2018, and held the role of corporate partner there.

Mr Rogers said: “Glaisyers is an innovative, entrepreneurial and growing firm, with an ambition that matches my own, so when David Jones offered me the opportunity to be part of the team, help grow the ETL network and come home to Liverpool, it was a very quick and simple decision.”

He said three staff will be based in the office initially, with plans to grow the team: “There’s no limit on what we’re trying to do here. There’s more space within the building if we need to relocate,” he added.

David Jones said the target is for the Liverpool team to achieve turnover of £1m within two years, with a focus on a couple of sectors in particular: “We’re looking at the sports side, particularly football, being based in Liverpool. We have a specialism in football clubs.”

He said the Glaisyers office in Manchester, which first opened in 1974 and now employs 74 staff, has looked after five football clubs in the area, including one Premier League side, one Championship club and three in lower leagues. And he said the Liverpool team has its own ambitions: “We have a few things coming up that are linked to local football clubs.”

Another area of interest for ETL is the accountancy sector, he said, with an offering ranging from management information and payroll, to tax and advisory services.

ETL GLOBAL UK currently has 20 partner firms across the UK, and was ranked number 19 in last year’s Accountancy Age Top 50+50 firms.

Mr Jones added: “The ETL model involves taking a majority stake in professional services firms and providing them with the resources they need to grow while leaving independent management teams in place.

“It works very well for firms where, for example, the existing equity partners or shareholders want to take some money off the table, or even retire, while gaining support for their succession plans and providing continuity for clients.

“Another key benefit for firms that become part of ETL GLOBAL is the access it provides to a vast international network of professional services businesses.”

He said: “Liverpool is one of the most internationally focused cities in the UK so I think, for a lot of firms here, the opportunities that come with membership of a worldwide network will be really compelling.”

Mr Rogers added: “There’s a lot of technology and innovation in Liverpool so we would be crazy not to target those, but it is not just any one area we’re looking at.”

Glaisyers ETL was ETL GLOBAL’s first foray into the UK legal market, a move which has since been followed up by investments, via Glaisyers, in the City of London international firm Laytons and the investment and crypto fraud specialist Wealth Recovery Solicitors.

David Jones said: “I have always had an ambition to open an office in my home city, and I look forward to Glaisyers ETL growing our presence and becoming an integral part of Merseyside’s business and professional scenes over the years ahead.”