Ward Hadaway seeks further Manchester growth

LAW firm Ward Hadaway has broken the £30m turnover barrier for the first time.

The firm, which is headquartered in Newcastle but has offices in Manchester and Leeds, also saw profit rise by 9% to a record £9m.

Turnover for the year to the end of April grew by 6% as Ward Hadaway enjoyed a fourth consecutive year of growth.

Managing partner Jamie Martin said: “These excellent results are the product of a great deal of hard work, talent and dedication from everyone at Ward Hadaway.

“To have achieved record figures for both turnover and profit in what remains a distinctly challenging time for the professional services sector and for the economy as a whole is an exceptional performance.

“We will continue to work hard to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations as we look to build the firm further and to strive for greater success.”

In the past year, Ward Hadaway boosted its Manchester presence with the recruitment of five new partners – David Parry and Daniel Rubin (employment), Melanie Yeomans (corporate finance); Andrew Dunn (property) and commercial litigator Tony Winterburn.

Other North West highlights were an award for its specialist creative industries team, which is based at The Sharp Project in east Manchester and winning a place on the legal panel to advise on The £185m North West Fund.

Martin Hulls, head of the Manchester office said: “This has been a year of real growth for us as a firm in Manchester.

“The recruitment of talented new partners has enabled us to considerably widen our offering to North West clients while our Creative Industries team are really leading the way when it comes to providing high quality, accessible legal services to an increasingly influential and important area of the regional economy.

“We are committed to further growth in Manchester and we look forward to making some exciting announcements about our plans for our operation in the city soon.”