Holt in as chairman of Fairfax Solicitors
JONATHAN Holt has become the chairman of Fairfax Solicitors, the unsecured recoveries business of Eversheds which was acquired in a management buyout.
Mr Holt, former head of commercial and member of the executive board at Eversheds, has taken on the position at the Leeds-based firm.
The MBO in September was led by Peter Wordsworth, who headed up the Eversheds department since 1996 and was instrumental in securing several high profile government and private sector contracts.
Mr Holt has almost 30 years experience in the legal industry.
Having qualified in 1980, he set up Holt Phillips in Bristol, which was acquired by Eversheds in 1994.
He went on to become head of commoditised legal services and head of commercial at the firm.
Mr Holt said: “Despite the large number of existing debt collection agencies, there are very few law firms exclusively focussing in this specialist arena.
“Given the experience of the team and its commitment to quality and integrity, this gives us a great opportunity to grow our business. As such, I’m looking forward to leading the board at Fairfax as we continue to expand and deliver our suite of innovative and highly effective recovery services to clients.”
Mr Wordsworth, chief executive of Fairfax Solicitors, said: “I am delighted that Jonathan has agreed to join the board as chairman. He brings with him a wealth of management experience of exactly the type of quality-driven commoditised legal services that Fairfax offers.
“Strengthening our management team is a key part of our growth plan and I’m therefore very pleased to have been able to make this appointment at such an early stage in our development.”
Eighty-four Leeds based employees were transferred out of Eversheds as part of the MBO.
Fairfax specialises in the design and delivery of debt strategies for financial institutions and central government departments.
The work carried out by the team includes high volume consumer debt recovery services, letter and telephone based collections, failed IVA collections, probate services and all aspects of litigation involving charging orders and post-charging order recovery.
Fairfax also undertakes volume commercial recoveries on behalf of its clients.
