Tragic death of top lawyer

RICHARD Burns, one of the best known and most respected corporate lawyers in Yorkshire, has died after a short illness.

He was a partner in the Corporate Strategy & Finance practice of international law firm Hammonds.

Yorkshire-born Mr Burns, 49, who was based in the firm’s London office where he worked on a wide range of major deals, lived in Ilkley and was a former senior partner of Hammonds.

Mr Burns was married to wife Sue, a senior employment lawyer at Hammonds, and the couple have two young children. He also has two grown-up children from his first marriage.

Managing partner of Hammonds, Peter Crossley, said: “We are devastated by Richard’s sudden and tragic death. Richard was a great lawyer with huge intellect, vision and unwavering commitment to the firm. His boundless energy and enthusiasm will be sorely missed by all who knew him and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

Mr Burns was a non-executive director of a number of companies and a founder investor in TheBusinessDesk.com.

His former Hammonds colleague and friend Chris Jones, chairman of TheBusinessDesk.com, said: “This is clearly tragic news. Richard was the best corporate lawyer I ever worked with.

“He was a very highly valued adviser to some of the region’s biggest companies and made an outstanding contribution to the growth of Hammonds.

“Richard was full of integrity and was calm and resolute in everything he did,” added Mr Jones.

Mr Burns, who was educated at Leeds Grammar School and Hull University, joined Hammonds in 1981, qualified in 1983 and was promoted to partner in 1986.

His expertise included advising on national and international mergers and acquisitions, flotations and the raising of equity-based finance.

Most recently he was advising US company Illinois Tool Works (ITW) on its £1bn-plus competitive takeover of UK quoted kitchen equipment manufacturer Enodis.

Other deals he has been involved in include Hallmark’s £200m offer for Creative publishing and Société Générale’s £480m of funding for Baxi’s purchase of Blue Circle’s heating division.

David Parkin on Richard Burns. Read the Comment column by clicking the link below.

http://design.thebusinessdesk.com/tragic-loss-to-yorkshire-business.html