Addleshaw Goddard was formed from the merger of Addleshaw Booth & Co and Theodore Goddard in 2003. Addleshaw Booth was Northern and ambitious, with plenty of heft in Manchester and Leeds, especially for corporate, finance and property work. By contrast, Theodore Goddard was a mid-size London firm with a pleasant atmosphere, some interesting media and entertainment work and what now seems the incredibly quaint practice of guaranteeing all trainees jobs on qualification. The new Addleshaw Goddard pushed on under the leadership
Addleshaw Goddard was formed from the merger of Addleshaw Booth & Co and Theodore Goddard in 2003. Addleshaw Booth was Northern and ambitious, with plenty of heft in Manchester and Leeds, especially for corporate, finance and property work. By contrast, Theodore Goddard was a mid-size London firm with a pleasant atmosphere, some interesting media and entertainment work and what now seems the incredibly quaint practice of guaranteeing all trainees jobs on qualification.
The new Addleshaw Goddard pushed on under the leadership of Mark Jones, with a more corporate image cultivated: a family department was offloaded in 2008 and the firm moved to new London premises, Milton Gate. Post-Jones, however, AG lost some of its shine. Numerous sources reported rising tension in the partnership in the post-crash years while some embarrassing internal accounting errors and the exit of longstanding financial director Martin Gaskin compounded the impression of a firm where not everything was well.
John Joyce took over in 2014. He set the goal of taking top of equity over £1m, which he successfully did at the end of 2015/16, three years ahead of target. Joyce also successfully negotiated a deal to take over Gateley’s Scottish arm, HBJ. The HBJ merger went live in May 2017, adding around £22m to Addleshaws’ top line.
Since then the firm has balanced its UK practice with a growing international network.
