Addleshaws shuts debt recovery unit

Co'sdefunct debt recovery department.Addleshaws announced the shutdown of its 85-strong

debt recovery unit,part of the Recovery Management Group (RMG) on 22 July.Clients have

been informed the firm will stop taking instructions from theend of August.Jones

dismisses rumours the firm will sell the RMG and says staff will beoffered jobs in the

firm.He says: "There are a number of existing vacancies in the housing department."It

is inevitable some people will want to move but we will try andre-employ

everyone."Andrew Chappell, operations partner at Dibbs' Bradford office, says: "Wehave

got a list of the major clients who we are contacting."There will be rich

pickings."Commenting on the decision to close the operation, Mark Jones, managingpartner

at Addleshaws, says: "We are seeking to develop the firm in threecore areas which are

corporate finance, banking and property, specificallycontentious and

non-contentious."The housing division, located at the firm's Pall Mall office

inManchester, will be relocated to Addleshaws' David Street offices in Leeds.The leased

Pall Mall office will close at the end of the year.Litigation partner Anthony Ruane,

head of the RMG, will lead the housinggroup. Team supervisor Peter Mayor will become

legal services manager.Jones says: "[The group] does not sit comfortably with our vision

of anational law firm at the top of its market."But Chappell says: "I was surprised at

the decision."If you have got a team with the proper set-up with the right processes

itcan be very supportive of the corporate department."He adds: "It is also a very

profitable department."