Burton Copeland fraud team quits

The firm's five-partner fraud team is rebranding as Cooper Kenyon Burrows. The move comes just over a year after Burton Copeland's Manchester office split from the London office.
Partners Ian Cooper, Mike Kenyon, Lesley Burrows, Peter Higginbottom and Richard English are leaving the partnership with one associate and another six fee-earners. Manchester fraud partner Kenyon explained that the inherent differences in the white collar crime and the general crime practice had caused the split.
"Unlike general crime, we handle three or four cases a year worth up to £1m each. The general crime department will handle 30-40 cases a year and are paid a set fee for this," he explained.
In leaving the partnership, the Manchester fraud team will no longer be involved in the Liverpool and Salford offices, which were set up by the Manchester practice.
At the beginning of last year, the Liverpool office was set to become an arm of the fraud practice to take on rival Liverpool firms such as Quinn Melville for fraud work. But Kenyon explained that Cooper Kenyon Burrows has handed control of the Liverpool and Salford offices over to the general crime department.
"All the best fraud firms such as Peters & Peters and Kingsley Napley are single-site firms," he said.