Cobbetts and DWF prepare ground for May merger
North West firm DWF and Manchester firm Cobbetts are understood to be close to finalising a merger that could go ahead as early as May, adding around £44m to DWF’s growing turnover.
Michael Shaw
According to a source some partners within Cobbetts have already said that they will not join the merged firm. It is understood that managing partner Michael Shaw is among them.
Merger talks between the two firms are understood to have reached advanced stages with 1 May being touted as a potential completion date.
In November RollonFriday revealed that DWF had registered the domain name dwfcobbetts.com. DWF managing partner Andrew Leaitherland said at the time that the merger hint was down to an “over-zealous” IT employee, but in an interview with The Lawyer added that the firm was “open to looking at the right merger opportunity” (10 November 2011).
Andrew Leaitherland
In November 2011 DWF merged with Newcastle firm Crutes, with the latter being incorporated on 1 January. The merger pushed DWF from an £83m firm in 2010-11 to a projected £88m (25 November 2011).
Leaitherland declined to comment while Shaw at Cobbetts was unavailable for comment.
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Readers' comments (25)
Anonymous | 9-Jan-2012 9:29 am
Terrifying photo of Shaw.
Looks like a good merger from the outside.
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Anonymous | 9-Jan-2012 10:25 am
Anonymous 9:29
Cobbetts - Net Profit 22%
DWF - Net Profit 14%
Good merger for whom.
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Anonymous | 9-Jan-2012 12:22 pm
Shame the press know before the staff
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Anonymous | 9-Jan-2012 1:48 pm
Perfectly logical merger.
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Anonymous | 9-Jan-2012 2:08 pm
Interesting one this as they have always struck me as being quite different culturally. dwf all big, brash, noisy, a bit nouveau perhaps; whereas Cobbetts are more reserved, old school, looking over the fence at their noisy neighbours with quiet disdain. I could be wrong, but that how it strikes me. Odder mergers have worked, but this will be an interesting one to follow.
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Rural bliss | 9-Jan-2012 3:36 pm
I quite agree with the assessment of the two firms by Anonymous 2:08.
Despite Cobbetts' higher profit margin I feel they've been a gradually declining force over the past few years.
Unfortunately, the rather gentlemanly type of legal practice that they represent is being edged out by the hard nosed money grubbers, who compete aggressively and are prepared to buy market share.
I suspect that this is more a takeover than a merger.
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Papyrus | 9-Jan-2012 6:12 pm
Shaw looks like the childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
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Anonymous | 10-Jan-2012 9:34 am
Until a couple of years ago I thought Cobbetts and Dickinson Dees would have been a good merger.
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Anonymous | 10-Jan-2012 2:59 pm
Interesting switch for growth from DWF which has spent most the last few years concentrating on laterals. Given the significant geographical crossover and the similarity of the businesses, I think we'll see some pretty heavy cost cutting (i.e. redundancies) across the board, particularly in the support departments.
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Anonymous | 10-Jan-2012 4:26 pm
What is the plan for their respective shiny new Manchester offices?
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