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 | 10-Jan-2012 4:42 pm
Warehouse raves.
After 3 in each office, they'll make a decision about which is in the best condition to be the flagship office for the merged firm.
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Anonymous | 10-Jan-2012 7:50 pm
Seems Cobbetts happy to wave goodbye to staff as quickly as possible. Gossip and rumours should ensure they go before any redundancy payouts are needed do the people upstairs really want to take all the money and run? morale is the lowest ever within the firm May wont be soon enough!!!!
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Bob Smith | 10-Jan-2012 10:14 pm
Out with it then surely its time to tell the staff whats going on
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Anonymous | 11-Jan-2012 10:55 am
I see the work of many firms and I rate Cobbetts.
I don't see the working conditions or know about the morale. However if they keep producing good work for comparatively low fees then I'll keep instructing them.
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Anonymous | 11-Jan-2012 12:25 pm
I work at Cobbetts and disagree that morale is the lowest ever. I don't know if anon at 7:50 pm does but I'd be surprised if anyone from my office posted that.
We'd all like a bit more pay, and management communication is embarrassingly poor, but apart from that it's a good place to work.
We all know about the proposed merger even though no one here has said anything.
My main concern is whether we'll be able to keep up the quality of work if we merge. The work I do is interesting and challenging. I know DWF does a lot of insurance work which I have absolutely no desire to do.
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Anonymous | 11-Jan-2012 3:36 pm
Neither firm cares about its staff, merely its profit and national presence. I attended a number of meetings during my time at one of these firms, and can definately say they have no consideration for anything expect their bottom line.
In my view, this merger will bring together two of the least caring firms in the world, and hopefully they will self-destruct!
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Anonymous | 11-Jan-2012 4:05 pm
Morale is poor at most firms right now, because people are tired of slogging through this recession. Cobbetts isn't unique in that respect.
This merger is akin to Aldi acquiring Waitrose.
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Anonymous | 11-Jan-2012 4:12 pm
Anonymous | 11-Jan-2012 12:25 pm
Having seen the quality of the DWF employment law insurance offering first hand, I truly hope Cobbets, who I have always found to be excellent in that field, will not be tarred with the same brush.
Still, I'm quite happy to keep on picking up the dissatisfied clients.........
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Anonymous | 11-Jan-2012 9:25 pm
who is pushing for this merger from Cobbetts? What was the last thing this person championed? Lets hope its not the same waste of resource capital and time leading to mass redundancies as before will it be a fond farewell to the cream of Manchester no one seems to want to own this but no difference there!!!!!! What is the current partner head count at this sadly dwindling once flighty firm owned by none I for one will be deeply sad that Cobbetts is gone and forgotten...............
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Anonymous | 13-Jan-2012 3:20 pm
Having seen the antics of both firms in the Leeds market, DWF have been trying to sort out its grand plan for the last 5 years - acquiring laterals for what appeared to be ideas, only for a number of them to ping back out of the door shortly after. At Cobbetts, partners have been looking at their exit strategies for at least the last 3 years. It's not so long ago that DWF acquired just the bits of Incasso that it wanted. There are a remarkable number of ex DLA/Broomheads faces at both DWF and Cobbetts many of whom have worked together before but have very different working practices and managerial styles. It will be interesting to see what happens when they are all thrown back together.
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