Freeth Cartwright (Freeth Cartwright and Henmans)

Oxford-based Henmans rebranded as Henmans Freeth on 1 February 2013 following a merger with Freeth Cartwright. The integrated group, which sees the Henmans’ business join Freeth Cartwright, has around 629 staff including 125 partners, a network of 10 offices and a total revenue approaching £50m. 

According to an internal memo seen by The Lawyer the tie-up was intended to gift Freeth Cartwright, which has been on a growth spurt since the introduction of the Legal Services Act, “greater depth and range of resource”, “economies of scale” and the “critical mass of the group to compete for larger clients on a wider stage.” Henmans, meanwhile, posted a comment on its website saying that the tie-up will enable the firm to expand its client base across the country.

Nottingham-headquartered Freeth Cartwright has taken the acquisition route to growth for a number of years, building up its 2011–12 turnover by 15 per cent after spending the previous financial year belt-tightening.

The firm stopped the rot in 2010–11, improving profitability through efficiencies, a smattering of redundancies and downsizing one of its eight offices in Derby.

Then in November the firm snapped up Milton Keynes firm Kimbell. That buyout contributed five months of gross fees towards the 2011–12 revenue figure of £36.7m — up from £32m in 2010–11. Total turnover also included fees from its associate business in Stoke, KJD Freeth. As of April  2012 that link-up became a full merger.

Pre-merger Henmans, meanwhile, increased its turnover by a marginal 1 per cent in 2011–12, from £8.8m to £8.9m. The firm had a steady year, becoming the principle adviser to Cancer Research UK and seeing particular growth in its clinical negligence practice.