Halliwells' top brass vows to grow

Halliwells managing partner Ian Austin has declared his intention to drive his firm into the UK's top 25 in the wake of his re-election.

Austin and senior partner Alec Craig were both re-elected in an uncontested election for a further four-year term. Craig has now been senior partner since September 2000, while Austin was first picked for his post in February 2004.

"We definitely want to get into the top 25 law firms," said Austin, adding that he believed it would be necessary to hike turnover to exceed £100m to achieve this aim.

This year Halliwells brought in £62.7m, a rise of 25 per cent from the previous year, with predicted average profit per equity partner (PEP) up by the same amount to around £500,000.

Austin said Halliwells needs to strengthen its London presence, particularly in corporate, as well as ensuring that the firm's recent merger with James Chapman & Co's insurance team in Manchester was fully integrated.

"We've got to improve the infrastructure to cope with that size of business," said Austin. "A lot of these things we're already on the way to doing."