MOORE & Blatch's disappointingly static turnover is down to the restructuring of the firm's personal injury (PI) team, according to managing partner David Thompson. The firm wants to focus on higher-end, highvalue work rather than volume, but Thompson is hoping that the contribution the area makes to firm turnover will be roughly the same at 35 per cent.

No longer purely a Southampton firm, Moore & Blatch tested the waters in the London area by opening a PI/clinical negligence outpost in Richmond this year, headed by negligence partner Tim Spring.

In other areas there have been some good hires, such as Walter Kramer from Prince Evans to head property litigation.

Property is certainly an area on which the firm would like to focus. It has made it onto a panel for 16 Southern local authorities that banded together to instruct legal advisers, with Moore & Blatch winning the role of preferred property counsel.