Russell Jones & Walker woos three partners from rivals

Leading personal injury firm Russell Jones & Walker (RJW) is poaching three partners from rival firms as it aims to double its size in Manchester.

Michael Conner, a personal injury partner with trade union practice Thompsons and Richard Crabtree brain injury specialist partner at Betesh Fox & Co, who is also the secretary of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers brain injury group, are due to join RJW next month.

Thompsons Manchester managing partner Steve Allen says: "People come and people go - we have no further comment to make."

RJW's Manchester head of personal injury Neil Kinsella says that the government's reorganisation of clinical negligence legal aid means that only 20 franchised firms in the North West are doing clinical negligence work as opposed to the 240 firms which formerly handled the work.

Kinsella argues that RJW's share of the work is set to increase.

For example, Kinsella says the firm acquired the Road Haulage Association as a client two months ago.

"We are expanding rapidly. I would imagine we will at least double in size - it is very exciting here at the moment," he says.

Alexander Harris' assistant solicitor Carey Entwistle, is also joining RJW this month.

Entwistle is a member of the Law Society clinical negligence panel and eligible to do legal aid work.

RJW also boosted its criminal department in the Summer by poaching solicitor David Hanman, a specialist in Inland Revenue fraud investigations, from the Manchester office of Dibb Lupton Alsop (The Lawyer 14 June).