Shakespeares goes for Midlands domination with fourth merger in 18 months
Midlands firm Shakespeares is preparing to do its fourth merger in under 18 months with a tie-up with Solihull-based Wood Glaister due to go live on 1 December.
Paul Wilson
In June 2010, legacy firm Shakespeare Putsman merged with £7m Midlands rival Needham & James, creating a £24m, 56-partner firm (8 June 2010). This was closely followed by a merger with £6.6m Nottingham-based Berryman, bringing combined revenue to £28.4m and adding 17 more partners to the fold (18 August 2010).
Last month Shakespeares merged with Birmingham-based two-partner specialist social housing practice Gorrara Haden.
The latest tie-up sees the firm, which has rebranded as Shakespeares, acquiring Wood Glaister - a nine-partner firm specialising in property development, commercial property, commercial litigation and personal injury. The firm, which employs 55 members of staff, will continue to trade under its current name.
Shakespeares chief executive Paul Wilson is targeting a turnover of £50m in the next 18 months, with the aim of making Shakespeares a leading mid-tier firm. He has cited the economic climate and the Legal Services Act as the reason behind the latest spree of local mergers.
“This is the latest development in our strategic growth plan, which has seen the firm increase its turnover to £28m, employing 430 people. Our aim remains to be one of the leading Midlands domiciled legal services providers,” he said.
Shakespeares ranked 84th in this year’s The Lawyer’s UK 200.
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Readers' comments (18)
Anonymous | 14-Nov-2011 5:22 pm
Nope.
I wrote two of the comments (now three) but not the rest.
Well done Shakespeares. Good firm.
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Earl of Leicester | 16-Nov-2011 3:43 pm
Shakespeares have been sniffing round 2 or 3 firms in Leicester but apparently haven't found anyone willing to take them up on an offer yet. Rumour has it they may well be overlooking the Humberstone roundabout within the next 6 months.
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Anonymous | 16-Nov-2011 6:15 pm
simple strategy
(1) merge your way to a turnover of £50 million
(2) dont worry too much about profitability
(3) flog business as an ABS
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Anonymous | 17-Nov-2011 1:05 pm
Why can't we all just be happy for Shakespeares?
Personally I think a merger with Dickinson Dees wouldn't be bard.
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Anonymous | 18-Nov-2011 11:31 am
Re the partner redundancies at DD, I know far too many staff at all levels except for partner level be made redundant at Shakespeares so they are as guilty as anyone, if not worse of doing this. Also they make redundancies practically every six months so how anyone can feel safe in their job is a mystery.
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Anonymous | 18-Nov-2011 1:51 pm
they sound like they're made for each other then.
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Anonymous | 22-Nov-2011 0:20 am
Shakespeares made staff redundant at the time of taking over Needham and James and Berryman and I believe went through a further round of redundancies 6 months ago, and an agent tells me that they have just done another of round of redundancies in the last fortnight or so! Funny how that's never mentioned in despatches. I feel sorry for the poor guys at Wood Glaister, as you sure know what's around the corner....
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Anonymous | 22-Nov-2011 2:48 pm
Shakespeares made redundancies upon merger with Putsmans and then at least three times in 18 months before they merged with either Berrymans or Needham and James so it's not always merger driven.
Some say it keeps staff on their toes.
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