Shakespeares targets 'leading Midlands firm' tag with Berryman merger
Shakespeare Putsman has merged with Nottingham-based Berryman, creating a £30m firm with 440 lawyers and staff across the East and West Midlands.
Paul Wilson
The merger was agreed by both firms yesterday and is set to complete on 1 November.
The deal follows last month’s merger of Shakespeare Putsman and Stratford-based Needham & James, which formed one of the largest practices in the West Midlands (8 June 2010).
Shakespeare Putsman chief executive Paul Wilson said the firm had decided to do another tie-up because the economic climate and the Legal Services Act in particular had made the legal marketplace increasingly complex and competitive.
“By merging, the two firms cement their position in the Midlands legal market place,” added Wilson. “As an ambitious, growing firm this merger will take us a step closer to establishing a leading Midlands legal firm. The merger also creates the platform for major investment in our people, infrastructure and branding.”
Berryman is the biggest single-site firm in Nottingham with 17 partners, six of whom are in the equity. Last year the firm fell slightly short of its 2009-10 turnover target of £6.6m but still managed a 1.5 per cent rise to £6.2m.
The firm used to be heavily reliant on its criminal practice, but refocused on commercial in 2007 when James Jarvis became managing partner.
In 2010, Jarvis undertook another transformation, reorganising the firm into sector-specific teams, breaking the work down into four key areas: life sciences, healthcare, TMT and rural economy.
Richard Brackenbury, chairman of Berryman, confirmed that in the short term his firm will continue to trade in Nottingham under the Berryman name.
“For all our clients, especially those based locally to us in Nottingham, the merger is in many ways particularly good news, as they’ll continue to benefit from an excellent legal team on their doorstep, and one that now has even more resource at its disposal,” added Brackenbury.
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Readers' comments (31)
EC3 | 23-Aug-2010 12:03 pm
Badger: its ' straits', not 'straights'.
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Anonymous | 24-Aug-2010 4:34 pm
EC3 is just annoyed because he and his mates live in crummy 2 bed apartments they had to pay £500k for, which they presumably hardly see trying to bill 1900 hours a year. The more canny of us who populate the back and beyond, having elected to shun this nonsensical lifestyle, live in nice big houses with gardens (shock horror), living a rather tip top lifestyle to boot. Know where I'd rather be!
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EC4 | 25-Aug-2010 12:02 pm
@Anonymous 24-Aug-2010 4:34 pm
One of the few things guaranteed to raise a smile on the face of even the most jaded Londoner is a chippy northerner (which I assume you are) parading his inferiority complex.
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Anonymous | 25-Aug-2010 1:02 pm
Nope, I am not a Northerner. Nor do I work there. I am chipper. But not a chippy.
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Anonymous | 25-Aug-2010 2:18 pm
Surely the most amazing thing to come out of tha article is that the merged firm will bill £30m with 440 lawyers. That's just £68,182 revenue per lawyer. What are they doing with their days?
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Anonymous | 25-Aug-2010 4:10 pm
Wrong. 440 "lawyers and staff".
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Anonymous | 25-Aug-2010 4:27 pm
Even more amazing is the low value per lawyer that Berryman were getting - compared to the announcement post the Needham James Merger, it can be shown that Berryman were only doing £50k revenue / lawyer (120 staff, £6m revenue)...
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Anonymous | 25-Aug-2010 5:37 pm
Rumour Mill:
Will Dickinson Dees be the next to join Shakespeare or will they join Quality Solicitors?
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Anonymous | 26-Aug-2010 5:23 pm
Get lives people....!
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Anonymous | 26-Aug-2010 10:15 pm
Coming back to the article itself, I think both firms should be congratulated. Isn't this how the likes of Eversheds started off in the early 90s - medium size Birmingham firm acquiring smaller, established regional practices- and just look at Eversheds now.
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