Sheffield firm engulfs Leeds insolvency practice

SHEFFIELD firm Keeble Hawson swallowed up Leeds-based six-partner firm RC Moorhouse & Co last week to create the tenth largest firm in Yorkshire.

The new firm, Keeble Hawson Moorhouse, has 22 partners and 55 other fee earners.

Spokesman Jonathan Armstrong said: "We have made no secret of the fact that we wanted to expand into Leeds. The expectation is that both offices will expand." Armstrong said Moorhouse had an unusually strong insolvency practice.

Keeble Hawson senior partner Tony Gregory will act as senior partner of the new firm.

George Moorhouse, senior partner at the Leeds firm, said: "A Sheffield base will help us serve our South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire clients."

The merger took effect from 1 May and is the second to involve Keeble Hawson in less than two years. In June1996 the firm merged with fellow Sheffield firm Rodgers & Howe under the name Keeble Hawson Rodgers & Howe. It dropped "Rodgers & Howe" from its name in February this year.