Shoosmiths pledges to invest in growth of new Manchester office

Shoosmiths is to invest further in the growth of its new Manchester office after taking two more lawyers from mortgage finance company HL Interactive.

The firm has hired mortgage shortfall recoveries specialists Sean Adams and Ray Keeling for its nascent Manchester base, which is set to open in January.

“We’re making a significant investment in the Manchester lending services team,” said Shoosmiths partner and national head of lender services Waine Mannix. “We’re adopting a similar model to that which has been very successful for us in Birmingham and ­concentrating the investment in one area.”

The move comes just weeks after Shoosmiths hired Darren Shaw from HL Interactive to deal with mortgage recovery work in Manchester and DLA ­associate Harold Brako to head up the new receivables finance litigation practice (TheLawyer.com, ;30 ­September).

It has been a strong year for the firm, which has won a series of new clients, including Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre.