Simmons to open low-cost Bristol base
Simmons & Simmons is to open an office in Bristol in a bid to slash its fee rates.
Jeremy Hoyland
According to managing partner Jeremy Hoyland, the office, which is slated for an autumn launch, will handle “complex legal work” where “location is not an issue for clients”.
It is expected that the office will initially handle projects, real estate and disputes work. The firm plans to have around 15 lawyers in the office at launch and, while it has asked its existing lawyers to make it known if they would like to transfer to Bristol, it is also in talks with recruitment consultants about hiring in the local market. It is expected that of the 15 lawyers, three will be partners.
Hoyland said the firm had a track record of showing it was willing to “embrace different ways of working in order to deliver greater value to our clients”, adding: ‘‘Clients quite rightly look to firms that can provide overall value. Our office in Bristol will allow us to deliver greater efficiency, while maintaining our reputation for excellence.”
The news comes after RPC launched an insurance and reinsurance Bristol base earlier this year with a team of lawyers from CMS Cameron McKenna (3 January 2012). Irwin Mitchell opened in the city in 2010 (16 February 2010).
It also comes as Bristol stalwart Osborne Clarke looks to position itself as a European firm by merging with its Spanish and Italian alliance partners, Osborne Clarke Spain and SLA Studio Legale Associato (29 March 2012). The move, said managing partner Simon Beswick, is designed to see the firm tackle more complex work (2 April 2012).
Earlier this year Simmons cut lawyers and support staff in its Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices in response to what it termed “ongoing market conditions in the Middle East” (20 January 2012).
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Readers' comments (13)
Outsourcing Sauce | 3-Apr-2012 11:03 am
Is Bristol to become the new Mumbai?
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Anonymous | 3-Apr-2012 11:28 am
For a mid sized, mid market firm like Simmons, why not move the whole thing to Bristol, and just keep a London satellite for a few of their better banking lawyers?
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Anonymous | 3-Apr-2012 11:36 am
or why not just move everyone out but have a bunch of meeting rooms. Clients very rarely walk in off the street
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Evolutionary migration | 3-Apr-2012 11:52 am
Let's face facts, with today's IT only a minority of City law firms need more than around a third of their staff to be in London to carry out their work for large commercial clients.
What is happening in Bristol and Belfast is just the beginning of a more systemic change across the legal sector.
And, who needs to pay for a skyscraper in London anyhow? Surely partners could pocket a lot more profit if they could reduce their London office space but still service City clients to the same standard?
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Anonymous | 3-Apr-2012 1:08 pm
I suspect what is being missed is that Bristol has been two markets for years, with a large dose of export, and the top end of Bristol-based Partners with hybrid practices (local/national and London). It is only an hour and a half into London (commuter belt without the tube) and mobile working has competely transformed the dynamic. The tough thing for Simmons will be recruitment, when there are more established firms that can offer a mix of work, with a toe-hold in the higher value London market, without the low cost, second class stigma that will come from being a small office within in a London-centric firm.
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Anonymous | 3-Apr-2012 1:15 pm
Not very sexy
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Westmorlandia | 3-Apr-2012 1:18 pm
Lawyers don't need to be in offices at all, most of the time. We could all work at home, having much nicer lives, and do just as good a job. Our firms can just have a base in the City with meeting rooms and some other functions, thereby saving huge amounts on the office rent. We can then all get paid more. Hurray.
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Anonymous | 3-Apr-2012 1:52 pm
The posts above seem to be missing one crucial point: if Simmons' current staff wanted to move to Bristol, wouldn't they have done so already?
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Anon | 3-Apr-2012 2:30 pm
Sensible move, but why Bristol, which is pretty expensive albeit far less so than central London.
Why not move to somewhere which needs the jobs more and is cheaper, such as Newcastle or Liverpool?
And why such a small number of staff? Most City lawyers never even meet the clients they are working for.
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Anonymous | 3-Apr-2012 4:46 pm
I work at a mid-size firm in Bristol that is getting smaller and smaller by the day as the big boys open up shop...Bristol is without doubt the most saturated legal market outside London
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