Vaudreys closes department as two family lawyers defect

Manchester firm Vaudreys has closed its family law department following the departure of its two family practitioners to neighbouring firm Lace Mawer.

Vaudreys assumed Caroline Bor and Sally Merry would take most of their clients with them and so decided to close shop. Their move also co incides with the departure of the firm's corporate partner Paul Brown to Cobbett Leak Almond in Manchester

Bor and Merry, who were employed under a job share scheme at Vaudreys, will continue the same arrangement at Lace Mawer.

The family law department at Lace Mawer is run by Nigel Shepherd, current chair of the Solicitors Family Law Association, and it was for this reason that they decided to apply for the job earlier this year.

Bor said: "We wanted to work at Lace Mawer because of Nigel's reputation. He has an excellent caseload which is expanding all the time."

Bor and Merry met while working together at Smith Fort & Symonds in Stockport. Soon after Merry moved to Vaudreys, Bor agreed to cover her maternity leave which led to the job sharing arrangement.

Following the loss of the family practice and partner Paul Brown, Vaudreys has decided to concentrate on commercial property, intellectual property, corporate and commercial litigation. It is looking to appoint five new lawyers.

Vaudreys senior partner Tony Healey said: "We have conducted an internal strategic review at the firm and as a result there have been and will be a number of changes which will leave us in better shape to exploit new opportunities in the legal market."