A major British firm has hired 33 lawyers from Slater and Gordon’s struggling UK office to launch a new practice group.
BLM has hired the group, which includes 11 partners, to launch a commercial advisory practice. The group, headed by new partner Stephen Lintott, will be spread across BLM’s Manchester and London offices.
Last month, BLM
confirmed to Australasian Lawyer that it was in talks with the
troubled firm.
“We have engaged in discussions with Slater and Gordon for quite some time,” said Mike Brown, senior partner at BLM. “We knew they were making plans to restructure their business to focus on core consumer services and we were seriously exploring our diversification strategy. It is a logical move for both businesses. The Slater & Gordon team wanted to move to us and we are delighted they chose to do so. We’re really looking forward to the team joining us.”
Four lawyers will launch a business advisory offering, which will focus on company and corporate law, intellectual property, and information technology.
BLM’s construction and property-damage offering will be boosted by the 15 commercial real estate lawyers, who specialise in non-contentious matters. The firm has also scored four employment law specialists and 10 commercial litigation experts.
The transfer of the group follows BLM’s recent launch of its own international network.
“We’ve made no secret of the fact that we want to diversify into additional areas of law which complement our core insurance offering. Part of our strategy is to expand the range and reach of services that we can offer to our customers,” Brown said. “Therefore, being joined by our new colleagues is in line with that approach. We’re now able to offer new services and products to our existing customers and have the opportunity to develop completely new customers both within the UK and internationally.”
BLM was advised by partner Tony Harper of Brabners, a UK firm that specialises in commercial law.
