On the back of a tremendously successful financial year, which saw Durham City’s leading law firm, Swinburne Maddison LLP (Swinburne Maddison), end the year significantly above targeted revenue, the firm has announced five further appointments to its corporate and commercial team providing the strength and depth necessary to target expansion.
The firm now boasts one of the largest corporate and commercial teams in the North East with twelve fee earning staff comprising three partners, a legal director, two associate solicitors, three solicitors, two trainee solicitors and a paralegal.
Although factored into the firm’s development strategy, the appointments have been made possible at this earlier than expected stage as a result of the quality, size and value of instructions Swinburne Maddison continues to receive.
The five new lawyers each bring various skills to the corporate and commercial team:
Matt Ray joins from the Teesside office of a national law firm with experience in M&A and corporate reorganisations. He will provide support to the three partners and Mike Ward, legal director, principally in respect of tax-led solvent reorganisation work.
Also joining the team is Jess Stevens who has six years of post-qualification experience in private client services focussing on lifetime planning arrangements and family trusts. She will be advising clients on share and asset sales, acquisitions and management buy-outs along with providing wider transactional support to the team. Jess will draw on her previous private client experience to add value to the services that she offers as a corporate lawyer.
Recently qualified Ashley Patterson, who has trained with the firm, will provide support to all partners in the team in respect of transactional matters and completing the current line-up of recruits are Niamh Wilson and Brooke Jefferson, who have accepted training contracts in the corporate team.
Ashley spent a large proportion of her training contract within the corporate team, providing support in connection with notable transactions including the investment by Argenbright Holdings LLC (Argenbright) in Amberstone Security Group Limited and the subsequent acquisition of The Protector Group Limited, and her experience will be invaluable as she begins her new role post-qualification.
Swinburne Maddison recently reported that 2022 was a record year for the corporate team, having advised upon 27 regional deals (which saw the firm registered on Experian’s MA& North East data base in 2022 as the sixth most active advisor in the region) as well as many others both nationally and internationally. This included a number of inward investments into the UK, principally due to interest rates and high periods of inflation, with the team having a particularly busy time in relation to transatlantic transactions, including the aforementioned instruction from Argenbright, one of the US’s largest providers of security services.
The team also advised on the investment made by Accel-KKR, a leading technology-focused private equity firm, into Singletrack, a company that has been supported by the law firm from start up to this milestone event, as well as Maven Capital’s investment in Pragmatic Semiconductor – a deal that won the coveted “Deal of the Year (£10m+)” award at the 2022 Insider North East Dealmakers Awards and in which Alex Wilby, partner in the corporate and commercial team, advised Maven.
Martyn Tennant, partner and head of the corporate and commercial team, believes that the successful completion of these transactions has cemented Swinburne Maddison’s reputation as one of the top corporate law firms in the region. Speaking about the future, he said:
“I believe the depth of resource we now have in our corporate and commercial team allows us to spread the net wider. Until now, we have positioned ourselves to support clients in an area predominantly south of the Tyne including Co Durham and Wearside. Now, we are seeking to continue increasing the quality and volume of deal activity into Northumberland, Yorkshire and beyond backed by our agile and dynamic team with our special brand of legal support which ensures that clients always benefit from a highly responsive and hands on service.”
Mr Tennant continued: “We will continue to focus on owner-managed and family-owned businesses, where we have an established track record and with our five new members of staff, we are now able to field a corporate and commercial team that is comparable in size to those of any regional practice. This means that more complex and labour-intensive engagements are firmly within the team’s capabilities.”
Although the first part of 2023 has been slightly slower in comparison to the first part of last year, the team have a number of current and prospective engagements that are expected to result in a busy period to the calendar half year. Coupled with this, the team continues to make the most of growth opportunities and an increased involvement in venture capital and private equity transactions across multiple sectors, as well as seeing an uptick within the region towards MBOs and other exits connected with lifetime planning.
These latest appointments bring the headcount at the firm to 79.
On the back of a tremendously successful financial year, which saw Durham City’s leading law firm, Swinburne Maddison LLP (Swinburne Maddison), end the year significantly above targeted revenue, the firm has announced five further appointments to its corporate and commercial team providing the strength and depth necessary to target expansion.
The firm now boasts one of the largest corporate and commercial teams in the North East with twelve fee earning staff comprising three partners, a legal director, two associate solicitors, three solicitors, two trainee solicitors and a paralegal.
Although factored into the firm’s development strategy, the appointments have been made possible at this earlier than expected stage as a result of the quality, size and value of instructions Swinburne Maddison continues to receive.
The five new lawyers each bring various skills to the corporate and commercial team:
Matt Ray joins from the Teesside office of a national law firm with experience in M&A and corporate reorganisations. He will provide support to the three partners and Mike Ward, legal director, principally in respect of tax-led solvent reorganisation work.
Also joining the team is Jess Stevens who has six years of post-qualification experience in private client services focussing on lifetime planning arrangements and family trusts. She will be advising clients on share and asset sales, acquisitions and management buy-outs along with providing wider transactional support to the team. Jess will draw on her previous private client experience to add value to the services that she offers as a corporate lawyer.
Recently qualified Ashley Patterson, who has trained with the firm, will provide support to all partners in the team in respect of transactional matters and completing the current line-up of recruits are Niamh Wilson and Brooke Jefferson, who have accepted training contracts in the corporate team.
Ashley spent a large proportion of her training contract within the corporate team, providing support in connection with notable transactions including the investment by Argenbright Holdings LLC (Argenbright) in Amberstone Security Group Limited and the subsequent acquisition of The Protector Group Limited, and her experience will be invaluable as she begins her new role post-qualification.
Swinburne Maddison recently reported that 2022 was a record year for the corporate team, having advised upon 27 regional deals (which saw the firm registered on Experian’s MA& North East data base in 2022 as the sixth most active advisor in the region) as well as many others both nationally and internationally. This included a number of inward investments into the UK, principally due to interest rates and high periods of inflation, with the team having a particularly busy time in relation to transatlantic transactions, including the aforementioned instruction from Argenbright, one of the US’s largest providers of security services.
The team also advised on the investment made by Accel-KKR, a leading technology-focused private equity firm, into Singletrack, a company that has been supported by the law firm from start up to this milestone event, as well as Maven Capital’s investment in Pragmatic Semiconductor – a deal that won the coveted “Deal of the Year (£10m+)” award at the 2022 Insider North East Dealmakers Awards and in which Alex Wilby, partner in the corporate and commercial team, advised Maven.
Martyn Tennant, partner and head of the corporate and commercial team, believes that the successful completion of these transactions has cemented Swinburne Maddison’s reputation as one of the top corporate law firms in the region. Speaking about the future, he said:
“I believe the depth of resource we now have in our corporate and commercial team allows us to spread the net wider. Until now, we have positioned ourselves to support clients in an area predominantly south of the Tyne including Co Durham and Wearside. Now, we are seeking to continue increasing the quality and volume of deal activity into Northumberland, Yorkshire and beyond backed by our agile and dynamic team with our special brand of legal support which ensures that clients always benefit from a highly responsive and hands on service.”
Mr Tennant continued: “We will continue to focus on owner-managed and family-owned businesses, where we have an established track record and with our five new members of staff, we are now able to field a corporate and commercial team that is comparable in size to those of any regional practice. This means that more complex and labour-intensive engagements are firmly within the team’s capabilities.”
Although the first part of 2023 has been slightly slower in comparison to the first part of last year, the team have a number of current and prospective engagements that are expected to result in a busy period to the calendar half year. Coupled with this, the team continues to make the most of growth opportunities and an increased involvement in venture capital and private equity transactions across multiple sectors, as well as seeing an uptick within the region towards MBOs and other exits connected with lifetime planning.
These latest appointments bring the headcount at the firm to 79.
