Swinburne Maddison Continues Ambitious Three-Year Plan With Seven Promotions

Durham City’s leading law firm, Swinburne Maddison LLP (Swinburne Maddison) has announced seven promotions as it continues its ambitious three-year growth strategy.

The law firm has consistently smashed its forecasts throughout the last four-year period as it emerged from the pandemic, resulting in achieving its first three-year plans within two years. Now, as the 2024-25 financial year gets underway, Swinburne Maddison continues its bold strategies for the future, which will see the firm strengthening its position as one of the northern region’s leading law firms, making further investment in marketing and IT to ensure a high standard of client satisfaction together with expanding its footprint within the agricultural, social housing and banking and finance sectors.

In the meantime, committed to encouraging and supporting the bright young stars of the future and determined not to leave a stone unturned to recognise talent, the seven new appointments, which feature two promotions to managing associate level as well as five associates, celebrate the meritocracy at the heart of Swinburne Maddison’s culture.

To that end, Charlotte Excell and Lewis Brown have both been made managing associates – Charlotte within the commercial property team and Lewis within dispute resolution.

Charlotte joined Swinburne Maddison when newly qualified (NQ) in 2018.  She works with a wide range of clients, regularly acting on high-value, secured lending transactions and provides supervision for each trainee assigned a seat in the commercial property team as well as supporting the junior members of her team.  She has also recently been shortlisted as an ‘emerging property person of the year’ for the Insider North East Property Awards and as a ‘Rising Star’ at the Northern Law Awards 2024.

Lewis, who also qualified in 2018, joined Swinburne Maddison in 2020.  He works on a range of dispute matters for claimants and defendants including land ownership disputes, access issues and landlord and tenant cases. Typically dealing with claims in the County Court, he acts for various local authorities and social housing providers.  He also provides supervision for each trainee in the team. Lewis was shortlisted as a ‘Young Lawyer of Year’ for the Insider North East Young Professional Awards 2023 and also shortlisted as a ‘Rising Star’ at the Northern Law Awards 2024.

Swinburne Maddison proudly announces the promotion of five solicitors to the role of Associate.

Matt Ray has been promoted within the corporate team, bringing expertise in tax-led restructuring projects and mergers and acquisitions. Matt, who qualified in 2018, has been with Swinburne Maddison since 2023.

The highly experienced Diane Hall, who qualified in 2011 and joined Swinburne Maddison in 2022, has been promoted within the commercial property team. Diane undertakes a varied caseload of commercial property transactions, also assisting with complex land matters.

Also promoted is Phoebe Gogarty, who has played a pivotal role in developing and launching smartHR, Swinburne Maddison’s innovative employment and fixed retainer scheme. Phoebe joined the employment team in January 2023.

Within the dispute resolution team, promotions are also made for Jenna Keir-Kendrew and James Curran.  Jenna, who joined in 2022, demonstrates a high level of expertise in probate litigation. Meanwhile James, who joined in 2021 as an NQ, specialises in corporate litigation related to shareholder disputes.

These cross-departmental promotions have been awarded due to the hard work and achievements of the individuals. Each year, the firm opens applications for promotion and individuals are encouraged to apply against criteria which span legal expertise, involvement in business development, training and supervising junior colleagues, delivering a first-class client experience, actively promoting Swinburne Maddison’s Values of Trust, Care, Collaboration and Agility, and consistently achieving financial targets.

Managing Partner, Jonathan Moreland, is proud of the firm’s open and inclusive culture, which positively encourages career progression and offers a clear path for fee earners and support teams, rewarding those who have consistently gone above and beyond to deliver excellent client service.  He said:

“Each of these seven members of the team has worked hard for their promotion, which in all cases, is well-deserved and will assure the future resilience of the firm. 

“It is very exciting to see how people who have joined us as NQs are shaping their careers.  What further progress will they have made in 5-10-15 years from now?”

Jonathan continued: “Our management team is always considering succession planning and we expect to make several new external appointments during the coming financial year.  In fact, we currently have a number of new positions live on our website in our corporate, commercial, commercial property and private client teams.  There is so much opportunity at Swinburne Maddison for those who are the right fit and can demonstrate first class client experience – of course, it also helps to be technically brilliant and highly motivated!

“We want our people to do well – we will never stifle talent.  Nor will we reject a strong speculative application – if we do not have an appropriate role for the right individual, we are proactive and will find a position.  We operate with a culture of meritocracy at Swinburne Maddison and for those who are keen to progress, the opportunities are boundless.”

Written by Swinburne Maddison

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