Hewitsons & Moorhead James to merge
Hewitson Moorhead will bring together two highly respected firms in a merger that will be of substantial benefit to its clients and which will enable and accelerate significant growth for the newly merged firm. The new firm will have 46 partners, 120 legally qualified personnel in total, revenues of over £16m and offices in Cambridge, Northampton, Milton Keynes and London. The partners of both firms voted in favour of the merger in June of this year. The merger is due to complete on 1 July 2015.
Hewitsons is an established, Cambridge headquartered UK Top 200 law firm that has been operating in London since 2013 through a small office in Euston. The merger with Moorhead James, a commercial law firm based near Blackfriars in the heart of the City and legal district, will build on Hewitsons’ existing presence in the Capital and reinforce and strengthen its offering in Cambridge, Northampton and Milton Keynes, by providing clients who have interests in London with legal services wherever they and their advisers are. With London viewed as a gateway to the world, the merger will also further enhance the ability to service clients with international legal requirements via the international referral network, LawExchange, which Hewitsons founded in 1994.
Colin Jones, current managing partner of Hewitsons, will become managing partner of Hewitson Moorhead. The newly merged firm’s management board will include Christine Bowyer-Jones, current joint managing partner of Moorhead James, who will represent the London office.
Colin says: “This merger represents an important step for our expanding presence in London and we are delighted to have found the ideal partner in Moorhead James. We wanted to join with a firm whose business plan and culture was aligned to ours in giving us the opportunity to grow and best serve a client base of private clients, property and not-for-profit organisations, as well as being able to introduce our specialist corporate and commercial services to the many first class companies and organisations for whom Moorhead James act and the commercial London market.
“The merger strengthens our geographical reach and consolidates our leading position in Cambridge, Northampton and Milton Keynes by offering our clients additional practice area expertise where they require—for example in the sports and AIM arenas. It also enables more of our lawyers to work from London in line with client needs. This is an attractive option both for existing staff and for the future recruitment we have planned. We look forward to growing the new firm for the advantage of our clients and staff and are very excited about the opportunities the merger will enable.”
Christine comments: “We are delighted to be merging with Hewitsons. The merger will bring us all the advantages of a larger firm—structure, support and depth of experience—with a strong culture and a commitment to quality that mirrors our own. The creation of Hewitson Moorhead will mean we can now offer our clients legal advice in both the commercial and private client arenas, enabling us to look after every aspect of their legal requirements.”
