Firm announces new senior partner
Hugh James, has announced the appointment of Matthew Tossell (pictured) to succeed Gareth Williams as the firm’s senior partner.
After 39 years as a partner with Hugh James, of which the last 12 have been as senior partner, Gareth will retire from the partnership but will continue to work with the firm as a consultant, alongside his other responsibilities as company secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union, chair of The University of South Wales, non-executive director of Thomas Carroll Group and trustee of the Welsh Rugby Union Charitable Trust and of Prostate Cymru.
Matthew will combine his current role as chief executive of Hugh James group company, Involegal LLP, with his senior partner responsibilities. He will take Hugh James forward into the next phase of the firm’s ambitious growth plans as well as overseeing the firm’s relocation to a 100,000 sq. ft. office in Central Square in Cardiff in 2018.
Joining the firm in 1983, Matthew became a partner in the firm in 1987. He helped set up and develop the firm’s commercial property and social housing departments before creating a secured lending group servicing the banking sector across the UK.
Matthew was appointed managing partner of the firm between 1999 and 2011 during which time he led the business through significant growth, seeing the firm consolidate its offices throughout south east Wales into a single Cardiff headquarters as well as launch Hugh James’s presence in London in 2007. On stepping down as managing partner, he set up Involegal LLP, a specialist volume legal services provider to the financial services and corporate sectors.
Matthew said: 'I am of course both delighted and privileged to be appointed to this position at a very exciting time for the firm. I will be focused on driving forward our aggressive expansion plans in our target markets across the UK.
'It will be a challenge to follow in the footsteps of Gareth who has been an exceptional senior partner but it is one I am looking forward to meeting.'
Gareth said: 'It has been a rare privilege to have spent so many happy years with Hugh James. Though naturally I have mixed emotions about stepping down from the partnership after such a long association, the time is right for me to do so.
'I am hugely proud of what we have achieved over the years, and I have no doubt at all that the firm will continue to flourish under the leadership of Matthew and managing partner Alun Jones both of whom are steeped in the traditions of Hugh James. It is a source of great pleasure for me that, as a consultant, I shall still have an opportunity to contribute to the firm's continued growth.'
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