Bevan Brittan
No of Partners: 66
No of Assistant Solicitors: 185
www.bevanashford.co.uk
Bevan Brittan LLP, the new name for the Bristol, Birmingham and London half of the demerged Bevan Ashford, is a relative newcomer to the West Midlands legal market, only opening its doors in the second city in 2000.
Since then, however, it has grown rapidly to the point where it now has 29 lawyers in Birmingham and signalled its intention to stay in 2004 by taking on its first intake of trainees. Nationally, Bevan Brittan is best known for its public sector practice, but it has been strongly growing its commercial operations too and this mix is reflected in the composition of its Birmingham practice, which is divided into 8 teams - claimant clinical negligence, healthcare, corporate/commercial, projects, employment, property, tax and pensions. The latter two are unique to the Birmingham office and act as a resource for the firm as a whole.
Clients of the firm in Birmingham include a number of hospitals and primary care trusts, the local regional development authority, Advantage West Midlands, Birmingham City Council and property consultants GVA Grimley. The corporate and commercial practice is primarily orientated towards SMEs and owner-managed businesses.
The plan in Birmingham is to grow to around 60 lawyers during the next 3 to 5 years and the firm is already planning to move offices to accommodate them. Potential joiners will need to be the sociable type as all the firm’s offices are open plan. The focus of recruitment is on the city’s ‘big five’ firms in the city, although Birmingham lead partner Sara Woffenden says that the firm is “opportunistic” about who it recruits and will take on people with a following wherever they may come from.
“We’re looking for a mixture of marketers and technicians and people who can head up teams,” Woffenden says.
Where Bevan Brittan sees its main chance, both in Birmingham and elsewhere, is to combine its commercial experience and public sector experience and contacts to capitalise on the growth of work which straddles both sectors.
“The private and public want to do business with each other more and more. New ways of doing business are having to be thought of all the time as the government outsources more public services to the private sector,” says Woffenden.
“The distinction between public and private work is blurring and we are uniquely placed to service this new dynamic.”
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