Browne Jacobson
No of Partners: 60
No of Assistant Solicitors: 116
www.brownejacobson.com
One of the leaders of the East Midlands legal scene, Browne Jacobson is also making an increasingly big noise in the West Midlands.
The firm sees a gap in the Midlands market created by the Birmingham firms’ national and international aspirations which it can profitably fill. Although Browne Jacobson has had an insurance team in the city since 1999, the firm really started motoring in Birmingham in 2003. At this time it pulled off a significant coup by acquiring the services of Hammonds corporate partners Roger Birchall and Joanne Bligh, followed a little later by senior associate Tom Durrant. As a firm long-established in the Midlands, Browne Jacobson claims an advantage over some of the other outside firms currently attacking the second city’s middle market. It plans to add banking, property and tax services its corporate, insurance, property and public sector base in Birmingham on the way to making the office full-service in due course.
However, those working in, or looking to work in, the firm’s Nottingham heartland have no reason to worry, says the firm’s managing partner Brian Smith. "We see the Midlands as a single entity and it is critical that we have a full-service offering in Birmingham," he says. "But we are the biggest firm in Nottingham and we intend to stay that way. Growth in Birmingham will be in addition to Nottingham and we have no plans to migrate business to the West Midlands."
Given all this activity, it is perhaps unsurprising that the firm has trebled its turnover since 1996, and the firm now has 60 partners and 116 other lawyers. The full range of services offered by the firm include corporate finance, banking, trade and innovation, tax, financial planning, property, employment, pensions, construction, commercial and property litigation, planning, personal injury, fraud, local authorities, environmental, French inward investment, medical negligence, social housing and education. One key to the firm’s consistent growth, says Smith, is in the balance of the firm’s practice areas. “We have insurance, public sector and health departments which, while not being counter-cyclical, keep on going whatever the economic conditions.”
The other, Smith adds, is the staff. “They are why we have been able to treble our turnover in the last 8 years. We look for quality individuals who place client care at the centre of what they do and who are innovative with sound market knowledge. They must share our vision and have the skills necessary to help us achieve our objectives. In return, we invest in our people by offering support and development programmes enabling them to progress in their chosen career.”
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