Mills & Reeve
No of Partners: 80
No of Assistant Solicitors: 198
www.mills-reeve.com
Mills & Reeve is perceived by its rivals to be the most successful of the incomers to the second city. This point is underlined by its impending move from the fringe of the city centre to the heart of Birmingham’s legal community – Colmore Row – after so recently making its debut in 1999.
The East Anglian firm’s Birmingham office grew its turnover at 50% per annum from 2001 to 2004 and now houses 72 of the firm’s 288 lawyers. Its new premises will soon double the space available. It has reached this position through concentrating on the practice areas in which it already enjoys a national reputation – primarily healthcare and education – and carefully avoiding head-on competition with the city’s heavyweight commercial legal practices.
There are signs, however, that this strategy is changing. The firm has been on a mini partner hiring spree launching several new practice areas in the process. Since 2002, the firm has recruited former Garretts corporate partner, Tim Winn, Martineau Johnson’s head of tax and trusts, Matthew Hansell, commercial litigator, Steve Allen, from Wragge & Co and Eversheds commercial partner, Peter Manford.
Another strong area for the firm in the Midlands is the developer-focused commercial property practice where the firm recruited partner Mike O’Sullivan from Eversheds, as the professional negligence head of department. The Birmingham office has also appointed former government minister, David Lock, to head up the firm’s NHS practice.
The future, it seems, is more of the same. “The Birmingham office has made a substantial contribution to the overall success of the firm,” says Birmingham partner Angus Turner. “The high profile lateral hires and internal partner promotions and the doubling of our office space demonstrates our commitment to Birmingham and the West Midlands.”
Qualities to emphasise on application include honesty, openness, team-working, integrity, ambition and excellence, but above all, client care is key.
“We have a reputation for friendliness, approachability and individuality,” says Turner.
“We care about improving our clients’ businesses, which means that our relationships are long term rather than just transactional.”
|
