Walker Morris
No of Partners: 46
No of Assistant Solicitors: 110
Other Fee Earners: 253
www.walkermorris.co.uk
To view the list of current vacancies at Walker Morris, please click here.
Walker Morris is the country’s most profitable regional law firm - the result, it likes to say, of its resolute adherence to a ‘Leeds only’ strategy. The firm’s 46 partners, aided and abetted by a further 110 solicitors and a further 253 other fee-earners, generated £495,000 each in profits during the last year, eclipsing the drawings of multi-site rivals such as DLA Piper, Pinsent Masons, Addleshaw Goddard and Eversheds.
The firm’s engine room is the corporate department, which has an enviable roster of blue-chip clients such as Northern Foods, Caterpillar and Next which seem to have little objection to the firm’s lack of presence outside Leeds. The firm’s banking and insolvency practices are equally strong with the firm enjoying a place on the panels of Lloyds TSB, HBoS and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Property, property finance and planning are other key areas, with a particular emphasis on High Street letting for clients such as Starbucks, Debenhams, all:sports and Arcadia and housebuilders, such as Persimmon and Cala. Managing partner, Michael Taylor, describes the firm’s litigation department, which handles both construction and general commercial litigation, as ‘burgeoning’. The firm has also developed a strong national practice in PFI and public-private partnerships working for clients such as the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and local authorities all over the country.
Yet, despite the firm’s success, rivals question how much further Walker Morris can go without an office beyond Leeds, not least since Midlands counterpart Wragge & Co has recently abandoned its attempts to be a national firm in one city and has opened up in London. However, the firm has no plans to expand outside its West Yorkshire base, even though 40% of its turnover is derived from clients located outside the region.
One answer is the firm’s innovative client extranet ‘Reach...’ which allows its clients to keep up to speed with their work as it progresses, access the firm’s know-how databases and keep an eye on their bills. Walker Morris was one of the earlier firms to see the potential of IT for service delivery and also has a number of other systems which help to automate some of the firm’s bulk work divisions, such as personal injury, debt recovery and conveyancing.
Another explanation for Walker Morris’s adherence to its single site strategy is more prosaic. “The communication links from here are very strong,” says Taylor. “You can be in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham or Newcastle in less than an hour-and-a-half. The city’s central location means that you can cover a huge area from here, which is why we have clients as far away as Bristol and Scotland. We go to where the work is.”
Other than a full-driving licence, what other attributes are required by those aspiring to join the firm? “We look for people who are bright, commercial and motivated” says Taylor. “We are not keen on people who just want to do nine-to-five.”
Nevertheless, with an annual billing target for associates of 1,200 hours, hard work is not enforced by the big stick – the firm wants self-starters. Getting to partner level does not mean easing up on the fee-earning either. “Leeds-based clients want to see partners and you market yourself best by performing well in front of the other side in deals.”
As well as looking for local talent, the firm recruits a significant number of its staff from London who, Taylor says, are likely to get much more client contact than at City firms. However, he also warns that moving to the regions is not an easy ride. Walker Morris did not become the most profitable in the regions by sitting back and the firm plans to increase the quality of its work and client base further still.
“The work is as strenuous and demanding here as in London” Taylor says. “We are the most profitable firm because we work very hard.”
To view the list of current vacancies at Walker Morris, please click here.
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