Pannone & Partners
No of Partners: 80
No of Assistant Solicitors: 95
www.pannone.com
Of all the firms practising commercial law in Manchester, Pannone & Partners is by far the most diverse. Although the firm can trace its roots back to 1852, the real growth of the firm has come during the last decade, during which it has expanded its headcount from 200 to 500. There are currently 80 partners and 184 legal staff. The last decade has seen turnover rise from £6m to almost £30m.
It’s achieved this by adding new commercial practice areas to its existing strengths in the claimant personal injury, clinical negligence and private client fields through a series of lateral hires. The firm’s corporate department is now its second highest billing after personal injury and it has also grown substantial commercial litigation and employment practices.
Unlike some other firms which have made a similar journey, Pannones has not jettisoned the less commercial disciplines to focus on commercial work. Managing partner, Joy Kingsley, estimates that the work of the firm is now a 50/50 split between business and individual clients - the latter through the firm’s private client, personal injury and clinical negligence practices. The firm’s continued focus on PI was rewarded in 2004 when it won, with Berrymans Lace Mawer, a place on the coveted AA claimant panel, worth around £5m a year. “Our strength is our ability to provide a complete service,” she says. “Very few firms are able to provide a comprehensive service to businesses and private clients and we pride ourselves on offering a full range of services to each.”
Another feature of the firm that it is unlikely to drop is its focus in the local market. Although it has picked a fair number of ‘national’ clients - such as Texaco and Sharp Electronics – in recent years, Pannones is not likely to follow the example of the national firms or Halliwells and open an office in the capital. “Our concentration on the Manchester market has helped us,” Kingsley says. “We don’t need to move people down to London. Those firms that stay out of London have a better opportunity to win local work.”
Would-be recruits will need to demonstrate good technical expertise combined with commercial awareness and good marketing and business development abilities. Pannones intends to keep on growing its existing areas and adding new specialist teams and its profile in the recruitment market has been significantly enhanced by the firm’s regular inclusion in the Sunday Times’ ‘Best Places to Work’ list, rising in 2004 to sixth overall - the highest ranking of any law firm!
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