Law firm merger proving good news for Teesside
8th April, 2026
When a successful Teesside corporate law firm reached a glass ceiling, it opted to merge with a major national name to help smash through it.
And seven months on from the merger of Teesside’s The Endeavour Partnership with UK top 100 law firm Ward Hadaway, it’s a decision that’s working well for both parties.
Since the papers were signed in July 2025, the new Teesside office of Ward Hadaway has been more than pulling its weight.
By offering an extensive new range of specialisms, it is serving Teesside’s business community more comprehensively than previously possible.
And as he reflects on the past seven months – and what’s to come – Lee Bramley admits he wouldn’t change a thing.
Formerly managing partner of The Endeavour Partnership and now executive partner of Ward Hadaway’s Teesside office on Teesdale Business Park, Lee is as proud of Teesside as they come – even his middle name, Hickton, is a nod to legendary former Boro centre-forward, John Hickton.
In 2002, he was invited by The Endeavour Partnership’s founding partners to join what was then a fledgling firm, having been launched three years earlier as Teesside’s first corporate law firm.
Last year, however, it was decided that merging with Ward Hadaway would be best for the firm – and best for Teesside.
And nothing that’s happened since has altered that belief.
He told Tees Business: “Over 25 years, we’d grown to 50 people and were punching above our weight.
“The core of our client base was Teesside SMEs, largely family-owned businesses, and we serviced them really well up to a point. But ultimately, we hit a glass ceiling. We couldn’t resource specialisms. Maybe we’d need a tax lawyer to do something or a planning lawyer in real estate. Trying to get those specialisms is expensive and they weren’t available on Teesside.
“We’d have conversations almost annually about, ‘Do we branch out and do other areas of work?’ We were missing out on being a full-service law firm.
“The benefit of merging, and the benefit for our clients and the wider business community on Teesside, is that, in one fell swoop, we now offer a whole range of services that we didn’t before.”
The Endeavour Partnership was joining a major success story. Ward Hadaway employs nearly 600 people, including 315 lawyers, in its five UK centres and posted a 2024-25 turnover of £53.6m – up 11.6%. And there’s a 10-year plan to reach a £100m turnover by 2035.
Other areas now offered on Teesside include private client, planning, construction, family law, regulatory, tax, immigration and more.
But why was Endeavour such an attractive proposition for Ward Hadaway?
Head of private client, Alison Hall, explained: “I know from conversations that Endeavour was always admired by other firms because they had such an excellent client base and expertise, so it was great for us that Endeavour chose Ward Hadaway to be its partner.
“We wanted a foothold in Teesside but it needed to be so much more than a satellite office, or PO Box. It was about being very much a part of the fabric of Teesside, and Endeavour were uniquely positioned to own that crown.“
And seven months in, the vision we all had is already working.”
Nik Tunley joined The Endeavour Partnership in 2008 and led its corporate team for more than a decade before becoming its finance partner. He’s now Ward Hadaway’s head of corporate.
He said of the merger: “With Teesside between the Leeds and Newcastle offices, everything becomes much more accessible. It gives us genuine coverage from South Yorkshire to the Borders and across to Manchester.
“Joining Ward Hadaway, the cultural fit was right – it wasn’t something driven purely by value, it was about developing the people.”
The leap from being a firm of 50 to part of a 600-strong organisation will take adjustments and time, Lee acknowledges – but he says the first seven months have been hugely encouraging.
He said: “I said to the team before Christmas, ‘The transition from Endeavour to Ward Hadaway is a journey. What made Endeavour successful was not the name on the front of the building, but the people in it, and that’s not changing’. Every week, I see more connections being made. It’s very exciting times.”
To illustrate the opportunities for staff the new arrangement brings, he cites the example of a trainee banking lawyer who might otherwise have left Endeavour because that career path wasn’t previously available.
He said: “It creates opportunities for our people – they can now pick up their careers and take them where they want. It’s within their gift.”
And he’s more confident than ever that the merger has been good news for Teesside.
He said: “I spoke to another law firm, who said, ‘Whatever the deal is, we’ll do better’. And I said, ‘You’ve already lost me. That’s not what it’s about.’
“The culture had to be right. Our strength is the people in this building, so to do something that would adversely affect them would make no sense.
“On Teesside, we’re starting to add value, because now we can deliver services that we couldn’t before and that was always the critical point for us. We’re running big projects in the way they should be run, with people who are experts in their divisions.
“We’re also creating more opportunities for the people already here and we want to create more, as we grow from 50 to 60 to 70 or whatever the number might end up being – high-quality, well-paid jobs on Teesside.
“Someone said the phrase ‘From Teesside, in Teesside, for Teesside’ and I think that sums it up.
“People know how important Teesside is to me. If I thought this would be detrimental to Teesside, we wouldn’t have done the deal. But everything that’s happened since has reassured me it was the right thing to do.”
This article first appeared in Tees Business.
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