Ward Hadaway chalks up another year of growth

The UK Top 100 firm, which has offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester, saw income rise by £3m to £33m in the year to the end of April 2013 on the back of significant investment.

The results represent a fourth consecutive year of growth for the firm, which employs more than 400 people across the North.

Jamie Martin (pictured), managing partner at Ward Hadaway, said: “These are excellent results which are a tribute to the hard work, dedication and expertise of our staff across all three offices and a reflection of the ambition, determination and vision of our clients.

“The marketplace for legal services is becoming ever more competitive with new entrants coming in to the sector and existing firms ramping up their efforts to secure greater market share.

“Combined with pressures on costs and the overall economic climate, it is a difficult market at the moment so we have done extremely well to achieve double digit growth against such a backdrop.”

All three of Ward Hadaway’s main operational centres saw their turnover rise during the course of the 2012/13 year as the firm pursued its strategy of being a Northern law firm for national business.

Ward Hadaway opened up its main Manchester office in the city centre in July 2012 and the operation has since then grown considerably.

The firm continued to build up its presence in Leeds, where it has been established since the summer of 2008, with a 25% rise in turnover and its continued successful sponsorship and organisation of the Yorkshire Fastest 50, which highlights and celebrates the achievements of Yorkshire’s fastest growing private businesses.

In Newcastle, Ward Hadaway saw growth across all of its main practice areas and was involved in a raft of major deals in the region, including a significant number in the North East’s burgeoning oil and gas and energy sectors.

Major growth areas across the firm’s operations included commercial services, which saw income grow by 14%; corporate, where income jumped by 36% and private client services, which saw income boosted by 64%.

During the course of the financial year, the firm made a number of investments in its workforce to extend and enhance its services to clients.

Ward Hadaway recruited or promoted no fewer than seven Partners or Consultants in areas including commercial litigation, projects and energy, property and insolvency and corporate recovery.

The firm also backed up its investment in the future with all seven trainee solicitors taken on by the firm two years ago offered jobs after qualifying as solicitors in September 2012.

Jamie Martin said: “We set great store by our people – they are the ones who work with our clients every day and it is their expertise, experience and knowledge which our clients rely on to help them achieve their goals.

“While we remain vigilant on costs and cautious on the prospects for the wider economy, we will always do our best to try to ensure that we retain and recruit the best people possible so that we can continue to provide high quality, accessible legal services.”