Partner Article

Better times ahead for Mincoffs

Newcastle law firm Mincoffs has drawn a line under a tough six months since demerging from a Teesside practice and is now primed to return to growth this year.

The business will target new opportunities in the licensing, commercial property and employment law markets, while it has also bolstered its national coverage with an ongoing contract with expanding stationery giant The Works.

The company, which employs 50 people at its Jesmond headquarters, demerged from Stockton-based Jacksons last October, just 12 months after the original merger.

According to Mincoffs, the move was motivated by the need to secure a future for its staff and has meant that the headcount has remained at the same level since.

During the economic downturn the company’s turnover dipped by between 15 and 20% as it was impacted by the global conditions which affected legal and financial players across the UK.

However, according to Phil Dean, a partner in the firm’s fast-growing commercial property division, the group has fought off the fallout from the recession and is now on target to grow its turnover by 10% in the next six months.

He said: “We are at a stage where the firm has stabilised following a tricky time. We are ready to start growing again and we are looking at where there’s potential to grow.

“Our aim is to increase turnover in the next six months by 10%. If we can achieve that we will be able to again look at expanding while giving our current staff the confidence that we are growing again and giving the partners the confidence to recruit new lawyers in various areas.

“We are now able to keep the existing lawyers busy all the time which wasn’t necessarily the case during the recession and our corporate team is seeing new merger and acquisition discussions arriving on a more frequent basis.”

Mincoffs, which started life on Tyneside over 60 years ago, says it is also well placed to prosper in the market for Asian business and property deals as it has a number of Eastern language speakers on its books.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .