Member Article

More hires to follow as North East law firm reports 16% staffing rise

Law firm Swinburne Maddison LLP has increased its staff numbers by sixteen percent in the past three months.

Creating eight new posts, the Durham-based business has appointed three solicitors, two trainee solicitors, two secretaries and a business administration apprentice.

Solicitors Caroline Simpson and Andrew Foster have both joined the commercial property team, while Nadine Walton has joined Swinburne Maddison’s private client team.

Trainee solicitors Rachel Stapleton and Molly Foster have both joined the litigation and family teams respectively and furthermore, secretaries Ashley Garthwaite and Fiona Rafter have been appointed to provide administrative support while Natalie Scully has joined the practice as a business administration apprentice.

The new hires come on the back of a successful the past 12 months for Swinburne Maddison.

The firm’s property team has seen a significant increase in work, across both the commercial and residential sector, as a result of the general upturn in the property market, and the property litigation team are continuing to benefit from a successful tender bid over 5 years ago which resulted in a surge of housing disrepair claims from a local authority within the West Yorkshire Legal Services Framework.

Another key contributing factor is the rise in the number of deals completed by the firm’s corporate team, who were ranked amongst the most active legal advisors in the north east M&A market in a recent report by Experian.

The nature of these deals is such that the benefit is felt across the wider firm, with corporate support being provided by other departments within the firm, particularly the employment and commercial property teams.

Speaking about this latest recruitment drive, partner, and head of the firm’s employment team, Jonathan Moreland, said: “As we continue to see sustainable growth across all departments, to ensure that we maintain the high level of service clients have come to expect from us, it is important that we gear up accordingly.

“Our newest members of staff have joined a highly experienced and knowledgeable team and I am confident they will all make their own positive contribution within their respective departments and to the practice as a whole.

“Across the firm we are continuing to receive repeat business from many of our existing clients as well as winning new work, often competing against much larger practices, and this gives us the confidence to maintain our investment in trainees.

“As a progressive law firm it is important that we nurture the region’s future legal talent, while at the same time embed our own ethos and approach towards client service. We fully expect all of our junior members of staff to go on to have a great career with the firm.”

Employee numbers are expected to increase even further later in the year as Swinburne Maddison seeks to recruit more fee earners for both its residential and commercial property teams. In the recently published Legal 500, the UK’s leading guide to law firms, 5 of the firm’s teams and 10 of the firm’s solicitors within those teams were recommended.