Challenger law firm gunnercooke launches new Leeds hub

Challenger law firm gunnercooke has opened a new Leeds hub, appointed 20 senior partners and facilitated a seven-figure deal with Accenture.

Established by Darryl Cooke and Sarah Goulbourne in 2010, gunnercooke is a corporate and commercial law firm with offices in Manchester and London.

Darryl said: “For many years I worked in the legal industry and believed that it was broken. I decided to make a change. We set about to create a new model to attract lawyers and clients to follow us and set a new precedent for the delivery of legal services.

“We’re a law firm where the client comes first, we focus on business and individual needs rather than timesheets. We’re excited to be extending our bespoke model into Yorkshire with the opening of our new Leeds hub.

“We believe we can offer a service which doesn’t currently exist in the area as well as tapping into the wealth of expertise that we are keen to recruit.”

gunnercooke only appoints senior lawyers with a minimum of 10,000 hours practicing experience. Lawyers work with their clients to give price certainty, agreeing fees with them based on deliverables, not on time.

There are 140 partners in the firm with 20 gunnercooke partners based in Yorkshire; Nick Hawkins from Collingham, near Wetherby is one. Nick joined at the end of last year and recently acted on behalf of IT company Genfour and its sale to Accenture.

James Hall from Genfour said; “Crucially for us, Nick and gunnercooke were able to react quickly and effectively to unexpected developments, both in the UK and overseas, and give us timely, correct, advice.

“Nick was instantly available whenever I needed him, either by phone or email, the fixed fee quote was a saving compared to other big law firms. gunnercooke’s streamlined overheads ensure better value for money for the client – you pay solely for the high-quality advice you receive from experienced lawyers.”

The law firm also strengthened its areas of specialisms. Partner, Rebecca Kelly from north Leeds, has over 14 years-experience, working both in-house and in private practice. She was appointed by gunnercooke to bolster the firm’s IP remit in Yorkshire.

In addition, gunnercooke boosted its SME specialisms with the addition of Clarion’s MD, Mark Burns. Mark spent 27 years at Clarion, before setting up his own corporate commercial group.

Darryl commented: “Having a central Yorkshire hub location for our lawyers is a natural progression for us. We have a well-established regional team with local roots and corporate firm experience.

“We are confident that through our unique structure that allows agility and autonomy, they will deliver an outstanding service to any work they undertake.”

gunnercooke is a full service corporate and commercial law firm which includes banking and finance, private equity, dispute resolution, IT, IP, real estate and construction, commercial contracts, health and safety, tax, employment and pensions, planning, environmental, financial services regulatory.