Record income as ambitious Irwin Mitchell heads South

The new office, which will be Irwin Mitchell’s ninth in the UK, comes after a year in which the firm recorded income of more than £200m for the first time.

Irwin Mitchell recently won regulatory approval to raise external finance to fund its ambitious growth plans, and it is believed to be considering a number of options. Some commentators have speculated that these plans could include an initial public offering.

In the previous financial year, Irwin Mitchell became the first multiple-licensed ABS (Alternative Business Structure) in the UK.

ABS was introduced as part of the Legal Services Act, which allows outsiders to take equity stakes in law firms for the first time, creating major opportunities for expansion. Irwin Mitchell said it has big plans for growth under the ABS model, including adding new services.

Commenting on the plans for the new Southampton office, a spokesman said yesterday: “We will begin with about a dozen staff in Southampton but will seek to grow that as with other successful regional launches.”

Apart from Court of Protection and personal injury teams, the firm also plans to add other private client services at the Southampton office, including family, public law and private wealth specialists.

Irwin Mitchell also intends to develop its business legal services division in the region, focusing on corporate, commercial litigation and real estate as well as other commercial services. It is part of plans to develop a full offering after the new office opens in April.

A number of the firm’s existing lawyers will move as part of the launch team, which is led by the new regional managing partner for Southampton, Guy Darlaston, who will move from his current role as a partner in the London office.

Irwin Mitchell opened a Bristol office in 2010, which has grown significantly, the firm said.

John Pickering, group chief executive, said: “This is another statement of our intention to grow our business even further. It again demonstrates the strong position we are in at a time when many other legal businesses face difficulties. We have a strong track record of opening new offices when the time is right.

“We already do a significant amount of legal work in the Southampton and south coast area, and we have now reached a level where having a local office will enable us to grow our presence still further. Our intention is to expand our offering in Southampton, not just in personal legal services. We believe there are significant opportunities to develop our growing business legal services division and build on our existing client base, and we will be following those up to expand our presence in the business community. We expect Southampton to become a major office for us and to follow the track record of our other new offices in establishing Irwin Mitchell as a very significant presence in the local market in a short space of time.”

Last year Irwin Mitchell, which has 1.300 staff at its offices in Leeds and Sheffield, underlined its growth ambitions by poaching Dart Group’s finance director, Andrew Merrick, to join its board.