Row over legal centre supremacy as Manchester ‘overtakes Leeds’

Des Hudson said he believed that the movement of key decision makers out of Leeds was one of the reasons Manchester has gained the upper hand.

His claims were questioned by Leeds-based lawyers, who highlighted the fact that a number of major Manchester-based law firms have collapsed in recent years. Mr Hudson, who was born in Halifax, said during a trip to Leeds: “If I go back to, say 2005, looking at regional centres outside London, I would have said that Leeds had the fastest growth rate. My sense now is that you’ve been overtaken by Manchester as a regional centre. My sense is that they are growing more quickly. I expect there are lots and lots of factors involved here, but I do think there’s an issue for Leeds to think about. That’s not to say that Leeds isn’t a major centre for legal work here in the north east of England. It is. But I do think it’s lost the top spot in terms of regional centres growing quickly to Manchester.

“Part of the changes in the economy have been a factor. We have seen businesses that were previously owned and run and managed from Leeds disappearing or being taken over. Those decision makers have moved to London or Manchester. That’s been a factor. I think that Manchester has had its work to do to catch up with Leeds, so maybe people who ran the firms in Manchester reacted to that. They’ve sharpened their act. Maybe you can’t stay at the top forever. These things come in cycles. I do think that Leeds’s time will come again.”

According to figures compiled by the Law Society, there were 3,028 solicitors employed in Leeds in November last year, compared with 4,627 in Manchester and 3,514 in Birmingham. If Leeds has lost ground to Manchester in the legal market, it is likely to be part of the normal business cycle, according to Iain Clacher, an associate professor at Leeds University Business School. Mark Burns, senior partner at Leeds-based Clarion, described Mr Hudson’s comments as “nonsense”. He added: “Leeds’ legal community is still the largest and most vibrant in the North. Most of the larger regional firms with headquarters in Leeds are continuing to prosper and I would argue that this is because they are better run and more profitable. Every year, we see more firms from Manchester and other Northern cities seeking to set up offices in Leeds because, despite the huge competition, it is such a vibrant centre for law and the Yorkshire market offers so much potential.”

Chris Allen, the managing partner at Leeds-based Blacks Solicitors, added: “I am not convinced by Des’s comments. Both cities have had to weather the storm during the recession but Manchester has had the higher profile collapses.”

Jeremy Shulman, senior partner at Leeds-based Shulmans said that two major Manchester-based firms, Halliwells and Cobbetts, had collapsed in recent years.

“If you look at the leading firms that started in Leeds, they have gone from strength to strength,’ he said. John Holden, a senior partner at Gordons, said Leeds’s legal sector had greater independence. James Haddleton, a Leeds-based executive partner at DWF, said: “It’s a point of discussion as old as the Wars of the Roses; both Leeds and Manchester have thriving business communities and will no doubt continue to grow as the economy improves.”

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