Slowdown in markets blamed for demise of Brooke North

ONE of Yorkshire’s oldest law firms has been killed off by the recession.

Leeds-based Brooke North, which is believed to date from the mid 19th century, has closed after struggling to cope with the economic slump and the cost of overheads.

All 15 lawyers at Brooke North have found work at other firms. Rodney Dalton, who was a senior figure at Brooke North for 16 years, said: “It (the closure) is definitely due to the recession.

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“The client base has been squeezed, plus the property and corporate markets slowed down dramatically.”

Mr Dalton said Brooke North, which had a turnover of £2.5m, provided a high quality bespoke service to individual clients. Unfortunately, many of its owner-managed business clients had struggled due to the tough economic climate.

“None of our clients has suffered at all,’’ said Mr Dalton. “They are all being looked after. Brooke North had quality lawyers who did a very good job.”

Mr Dalton has joined law firm Lupton Fawcett, which has acted as a consolidator in recent years.

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Mr Dalton said he had known Richard Marshall, the managing director of Lupton Fawcett, for a long time.

Property specialist Mr Dalton added: “Lupton Fawcett is a good fit for my client base.”

Brooke North had five equity partners. Seven former Brooke North lawyers have joined Ward Hadaway’s Leeds office.

Brooke North’s four-strong dispute resolution team has joined Schofield Sweeney in Leeds.

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Other former Brooke North staff have joined law firms Blacks, Raworths and Stonebridge Homes.

Mr Marshall said there could be more casualties in the Yorkshire legal market.

He added: “We’re operating in a tough market. We (Lupton Fawcett) are being aggressive about responding to the structural issues in the market.”

In January 2009, more than 100 jobs were lost when Fox Hayes became the first major Yorkshire law firm to go out of business due to the property slump.

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The Leeds-based law firm went into administration after struggling to cope with the severe downturn in the property market.

A month earlier, Fox Hayes had agreed to sell its traditional commercial and private client business, which employed around 40 staff, to Lupton Fawcett.