Yorkshire law firm Ison Harrison latest to become employee owned business

The firm, which has a network of sixteen offices throughout the region, was founded in 1978 as S.C Harrison & Co, merging a decade later with Ison Driver & Furness, to form Ison Harrison. It now employs more than 230 staff across Yorkshire.

Ison Harrison, which has an annual turnover of £16m, represents around 20,000 clients each year.

Under the new ownership model, the management structure will comprise of eight directors with five new directors welcomed to the existing Board including James Thompson, Gareth Naylor, Jenny Bland, Sarah Laughey and Richard Coulthard.

The growth of the firm over the past decade has been primarily driven through the development of an extensive branch network with residential property, wills and probate and family work in particular taking the lead.

Directors of the firm opted against a traditional business sale or merger options, choosing an employee ownership trust instead with the workforce now owning 100 per cent of the business.

Jonathan Wearing, who has been head of the firm for 15 years, remains managing director with Richard Timperley and Dominic Mackenzie, the other two shareholder directors, remaining as finance director and head of private client respectively.

Mr Wearing said: “Richard, Dominic and I have enjoyed many successful years in growing the business and strengthening the firm’s footprint across Yorkshire but given our size we felt a new structure was necessary for us to continue to grow.”

He added: “By becoming an employee owned business and extending the breadth and reach of the board we feel that we are really well set up for whatever the future holds.

“The move offers stability, continued job security for all of our dedicated staff and a platform for further growth.

"Employees will have a greater influence over the future direction of the firm, will financially benefit from the ongoing success of the business and continue to deliver unrivalled client service in the multitude of private and commercial arenas in which we operate.

"It will allow us to involve and reward everyone, attract talent in the region and demonstrate a genuine point of difference in a competitive market.

"In short, converting into an Employee Ownership Trust is great news for every single employee of the firm and everyone now has a stake in the business and can share in the success and profits that are made going forward.”

The employee ownership sector witnessed unprecedented growth in 2020, which continued throughout 2021. Over 250 new employee-owned businesses were created in the past 18 months, with 72 of those in the first quarter of 2021 alone, making a total of 730 employee owned businesses in the UK, as of June 2021.

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