Georgina Rylance working closely with Freeths on Liverpool expansion
Chadwick Nott sits down with Freeths' new partners to talk about the opening of the Liverpool office and all it has in store. An exclusive interview.
Andrew Nichol (left) and Luke Hopkins (right) are partners at Freeths LLP Liverpool.
You moved to Freeths in April this year to open the new Liverpool office, how have the last few months been?
Exciting and non-stop. From meeting with prospective clients and prospective colleagues, attending various networking/profile-raising events and in between all that, trying to be a 2 man team servicing the work that comes in, every day has been different and been busy!
Was it a tough decision to move away from a firm you have worked at for such a long time?
It was difficult to leave behind so many great friends and colleagues but the opportunity to establish and grow the Liverpool office for a national law firm of the calibre of Freeths had a once in a lifetime feel to it.
What first attracted you to Freeths?
As a firm Freeths has an old fashioned culture of putting its people and its clients first, relationships are paramount. The reward system is centred around one very simple principle: fairness.The firm is a long established national heavyweight but has been on an incredible growth journey in recent years, establishing and growing offices in Birmingham, London, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, all whilst retaining its culture. The firm’s excitement for Liverpool was tangible (it has been looking to come to the city for 3 or 4 years) and its commitment to supporting us to grow in Liverpool is best demonstrated by what has been achieved in the aforementioned locations.
What are your plans for the Liverpool office in the next 5 - 10 years?
To become a full service commercial office. There have not been many opportunities to move within the Liverpool legal market in recent times, certainly not to anything that feels particularly new and different to the status quo, and we are hopeful that the rather unique opportunity that Freeths presents will enable us to attract the real top quality lawyers from within the Liverpool legal market (and perhaps some of those currently outside it) to want to all come and work under the same roof. We have already been able to recruit at senior level into employment, real estate (investment and development) and construction and are keen to continue this momentum.
What type of lawyers are you interested in hearing from as part of your growth strategy?
Freeths is a firm that is fiercely protective of its culture and we will not compromise on the type of person that we are looking for at the expense of adding revenue. A team ethic and hardworking nature are essential. Beyond that, we are looking for people that would consider themselves to be entrepreneurial and anyone that feels that they have something to offer in terms of growing a team or a service line, no matter how big or how small.
For more information and a confidential chat about Freeths and any current opportunities for legal roles in the North West please contact Georgina Rylance.
Georgina Rylance
0161 828 5417
georginarylance@chadwicknott.co.uk
Date: August 2018
