Halliwells

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Overview

Recent years have seen Halliwells look to rise from its regional roots - like peers including Shoosmiths, Beachcroft and Cobbetts - to a genuinely national platform.

Based in Manchester, the firm has grown rapidly over the last few years, with sustained investment chanelled in particular towards the City, where the firm opened an office in early 1999.

However, Halliwells has never been short of snipers, with critics having pointed variously to its high leverage, aggressive image, a tight grip historically on the equity and a (perhaps related) issue of finding it easier to bring in recruits than to hang on to them.

But Halliwells would argue - with some justification - that those criticisms are outdated; the firm's expansion has been more successful than many would give it credit for.

A round of cuts in the City in early 2008 exposed the firm to further carping and demonstrated that Halliwells faces challenging times ahead and further growth may have to wait. The firm suffered further woes in September 2008 when a second round of redundancies saw the firm cut 40 real estate jobs across the firm's offices in Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and London.

The firm was ranked 37th in Legal Week's 2008-09 UK Top 50, as revenues fell by 5% to £83m and partner profits plummeted by 30% to £276,300.

History

Just 15 years ago, though strong traditionally strong in property and litigation, the firm then known as Halliwells Landau was just one of a band of Manchester practices looking to make headway locally alongside Panonne and Cobbetts.

However, under then-senior partner Roger Lancaster, the late 1990s saw the firm double its turnover in a three-year period, launch a three-partner office in London and boost its staff numbers from 125 to more than 300, breaking the £20m turnover barrier in 1999-2000.

In 2001 the firm moved to address concerns over the tightly-held nature of its equity, with a new management duo replacing Lancaster. Paul Thomas became Halliwells' first-ever managing partner, sharing control with new senior partner Alec Craig.

However, mooted changes to rumeneration failed to materialise and litigation chief Ian Austin (pictured) took over as managing partner in early 2004 following contested elections at the Manchester firm, making improved communication with the ranks a key plank of his manifesto.

Immediate changes saw the firm drop the 'Landau' to rebrand simply as Halliwells and become a limited liability partnership.

More significantly, Halliwells ditched its 'eat what you kill' system of pay - which saw partners earn widely varying amounts and ensured its top partners took home some serious wedge, even in City terms. In its place the firm brought in a modified lockstep, retaining a performance-related element, in what rivals described as a "sea-change" in culture.

In late 2004 the firm surprised onlookers by securing a merger with 16-partner Liverpool firm Cuff Roberts, marking its entry into the local market and adding around £6m a year to the combined firm's coffers.

The next year, in what Austin described as a bid to "adopt a more corporate structure", the firm ditched its 16 existing practice groupings in favour of six primary umbrella teams: employment, IP, commerce and technology; corporate; corporate recovery; trusts and estates; real estate; and dispute resolution.

In September 2009, in the wake of news that the firm had held merger discussions with Manches, Halliwells overhauled its senior management structure, with Austin taking on a newly-created position as executive chairman, and Liverpool office head Jonathan Brown chosen to succeed Austin as managing partner.

Culture

Although Halliwells would say the upstart image belongs in its past, the firm continues to be seen as agressive - pushy, even - and not averse to the kind of strategic risk-taking still anathema to many commercial lawyers today.

The 2004 pay shake-up mentioned above is certainly regarded to have had an impact, although equity continues to be closely guarded. At the time of its 2006-07 results, the firm had just 47 equity partners from a total partnership of almost 160.

Key departments

The firm is a visible presence at all levels of the northwest deal markets, competing for corporate work against the national giants of Addleshaw Goddard, DLA Piper and Eversheds. Halliwells is also among those to have targeted the Alternative Investment Market with some success, enjoying a national profile for its work on London's junior exchange.

Its broad-based banking team is among the largest in the northwest region and is regarded as on a par with the likes of Eversheds and Hammonsd, having bagged a couple of £100m-plus fundraisings in recent years. Likewise, its northwest construction and litigation teams are viewed as being at least the equal of those of the larger nationals.

Debt recovery and IP are also local strengths. However, Halliwells closed its Manchester private client team in early 2007, emulating similar moves by a number of national rivals, with its trusts and estates team subsequently overseen from Liverpool.

National/international coverage

The Manchester firm also has major offices in London and Liverpool, as well as a smaller offering in Sheffield.

Key clients

Leading partners

Career prospects

The combination of Halliwells' fondness for partner-level lateral hires and the still-tight grip on its equity mean the odds of joining the firm's top earners may not be in your favour. Halliwells made up six partners internally in 2007, including three in dispute resolution.

Salaries

In the summer of 2007 Halliwells became the latest national firm to announce significant hikes in its salaries for newly-qualified lawyers, lifting its pay in the City by a meaty 22% to a new high of £62,000. NQs in the regions got a still-healthy 11% rise to see their pay climb to £39,000.

Those rates put the firm in line with Eversheds and just behind Addleshaws, Pinsent Masons and Wragge & Co, which all pay NQs outside London an even £40,000.

Recruitment

Work-life balance

Diversity

You can read about Halliwells' diversity policy here.

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