Five further appointments follow a raft of new work
With an unprecedented demand for its services across all areas of the firm following some significant new instructions, Durham City’s leading law firm, Swinburne Maddison LLP (Swinburne Maddison) has appointed five new lawyers to its team.
The award-winning commercial property team, headed up by partner, Victoria Walton, has welcomed two of the additions.
Diane Hall brings with her more than ten years of experience in both residential and commercial property matters, undertaking work on behalf of landowners and developers, while Manny Thandi joins from another leading northeast law firm and enjoys working with clients in the retail sector. Both will be assisting the team on a wide range of commercial property matters.
Meanwhile Laura Dorée has been appointed to the role of licensed conveyancer in the residential property team. In keeping with the firm’s long tradition of supporting career progression for existing members of staff, Laura formerly worked in a support role within the team and recently completed her licensed conveyancer qualification whilst working full time at the firm. She is now able to assist the residential property team across a wide range of residential matters.
A third solicitor, Ellie Straughan, joins the family team from a leading Teesside firm. Ellie will offer welcome support to the long established and experienced team on a range of family matters as demand in this area continues to grow.
Finally, chartered legal executive, Kelly Jefferson, has been recruited to help the dispute resolution team take care of the needs of its registered provider and high-profile local authority clients.
This is a sector in which Swinburne Maddison has established an excellent reputation over recent years, both in defending housing disrepair claims as well as advising clients on their internal strategies and processes. Recently the firm was delighted to be appointed in all four available lots of the Beyond Housing tender (Development & Commercial, Corporate, Employment and Landlord Compliance & Communities) to become the housing organisation’s sole legal adviser.
As one of the largest housing organisations in the northeast region, this will clearly lead to a substantial increase in work volumes at the law firm.
Commenting on these latest appointments, managing partner, Jonathan Moreland, explains that Swinburne Maddison has been actively recruiting across all areas of the firm for almost two years as demand for its services grows, to ensure that clients continue to receive the standard of care and support they have come to expect.
He said: “At the start of our 2021/22 financial year, we set out an ambitious three-year growth plan. In order to realise our aspirations, we recognised the need to invest heavily to bring in quality new people to join our fantastic team.
“Our recent performance has seen turnover grow by almost 20% on last year and, to help us continue to support existing clients and bring in new work, we have grown our headcount by almost 25% in the same period.
“Our aim has been to ensure a broad spectrum of expertise for each department whilst maintaining a real focus on succession planning and staff development. These latest appointments are a great example of our desire to blend experience and emerging talent, so we have the right balance in our business. We think they will help us reinforce our position in the market at a time when, across the firm, our lawyers are dealing with increasingly high value and complex instructions.”
Jonathan continued: “A big focus for 2023 is going to be the roll out of our hugely important values programme, which builds on our recent Investors in People Standard Accreditation. We absolutely believe that recruiting, developing and retaining first class staff must be at the core of our business and that, by doing so, we will continue to deliver a positive experience for our clients both now and in the future.”
