Law firms call off £130m merger

LAW firms Ward Hadaway and Weightmans have called off merger talks.

Earlier this year the pair announced they were talking to each other about the potential of creating a £130m merger.

However both Ward Hadaway, which has offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester and Weightmans, which has 11 UK offices, said they have now called off any talks as their respective strategic priorities were not sufficiently aligned to invest in such a significant merger.

Ward Hadaway managing partner Jamie Martin said: “We have enjoyed talking to John Schorah and his team and getting to know the people at Weightmans a bit better and we wish them well for the future.

“Nevertheless, we wish to continue to pursue our strategy of developing a ‘Northern Law Firm for National Business’; across our three offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester and our focus on providing legal services to Northern-based businesses.”

Weightmans’ managing partner John Schorah said: “We have real respect for Ward Hadaway, they have a really good business with very good people.

“We have many common interests too, but after discussions it became clear that we each want different things from our respective futures.

“We sensibly agreed between us it was better to focus on those things.

“Weightmans’ new structure will be in place on 1 May as part of a comprehensive strategic review, always putting the client at the heart of what we do.

“We will continue to focus on growing a balanced practice of defendant insurance work as well as litigation, transaction and advisory services to our clients, whilst further developing our innovative technology to meet changing client needs.”