Senior Dealmaker Joins The Team

The Sheffield office of Irwin Mitchell has announced plans to further expand its business legal services team in Sheffield with the news that it has appointed corporate partner, Andrea Cropley.

The appointment follows a series of other high profile partner hires over the last few months which include a new national head of finance, a leading asset-based lending partner and two construction and engineering specialists.

Joining from Nabarro in Sheffield, Andrea specialises in M&A activity, IPOs, capital reorganisations, joint ventures and strategic alliances for public and private UK and international clients. Andrea’s clients include banks, UK and overseas companies and entrepreneurs. 

Andrea also advises on commercial contracts, including procurement, distribution, licensing and agency arrangements, as well as having extensive expertise dealing with the corporate aspects of PFI and other public sector PPP projects.

Andrea is actively involved in the wider Sheffield City Region business community including being a member of the Business Advisory Panel set up to provide business advice on economic policies, shape factors affecting the business environment  and feed into the Sheffield City Region LEP.

Niall Baker, Chief Executive at Irwin Mitchell’s Business Legal Services Division, said: “We are delighted that Andrea has chosen to join Irwin Mitchell, particularly as she shares our vision for developing and expanding our business legal services team.

“She has built up over 20 years of national and international corporate expertise and we are confident that she will dovetail extremely well into the team here in Sheffield.” 

Andrea said: “I see this as an excellent opportunity to join a forward thinking business with vision and ambition. I am excited about the future and the prospects and opportunities that joining the firm will bring.”

Andrea’s appointment is the latest in a series of high profile partner hires. At the end of July, Irwin Mitchell announced that Matt Ainsworth has joined the firm’s corporate team in Sheffield from DLA Piper. Matt’s appointment was followed by the news that Irwin Mitchell had hired Dean Gormley as its head of banking and finance for the north of England.

The firm has also appointed senior finance and ABL partners, Andrew Watson and Jon Bew, from Squire Sanders to join its London and Birmingham business teams. Other business partners recently joining Irwin Mitchell’s Yorkshire offices include construction and engineering specialists, Julie Morrissy and Steven Bate.

Mr. Baker added: “Andrea’s appointment is another clear signal of Irwin Mitchell’s intention to grow and build a first-class legal offering for the corporate market. We have made a number of high-profile partner appointments already this year, but we still have a significant amount of recruitment to come and will continue to build with good quality partners and teams.”