Leading Law Firm Committed to Ongoing Investment In Growing Business Team

The Birmingham office of national law firm, Irwin Mitchell, has announced the appointment of a Corporate Partner and a senior Corporate Associate into its fast-growing Business Legal Services (BLS) team.

New Partner Nick Dawson, who moves from DWF where he was a Director, has more than 10 years of experience acting on mergers, acquisitions and disposals. A former winner of the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year legal category, Nick’s specialist expertise includes private equity-led and cross-border transactions.

He is the 20th Partner to join Irwin Mitchell’s business team in the last two years and follows other recent lateral hires including new head of commercial litigation, Nigel Kissack,  contentious tax expert, Phil Berwick, and intellectual property specialists Alex Newman and Georgie Collins.

Nick is joined by senior Corporate Associate, Rob Laugharne, who moves to Irwin Mitchell from the Birmingham office of Shoosmiths. He advises organisations within the private and public sectors on a wider range of corporate matters including mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings and joint ventures.

Rob specialises in providing support for venture capital investors and investee companies in relation to corporate finance transactions.

These latest strategic appointments are part of Irwin Mitchell’s ongoing investment in building a first-class, full service commercial practice. Last year, Irwin Mitchell appointed Chris Rawstron to head up its BLS division across the West Midlands.

In addition to Chris Rawstron, the Birmingham office also launched a banking and finance advisory unit last year following the appointment of Partner and asset based lending specialist, Jon Bew, from Squire Sanders. Jon was joined by solicitors, Natalie Barnes and Nicola Raine.

Chris Rawstron said: “We are delighted to announce the appointments of Nick and Rob. They are significant hires for Irwin Mitchell’s business division in Birmingham and clearly demonstrate our commitment to developing a leading client-focussed commercial practice within the city.

“Nick and Rob add a wealth of expertise and experience to our existing commercial offering, but they also dovetail extremely well with our existing team and range of services.

“We are at the start of an exciting year of investment in Birmingham which will see us enter into a new phase of our expansion and development. We are looking to grow across all areas of BLS and I look forward to making further announcements about further appointments soon.”

Niall Baker, Partner and Chief Executive Officer at Irwin Mitchell’s Business Legal Services division, said: “These are exciting appointments in what will undoubtedly be an exciting year at Irwin Mitchell.

“Last year, Irwin Mitchell’s turnover exceeded £200m for the first time and our BLS division played a hugely important role in this success.

“Twenty new partners have been appointed into our business team in the last two years and we are dedicated to ensuring that we continue to recruit new people and teams which have the ability to help us grow, but more importantly, further improve our level of services to clients.”