Firm Reports Strong Deal Pipeline For the Rest Of The Year

The Birmingham office of national law firm Irwin Mitchell has announced that its Corporate & Commercial team has completed over 15 deals since the beginning of the year with an aggregate value of over £100m.

The deals, which include a mixture of M&A, private equity, joint ventures and corporate restructurings, follow the arrival at the start of 2014 of Corporate Partner Nick Dawson from DWF and Senior Associate, Rob Laugharne, from Shoosmiths.

Their appointments in January were followed by the recruitment in March of Corporate & Commercial Partner Sarah Riding from Mills & Reeve. The arrival of Nick and Sarah took the total number of Corporate & Commercial Partners nationally at Irwin Mitchell to 14. The team is headed up nationally by Birmingham based Partner Chris Rawstron.

In addition to advising on over 15 corporate transactions since the beginning of 2014, the Birmingham team also supported a number of multi-million pound deals for the firm’s Banking & Finance department. This division, headed up in Birmingham by Partner Jon Bew, announced earlier this year that it had advised on 90 deals worth over £1.2bn in the first 15 months since it was launched.

Commenting on the Corporate & Commercial team reaching the £100m landmark, Chris Rawstron, who is also Head of Business Legal Services at Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham, said:

Expert Opinion

This is a significant achievement, particularly from a standing start for the corporate team and in what remains to be a challenging market. I’m delighted to say that Irwin Mitchell is making significant strides in the commercial marketplace across the West Midlands and reaching this landmark is something that we are determined to build on.” Chris Rawstron - Partner

Nick Dawson, Corporate Partner at Irwin Mitchell, added:

Expert Opinion

Joining Irwin Mitchell was always an exciting proposition for me and Rob, particularly as we both knew that there would be strong and untapped opportunities to work with the firm’s corporate client base. We have been delighted with the response that we have received from these organisations and look forward to working with more of them in the future.

“Since arriving at Irwin Mitchell we have worked on a broad range of deals from international M&A work to property development joint ventures. This diversity looks set to continue within what is a healthy pipeline of deals and although conditions in the market remain tough, we are confident that we can build on what has been an encouraging first nine months.”
Nick Dawson - Partner

Following senior recruitment into the Birmingham office’s Corporate & Commercial team at the start of the year, Irwin Mitchell has continued to invest in expanding its business team. As part of a strategic and ongoing recruitment drive, Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham most recently added Senior Associate Fiona Hayles and leading education employment lawyer, Surinder Dhillon.