An update from Simon Willliams, Corporate & Commercial Partner at gunnercooke LLP

Gunnercooke is a challenger law firm operating a fee-share model. It is one of the fastest growing international law firms, currently comprising more than 350 senior lawyers including 300 partners across 12 global offices including London, New York, Manchester, Berlin, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

In March 2021 I started working out of the gunnercooke Manchester office and a home office in Chester. As the business grew during 2021, I was joined that December by the invaluable Alex Connah, Corporate & Commercial Associate, who I had worked with at my previous law firm since 2015.

Shortly after Alex joined, we started looking for a Chester-based office space for us to work from and meet clients, and in February 2022, we received the keys to our premises on Chester Business Park (Honeycomb South), which we work from on a day-to-day basis as well as using the gunnercooke Manchester office.

A couple of months later, in April 2022, our team increased to three members when my wife Bryony (who is also a Solicitor) joined us in a non-fee earning, operational, role to help with running the business and managing the office.

As the business continued to grow, we recruited Lewis Dawson as a Corporate & Commercial Paralegal in September 2022. Lewis has been a fantastic addition and support to the team.

In February, we further strengthened our offering to our clients and grew to a team of five, with the arrival of the very experienced Chris Williams, Corporate & Commercial Partner. Chris has over 30 years’ experience and has joined us from an international law firm in Manchester. Although Chris has only been with us for a short while, he has been a very welcome addition to the team and I look forward to us all continuing to work together to provide the best service we can to our clients.

We act for various national and international clients, including nationally recognised brand names, and advise in relation to all aspects of corporate and commercial law. In terms of corporate matters, we are regularly instructed in relation to work such as: mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity investments, group reorganisations and demergers, joint venture agreements, shareholder agreements, cross option agreements and option agreements and employee share schemes including EMI. We are also frequently instructed on commercial matters such as: terms and conditions of business, franchise agreements and general commercial contracts.

We are continuing to develop our partner practice and in April of this year, Alex Connah is being promoted to Senior Associate and Lewis will be starting a Training Contract to continue his journey to becoming a Solicitor. It is so rewarding to recognise their hard work and I look forward to supporting them both in the next chapters of their careers.

As for the rest of 2023 and beyond – watch this space!

gunnercooke.com

Simon: “I feel privileged to work with such a high calibre of colleagues and clients and it’s incredible to see what we have built in the space of two years; from starting off on my own in a home office to now being part of a team of five working from an office at Chester Business Park. In addition to focusing on the service we are providing to our clients, we are also trying to do our bit for sustainability and giving something back to the community. We have introduced a recycling system in our office and we have an all-electric company car. We are also a member of the Cheshire 100 (Cheshire Community Foundation) which supports charities within the local community”.

Bryony: “It is exciting to be involved in growing the business and to be part of such a brilliant team and wider firm. It’s incredibly important to us that our employees feel valued and we will continue to come up with new ways in which to deliver on that. We have so far implemented various employee benefits such as private healthcare, gym membership, weekly fruit deliveries to the office, a later start time of 9.30am and a day off work for birthdays in addition to the usual holiday entitlement”.

Alex: “I continue to be impressed with the variety and quality of work that I am exposed to and the wealth of knowledge and expertise demonstrated by my colleagues at gunnercooke. The ambitious growth of the firm, and our team in particular, will allow me to continue working with, and learning from, some of the industry’s leading lawyers. I am very much looking forward to taking the next step in my career in becoming a Senior Associate in April”.

Lewis: “I have learnt so much since I joined in September and I am excited to continue my journey, with the team and with gunnercooke, as a Trainee Solicitor in April”.

Chris: “I am delighted to have joined the team and to be working alongside leading legal experts within the non-traditional gunnercooke model”.

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