In a move to enhance its London real estate team, LB100 firm Mills & Reeve is to tie up with City real estate boutique Maxwell Winward, adding £5.8m to its topline.
The merger with Maxwell Winward will complete on 1 June, adding a total of eight partners to Mills & Reeve’s London office at Monument Place.
A well-regarded specialist outfit, Maxwell Winward will add 22 lawyers to the combined firm in real estate, construction, corporate, dispute resolution and projects. The firm was created in 2007 following the merger of Maxwell Batley and Winward Fearon.
The combined firm brings Mills & Reeve to nearly 1,000 staff and 116 partners in offices in Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, London, Manchester and Norwich.
The firms stated the merger will create a firm with combined turnover of around £93m, on top of Mills & Reeve’s posted results of £87m in the year to 31 May 2016.
Mills & Reeve senior partner Justin Ripman (pictured) said: ‘This merger will enable us to substantially grow our presence in the City. It helps realise a key aim of our 2020 strategy to expand our offering to London based and international clients by successfully leveraging our nationwide network of leading legal experts.’
The tie up comes four years after Mills & Reeve tied up with Manchester-based firm George Davies, adding around £7m to the firm’s then top line.
Other tie ups in the LB100 have seen Weightmans in merger talks with Newcastle’s Ward Hadaway, while Stewarts Law are also reportedly in talks with fellow litigation specialist Enyo Law.
Mills & Reeve is also up for national/regional firm of the year at the Legal Business Awards, find out more here.
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk