Cobbetts LLP
HeadquartersManchester, United Kingdom
No. of officesFour[1]
No. of lawyersApproximately 325[2]
Major practice areasGeneral practice
Key peopleNick Carr (Managing Partner)
Revenue£45.4 million (2011/12)[3]
Profit per equity partner£323,000 (2011/12)[3]
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Dissolved7 February 2013
Websitewww.cobbetts.com

Cobbetts LLP was a full service British corporate law firm, with offices in Birmingham, Leeds, London and Manchester. Its main areas of work were dispute resolution, real estate, corporate and employment law. It had particular expertise in acting for mining companies looking to float on AIM.[4]

Cobbetts had total revenues of £45.4 million in 2011/12, the 62nd-largest of any UK-based law firm in that financial year.[5] Cobbetts entered administration in January 2013 and in February the bulk of its assets were acquired by rival Manchester-based law firm DWF LLP.

History

Cobbetts was founded in Manchester during the first half of the nineteenth century as Cobbett, Wheeler and Cobbett by the sons of William Cobbett, the journalist and polemicist. It became Cobbett Leak Almond after the acquisition of Leak Almond and Parkinson in 1987.[6] The firm shortened its name to simply 'Cobbetts' in 1996.

Further mergers with Read Hind Stewart of Leeds[7] and Lee Crowder of Birmingham followed in 2002 and 2004 respectively. The London office was opened in 2004 to service corporate clients acquired through niche Manchester firm Fox Brooks Marshall in 2003.

On 30 January 2013 it was announced that Cobbetts would be entering administration, having filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on 28 January 2013, and was now up for sale.[3]

On 31 January 2013 it was announced that the Manchester-based law firm DWF had agreed to acquire the bulk of Cobbetts' assets in a "pre-pack" transaction.[8][9] The acquisition was completed on 7 February 2013.[10][11] Cobbetts' finance litigation practice and debt recovery team Incasso did not form part of the acquisition, with the former moving to Leeds-based firm Walker Morris[11] and the latter being acquired by the Redditch-based debt recovery firm HL Legal.[12]

References

  1. ^ About Cobbetts Archived 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Firm Profile - Chambers Student Guide". www.chambersstudent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Cobbetts seeks buyer as administrators are called in". The Lawyer. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  4. ^ http://www.chambersandpartners.com/UK/Firms/86-38909 Archived 19 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine Chambers UK
  5. ^ Jeremy Hodges. "First U.K. Law Firm Since 2010 to Seek Protection From Creditors". Bloomberg Businessweek. 30 January 2013. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  6. ^ Cobbetts Acquires Leak Almond and Parkinson
  7. ^ Naomi Rovnick (25 February 2002). "Cobbetts sends top guns to Read Hind". The Lawyer. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011.
  8. ^ "DWF acquires ailing Cobbetts in pre-pack deal". The Lawyer. 31 January 2013. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  9. ^ James Ferguson. "DWF plans to buy troubled Cobbetts". Manchester Evening News. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  10. ^ "400 jobs saved as Cobbetts deal goes through". The Law Gazette. 7 February 2013. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  11. ^ a b James Swift. "Cobbetts litigation team to join Walker Morris following DWF pre-pack deal". The Lawyer. 7 February 2013. Archived from the original on 12 February 2013.
  12. ^ James Swift. "KPMG finds buyer for Cobbetts' debt recovery arm". The Lawyer. 14 February 2013. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013.
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