With many law firms shrinking, David Emanuel talks to James Harris about bucking the trend with the merger of Veale Wasbrough and Vizards Tweedie.
With many law firms shrinking, David Emanuel talks to James Harris about bucking the trend with the merger of Veale Wasbrough and Vizards Tweedie.
Bristol-based law firm Veale Wasbrough had been looking to establish a presence in London for the past two years. That’s finally come to pass after the firm merged with Vizards Tweedie, a true City law firm with a history going back to 1797.
The new entity is called Veale Wasbrough Vizards (VWV). David Emanuel, head of corporate at the firm, says: ‘Having an office in London makes it easier to attract and retain clients, and also recruit in some specialist areas.’
The Bristol office of Veale Wasbrough Vizards employs 270 staff and generated revenue of £17 million in 2008/9. In addition to the regionally focused corporate and commercial offering, the firm has a national presence in education, healthcare and the public sector.
A big part of the VWV education practice is independent schools: ‘We reckon we act for over half the market and we do everything from debt recovery and consumer credit, which is becoming increasingly common, through to M&A and everything in between.’
With a headcount of 60 and a turnover of £4.7 million, Vizards Tweedie was the smaller partner in the deal, but it’s not only the London postcode that attracted Veale Wasbrough. Vizards also has an appealing mix of clients. Says Emanuel: ‘They have some interesting public sector clients particularly among NHS trusts and police forces, a strong charities team as well as a corporate team that is adept at working with AIM companies. As markets pick up, we’ll be looking to take advantage of that.’
Back to school
Although Emanuel admits that earlier this year the firm was forced to downsize, VWV has managed to steer its way through the downturn. In the corporate practice, for instance, Emanuel points out that by the end of the year, the firm will have completed 80 deals with an aggregate value of £325 million.
Inevitably, the work has changed. Emanuel says: ‘We used to focus on mid-market deals in the South West, which meant a diet of management buy-outs and management buy-ins funded by bank debt and deferred consideration. That market has gone for the foreseeable future.’
The firm is seeing an increasing amount of deal activity coming from its education practice. As fee-paying schools feel the bite of the recession, many have considered joining forces. Emanuel says: ‘At one point this year, we had six potential mergers on the go, although as often happens, only one actually went ahead.’
Emanuel acknowledges that next year won’t be easy: ‘Corporate lawyers tend to have a short pipeline of work. In a normal environment, it’s not something to be bothered about because you can expect more things to come up. In the current market, you can never be very confident of that.’
However, it’s not all doom and gloom: ‘I think that healthcare will be a growth area. There will be spending cuts, but they’re not coming next year, nor the year after, and we can expect more public sector activity in the short-term. The government may decide to sell and lease back properties to release funds and I think that will drive real estate work in the public sector.’
To contact David Emanuel, click here
or call 0117 314 5243
