Leaders of a North Yorkshire firm have expressed their sadness after confirming the firm has closed for good.
Berwins Solicitors, based in Harrogate, entered administration today after filing a notice of appointment. The Gazette had reported last week that it had filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator.
The firm was founded 40 years ago – recently celebrating its anniversary with clients and staff – and employed around 40 people. No reasons have been given for its closure: accounts for the year to June 2025 showed it had net assets of almost £300,000 and cash reserves of £68,484.
The firm’s founder Paul Berwin left last year with new management installed. Mark Edmonds, a director of Griffin Law Group, was appointed as director in December last year but resigned in June.
Writing on Linkedin, managing director Danielle Day confirmed the appoint of administrators ‘with an incredibly heavy heart’.
She said: ‘What makes this particularly difficult is the people. The talented, dedicated and committed colleagues who have given so much of themselves to the firm, our clients and each other. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of that journey.’
Day added that the support, kindness and messages of encouragement that she and her team had received had been ‘genuinely overwhelming’ and she thanked everyone who has reached out, checked in and shown the staff such kindness.
‘Whilst I know that the end of Berwins is not the end of the journey for many of us, that doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier. There is a real sense of loss in closing a chapter that has meant so much.’
Fellow director Michelle Crowhurst, who had been with Berwins for more than 10 years, said that amongst these hard times, she had been reminded how many wonderful people have been part of the firm.
‘To our staff, both past and present, I am enormously grateful and proud,’ she said. ‘A law firm is ultimately its people, and we have had some exceptional people. I wish the ending could have been different, but I will not allow the circumstances of the final few weeks to define everything that came before them.’
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