Clarke Willmott pads up for Ensor Byfield merger

West country firm Clarke Willmott & Clarke (CWC) is to swallow south-coast practice Ensor Byfield, bringing together two leading regional sports law practices.The new 52-partner firm, which will practise under the CWC name, is officially launched on 1 May and will work out of offices in Bristol, Taunton and Southampton.Clients include the Professional Cricketers Association, the Professional Rugby Players Association, the British Lions rugby squad, and Formula One driver Jenson Button.John Byfield, who also runs sports management consultancy Essentially Sport, is remaining as a consultant.'There is enormous synergy between the two firms,' said David Sedgwick, who will continue in his role as CWC's managing partner.Mr Sedgwick said Ensor Byfield - which contributes five partners to the new firm - approached CWC before Christmas suggesting a merger.

'From our point of view it was a great opportunity as we are a growing firm and Southampton is a market we were looking to break into,' he said.Rod Evans, senior partner at Ensor Byfield, said: 'We felt, with our success in the sport market, that we were punching above our weight and were looking for a firm who could add value and help us develop into other areas of work.'He said there were already plans for a number of CWC partners to move to the Southampton office, where there would be considerable recruitment to help 'develop areas that they are strong in, such as commercial property and finance litigation'.An Ensor Byfield insurance team is to continue trading under the Ensor name, although Mr Sedgwick said: 'The long-term vision, after maximising the name's good reputation, is to change it to CWC as well.'Andrew Towler