The break-up of north-west law firm Halliwells was completed yesterday with confirmation that its Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield operations have been acquired by three former rivals.

City firm Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (BLG) has scooped up Halliwells’ Manchester insurance practice, taking on 17 partners, plus other lawyers and support staff. The new team is to be integrated into BLG’s Manchester office and will focus on catastrophic injury, fraud, regulatory and public work.

National firm HBJ Gateley Wareing (HBJ) has taken on the remaining 40 partners from the Manchester operation, along with the troubled firm’s banking and finance, corporate, real estate, real estate litigation, corporate recovery, commercial litigation, intellectual property, employment, pensions and construction business units. HBJ is to operate, under its own name, from Halliwells’ present Manchester office.

North-west law firm Hill Dickinson has taken over Halliwells’ Liverpool and Sheffield operations. The transaction saw more than 19 partners, 41 fee-earners and 29 support staff from Liverpool and a team of 36 from Sheffield change firms.

The Liverpool deal will add to Hill Dickinson’s commercial and property litigation, corporate, insolvency and commercial property practices, and introduce private client work. The new Sheffield practice, comprising health, corporate, commercial litigation and property practice groups, will be Hill Dickinson’s first venture into Yorkshire.

Following the sales, Halliwells was placed into admninistration last last night. Commenting, joint administrator Dermot Power, BDO business restructuring partner, said: 'Securing sales of the business to other highly regarded firms, which will protect approximately 700 partner and staff jobs, is positive news for the employees and the industry as a whole. It is well known that the firm assumed substantial property obligations in recent years which significantly increased operating costs. This, together with the slowdown in transactional activity in the current economic climate, put unsustainable pressure on cashflow and the partnership resources.'

He added: 'Other professional firms will have to pay far greater attention to management and particularly cash management, following the stress testing of an LLP frame work which has been less than robust.'

BLG senior partner Simon Konsta said: ‘These hires strengthen our position in our core sector and extend our overall offering to clients, who we recognise want increased choice and flexibility.’

HBJ joint senior partner Michael Ward said: ‘We are being joined by a team of partners and staff of the highest quality and they are looking forward to putting the recent past behind them and focusing on what they do best – delivering the very best client-focused commercial legal service.’

Hill Dickinson senior partner Tony Wilson said: ‘We aim to make the transition smooth and seamless… and look forward to supporting our existing and new clients through this exciting period in our history.’