A national firm whose growth strategy is built on creating a house of different brands has merged with another firm – but this time opted to subsume its brand.

Shakespeare Martineau will absorb the Bristol firm GL Law, expanding its reach into the south west for the first time.

The firm announced almost two years ago that it would pursue a new strategy ‘with a difference’, becoming a house of brands group with the mindset that brands of merged firms would be retained to keep their existing role in their community.

That approach does not apply to what the firm calls a 'full equity swap merger' with GL Law, which will disappear as a brand as a result of the deal. It is understood that both firms’ managers decided that Shakespeare Martineau as a brand would resonate better in the local market, and so there was no need to retain GL Law’s name.

Sarah Walker-Smith - copywright of Ursela Kelly 2019

Shakespeare Martineau chief executive Sarah Walker-Smith

Source: Ursela Kelly

The merger adds more than 60 people to Shakespeare Martineau and will be its first venture in Bristol. No redundancies are planned and the firm is ‘proactively looking’ to recruit new staff. The combined firm is expected to have a turnover of more than £100m for the 2022/23 financial year.

Sarah Walker-Smith, chief executive of Shakespeare Martineau, said: ‘Our house of brands strategy includes a combination of introducing new standalone brands to the group or combining new teams or entities with our current leading brands. In the case of GL Law, its existing legal offering and its market, it made sense for it to join Shakespeare Martineau and expand the footprint of this brand within our group.’

GL Law’s Bristol hub will become Shakespeare Martineau’s eleventh location, adding to its presence in Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon, Solihull, Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln, London, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

 

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