Mace & Jones join Murphy Hodgkinson in property focus

Liverpool and Manchester firm Mace & Jones has formed an unusual association with a former Hill Dickinson partner to exploit property development in the north-west.Former Hill Dickinson partner Karen Murphy left the north-west firm to set up Murphy Hodgkinson to focus on property development.Apart form Ms Murphy, Murphy Hodgkinson will consist of three other partners who are also partners at Mace & Jones: senior partner Graeme Jump, managing partner Lawrence Downey, and Craig Blakemore.Operating from Mace & Jones' offices in Manchester and Liverpool, Murphy Hodgkinson will concentrate mainly on residential development work.Ms Murphy said: 'I didn't want to leave a large firm and go to a medium-sized firm, but nor did I want to be a sole practitioner.

This is a reasonably close association'.In the longer term Ms Murphy said that merger was a possibility but she did not envisage it at the moment.Mr Downey said: 'This is a real opportunity to build on our expanding commercial property practice'.

Jeremy Fleming