As administrators pick over the carcass of what was once SJ Berwin, one former partner lamented that the 2013 merger between his former firm and King & Wood Mallesons resulted in ‘the loss of a proud brand’.

Not so! Obiter has been reliably informed that the Berwin name lives on, in its spiritual home of Yorkshire no less.

Paul Berwin — nephew of SJ Berwin founder and Leeds native Stanley Jack Berwin — is senior partner and director at Harrogate and Leeds firm Berwins Solicitors.

He tells Obiter: ‘It’s a huge shame to see the great firm, which my uncle Stanley Berwin founded, and which some excellent successors carried on, brought low in this way. Stanley was an exceptional, inspirational and enterprising lawyer who stood out in his generation, following his move from Leeds to London in the 1950s. However – his legacy and the family name live on in the law and in Leeds and Yorkshire.’

In what is a fitting final tribute, KWM transferred the ‘berwins.co.uk’ web domain name to Berwins Solicitors last year. ‘This perhaps is a final passing of the baton back to Stanley’s family and legal roots,’ Berwin added.

 

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