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Our view....
Quite simply, the Newcastle legal
market is dominated by Dicky Dees.
They're much larger than their competitors and have built up a very
solid private client practice in the 200 years or so that they've been operating.
Such is the tightness of the local community that many of their private
clients are on the board of local companies and organisations,
which in turn has provided the firm with unique access to a reliable
and valuable stream of corporate work. The firm is working hard to
provide the same services as the big Leeds and smaller City firms in
order to increase the work they attract from sources outside
the north-east.
The firm has a broad base - an
excellent nationwide reputation for transport work, a growing focus on
PFI, projects and pensions, new ventures into the renewable energy
sector exist on top of the aforementioned private client and corporate
work. Other names on the client roster include Northern Rock, Go-ahead,
Newcastle
United, the National Trust, Taylor Woodrow and London Power. In 2003 they completed fifty deals worth a total of over £1.7bn.
Admittedly that figure included the single £1bn rail franchise deal for
Govia, but also other substantial transactions such as Newcastle Building Society's
£322m acquisition of AMP Bank's UK mortgage, life policy and deposit
portfolios, and the Grainger Trust's £50m purchase of Deutsche Bank's
interests in the Bromley Property Group.
This has enabled the firm to ride out the economic slowdown well, while firmly resisting the
pressure to
open up a London office, preferring to concentrate on their Newcastle
base. And they're showing no signs of hitting the fabled glass ceiling
that is supposed to constrain single site growth - turnover was up a further 10%
in 2003/2004.
And to cap it all they have a
reputation as a great place to work too. They do have an annual
'Stars in their Eyes' party, but don't let that put you off. They are
generally understood to have a friendly, sympathetic and relaxed
atmosphere not over-populated with stuffed shirts and they made 38th
place in the Sunday Times 100 Best Employers in the Country 2004 list.
A recent recruitment survey named them and DLA as the most
up-and-coming firms in the region. They would no doubt argue they've been at it
long enough to be described as up and
come.
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