Aberdein Considine has agreed a deal which will allow it to offer legal services across the entire United Kingdom for the first time.
The Scottish-headquartered partnership has announced a long-term collaboration with Northern Ireland’s Wilson Nesbitt.
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The agreement follows the firm’s acquisition of Newcastle-based Wallers Solicitors last year and allows the business to offer a seamless debt and asset recovery, litigation and conveyancing service across all three of the UK’s legal jurisdictions.
Aberdein Considine provides legal services to commercial clients including global banking giants Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Santander, as well high street retailers including Greggs PLC and Rox.
The UK-wide expansion has been driven by its work with banks and other lender clients, who are increasingly looking to streamline their recovery panels.
Rob Aberdein, UK Partner in charge of Lender Services at Aberdein Considine, said the deal with Wilson Nesbitt allows the firm to offer clients the convenience and security of using one firm across all of mainland Britain.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Wilson Nesbitt, which is a leading litigation practise and specialist in recoveries in Northern Ireland,” he said.
“We already act for some of the UK's biggest lenders in Scotland – and this deal brings our customer, compliance and regulatory-focused debt & asset recovery and conveyancing services into the entire UK legal market for the first time.
“The agreement allows us to provide legal services to lenders across all jurisdictions and will see both firms integrate compliance frameworks and case management systems in order to deliver a seamless, multi-jurisdiction service.”
Aberdein Considine – which also has offices across Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Stirling – acquired Wallers Solicitors in September 2016. That deal gave the firm its first foothold in the substantial English and Welsh legal markets and enabled the immediate expansion of its corporate conveyancing, litigation and debt & asset recovery services south of the border.
The English and Welsh operation, which is based in Newcastle’s historic Cloth Market area, is led by former HL Interactive chief executive Matt Wightman.
He is being joined by commercial litigator Thomas Lillie, who has left Bond Dickinson to become a Partner at Aberdein Considine.
Mr Lillie will have responsibility for professional negligence, non-standard litigation, in-house legal department support and commercial/business recoveries across England and Wales.
To further aid the firm’s growth out of Newcastle, it has also announced a formal partnership with the CILEx Law School (CLS).
The CLS’ new ‘North East Campus’, in Newcastle, will open in September, with Aberdein Considine committing to be a major stakeholder in the development of the best legal talent in the north-east of England.
Nicola Goodman, Learning and Development Manager at CILEx Law School, said: “We are seeing a big increase in interest in apprenticeships amongst our clients with the introduction of the levy now only a matter of months away. Aberdein Considine recognises the opportunity that apprenticeships provide to recruit and train young talent and we look forward to working with them on this initiative.”
