Horwich Farrelly goes from strength to strength with the growth of commercial arm

Horwich Farrelly’s expansion into commercial law gathers pace during turbulent times for the UK economy.

Horwich Farrelly, the UK’s leading legal advisers to the insurance and commercial sectors, is furthering its transition from an insurance specialist to a full legal services firm with the announcement that their commercial team, created mid-pandemic in 2021, has now grown to 25 people and is looking to expand further having received a number of high-profile instructions from key national clients.

The fast-growing firm added to their new commercial offering with the appointment of former Knights plc partner and Office Leader, John Lord, and Mark Dennis to head the new commercial offering alongside fellow partners David White, Joanne Gardner-Boyes, Martin Price, Graeme Dixon and Richard Palmer.

The commercial arm has already included Dispute Resolution, Restructuring and Insolvency, Debt Recovery, Employment, Real Estate Litigation and Professional Indemnity in its service offering and is currently recruiting to achieve its full-service ambitions.

The UK economy has recently experienced significant turbulence, with the effects of Covid-19 and the Government’s dramatic interventions to protect the economy likely to be felt for years to come. Nearly 2 million businesses took out loans under various government schemes and over 25% of the country’s workers were furloughed, for at least some time, by over 1.3 million employers. Changes to business models are inevitable and changes to taxation of income and assets are also likely. The continued background risk of the virus, and the as yet unknown economic ramifications following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, mean that households will have significantly less disposable income and cost bases for many businesses will go up.  Advisers to businesses will need to be alive to the substantial pressures their clients are facing and expert commercial legal services will be key to helping businesses recover monies they may be due and protecting their legal rights in inevitable disputes.  

 
John Lord said: “Horwich Farrelly have started a journey to become a nationwide leading professional services business, and despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic this journey has continued apace”.  

Mark Dennis added: “We are already 25 strong and have ambitions to rapidly scale the business over the next 12 to 18 months through acquisition and lateral hires, with a number of exciting opportunities already in the pipeline.”

Horwich Farrelly CEO and Managing Partner, Ronan McCann, said: “We are very excited about our diversification into the commercial sector. We have long-held ambitions to develop and expand our services and always felt it was crucial we found the right individuals who would fit with our culture and our vision. The partners and their teams who have joined Horwich Farrelly over the last year are both highly regarded in the commercial arena as well as being the perfect fit for our company and ethos. 

We expect to announce further hires and an expansion of our commercial offering in the near future, as we strive to offer the sector and our existing or prospective clients an exciting alternative to the established status quo.”