Shoosmiths merges with Edinburgh’s Archibald Campbell

Shoosmiths merges with Edinburgh’s Archibald Campbell

By James Swift|The Lawyer

Shoosmiths is merging with Edinburgh’s Archibald Campbell & Harley – the latest in a string of tie-ups between national and Scottish firms

Shoosmiths is merging with Edinburgh’s Archibald Campbell & Harley – the latest in a string of tie-ups between national and Scottish firms.

The bolt-on will gift Shoosmiths its first office in Scotland and give it a boost in real estate, retail, litigation and recoveries for lenders. Archibald Campbell & Harley, which has 20 lawyers and 65 staff in total, will re-brand as ACH Shoosmiths.

Shoosmiths pulled in £87m in 2011-12 and had an average profit per equity partner of £352,000. At the end of the last financial year the firm had around 104 partners, 38 of whom were equity.

Earlier this year the firm announced that it had begun a redundancy consultation as part of a firm-wide restructure that would see it focus on conveyancing, medical negligence, high-net-worth will and probate, and complex serious injury and mixed liability litigation. As many as 93 staff were expected to lose their jobs as a result of the cuts (3 May 2012).

Earlier this month Manchester headquartered DWF announced that it was merging with Biggart Baillie (7 June 2012), while Pinsent Masons announced that it was merging with McGrigors in February (6 February 2012).