Liverpool law firm Weightmans and Newcastle’s Ward Hadaway call off merger

Legal giants Ward Hadaway and Weightmans have this morning (April 25) announced that they are stepping away from plans for a merger.

The companies said the decision to withdraw from the discussions, which looked set to create a £130m-turnover legal practice, was mutual.

While Newcastle-headquartered Ward Hadaway and Liverpool’s Weightmans said they could see the benefits of the deal, both firms concluded that their respective strategic priorities were not closely aligned enough to go through with the merger.

The managing partner of Ward Hadaway, Jamie Martin, said: “We have enjoyed talking to John Schorah and his team and getting to know the people at Weightmans a bit better and we wish them well for the future.

“Nevertheless, we wish to continue to pursue our strategy of developing a ‘Northern Law Firm for National Business’ across our three offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester and our focus on providing legal services to Northern-based businesses.”

He added: “We have exciting opportunities to follow as an independent law firm. We are most grateful for the loyalty and support of our clients and staff throughout this period and we look forward to a great future together.”

John Schorah, the managing partner of Weightmans, said his team has “real respect” for Ward Hadaway, which he hailed as a “good business with very good people”.

He explained: “We have many common interests too, but after discussions it became clear that we each want different things from our respective futures. We sensibly agreed between us it was better to focus on those things.

“Weightmans’ new structure will be in place on May 1 as part of a comprehensive strategic review, always putting the client at the heart of what we do.”

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