New law firm opens in Manchester as barristers team up with top US trial lawyer

Two Manchester barristers who met as trainees in the same office more than a decade ago have launched their own law firm, with the help of one of America’s leading trial lawyers. Tom Longstaff and Duncan Hedar, both barristers at Exchange Chambers in Manchester, are one half of the new firm along with Mark Lanier, founder of Texas-based The Lanier Law Firm and its chief operating officer, Kevin Roberts.

Based in Spinningfields in the city centre, Lanier, Longstaff, Hedar and Roberts LLP will deal exclusively in group litigation, known as ‘class actions’ in the US, targeting corporate wrongdoing that has harmed people on a large scale.

Mark Lanier is one of America’s pre-eminent lawyers in this area, having secured successful verdicts worth billions of dollars for clients in a string of high-profile cases.

They include more than $9bn from pharmaceutical companies accused of concealing cancer risks associated with the diabetes drug Actos, $1.5bn over metal-on-metal hip implants, and $4.7bn for 22 women and their families who alleged that Johnson & Johnson’s asbestos-laden talcum powder products caused the women’s ovarian cancer.

Tom says: “We see group litigation as a huge growth area in the UK, where many large companies have long got away with harming consumers. It is only in recent years that it has become easier to bring cases on behalf of groups of people in the UK, and the English legal profession has much to learn from the US in terms of how to run such cases effectively. “

Tom and Duncan, who are both from Yorkshire, met as trainee solicitors at DLA Piper in Leeds and worked alongside each other at Magic Circle firm Linklaters in London before being called to the Bar.

While being closer to family was their main motivation to move – Tom now lives in West Yorkshire and Duncan in Bramhall, Stockport - both look upon Manchester as the main legal hub outside London. Indeed, the launch of LLHR coincided with an announcement that the UK Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, will sit in Manchester next year the first time outside of a capital city.

Tom says: “I have worked in Manchester for the last five years so have seen the huge amount of legal talent there is here, supported by excellent courts, and even more so now, post-pandemic, people realise they can achieve their career goals without necessarily working in London. It’s a thriving community to be a part of and we hope to add to that with Lanier, Longstaff, Hedar & Roberts LLP.”

Duncan, who also studied at The University of Manchester, adds: “Manchester brings opportunity, there is a huge amount of talent that we will capitalise on. It also creates an opportunity to be one of the largest, if not the only firm dedicated to group litigation in the North.”

The new firm, an alternative business structure licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, will announce its first case in the coming weeks. It is also recruiting and expects to have around 15 staff by the end of its first year.

Mark says: “We see the UK as an emerging market for the work we do. The same injustices that we’ve seen in the US have affected people in the UK too and so we want to provide the same representation. The misuse of power is certainly not just an American phenomenon.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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