A surge in employment tribunal claims helped Liverpool law firm Bermans push annual revenues above £8m for the first time. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool law firm Bermans is reporting annual revenues for the 12 months to June 30 of £8.1m.

This is higher than the £7.85m reported in 2021. It is also the eighth consecutive year the practice has reported a rise in turnover. Bermans in based in the Exchange Station office complex in Liverpool city centre. It also has an office in Manchester.

Lawyers at the firm handled a surge in employment tribunal claims over the past 12 months. This has means revenues generated by the employment team have exceeded £750,000 for the first time.

Tahsin Khan joined the employment team in November 2021 to help with the rise in cases. This momentum is expected to continue leading to further revenue growth this year.

Bermans’ property team also saw its best-ever year. Phillipa Baty and Jessica Murphy have both joined the team. Jessica came to assist Melanie Morris in the firm’s property finance team. New client wins include Redsun Developments, University of Central Lancashire, Domis Construction and the charity The Big Help.

Known Origin’s sale of their non-fungible token marketplace to eBay was the largest deal for Jon Davage and the corporate team. Its expertise in the technology sector was further enhanced by acting on the investment in Peppercorn AI for EHE Capital.

Recent arrival Barney Leaf acted on the sale of the national car rental company Easirent to Leasys SPA. This is the wholly owned company of the Italian FCA Bank. 2022 has seen the team expand with the arrival of solicitor Nathan Hughes, paralegal Rebecca Tsang.

Emma Norman-Jones also joined the Liverpool corporate team in September as a newly-qualified solicitor. This follows the completion of her training contract.

Stephen Green has completed his first year as head of commercial. His team has had a “solid year” working with a number of the firm’s existing clients. They have had a particular focus on the technology and medical diagnostic sectors. 

The litigation team achieved success in the High Court for Equisafety, an equestrian high viz sportswear firm. This followed an IP infringement case. It also held a number of sessions for clients on effectively managing debt recovery during and post-pandemic.

Bermans has continued to develop its sports practice area. This is headed up by Gareth Farrelly. He has been involved in a number of high profile cases with the Premier League Judicial Panel, the Football Association and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Alex Chapman and David Gledhill in Bermans’ asset-based lending team have had another “bumper year”. And the insolvency team, led by Phil Farrelly, is starting to see a significant increase in instructions. This is due to the support provided to companies throughout the COVO-19 pandemic having been lifted.

Fergal O’Cleirigh Bermans senior partner and head of property, said: “We are very pleased with the end of year outcome. Transactional activity in property, corporate and asset finance has remained buoyant.

“We anticipate this will remain the case and all our departments will be busy in the year ahead. We have a great network of clients and introducers which we grow year-on-year.

“On the back of our continued success Robin Hastings and Rob Maddocks from our corporate and employment teams in Manchester have been promoted to partner.”