Practice has appointed Jim Smith, who has more than 20 years’ of criminal law experience, to head up its Liverpool branch and he will join this month

Merseyside and Cheshire law firm Bell Lamb and Joynson (BLJ) Solicitors is set to welcome a new addition to its criminal law department following 50% growth over recent years.

The practice has appointed Jim Smith, who will join the Liverpool branch this month. With more than 20 years’ of criminal law experience, Jim is a duty solicitor and higher court advocate and in his most recent role headed up the criminal department at Whitfields Solicitors in Formby.

Established in 1821, BLJ Solicitors operates from a trio of locations in Liverpool, Runcorn and Warrington dealing with more than 4,000 matters each year in areas such as criminal law, family law, conveyancing, wills and probate and personal injury.

Managing partner Mike Leeman said: “We are pleased to welcome our colleague and friend Jim Smith into our expanding team here at BLJ Solicitors within a department that has experienced significant growth over the last three years.

“Our team of criminal solicitors work on approximately 1,000 cases annually, including a number of high-profile hearings across the North West and further afield within the UK. With this in mind, we felt that the time was right to continue our investment into staffing to support increasing demand.”

Jim added: “I am excited to embark on this next chapter of my career at BLJ Solicitors, which has developed an incredible name for itself as one of the region’s longest standing law firms.”