Top legal team is led by Susan Sherry and works with high net worth individuals, including footballers and sports personalities. Tony McDonough reports.

Liverpool law firm Hill Dickinson has poached four specialist staff from rival DWF to join its private client team which helps high net worth individuals manage their wealth.

Susan Sherry joins as legal director along with her team Sheila Burnett, Barry McDonough and Bernadette Parkinson.

The four will not have to go far. The Liverpool offices of both firms are based just yards apart from each other in St Paul’s Square.

Ms Sherry is an expert in creating wealth management strategies in order to efficiently manage clients’ assets, particularly in relation to inheritance, capital gains and income tax.

She works with high net worth individuals, including footballers and sports personalities, and has acted for Premier League football clubs for many years.

She has also worked nationally with Camelot Lottery winners for more than a decade and recently co-authored a book on Powers of Attorney with Geoffrey Schindler.

“Leaving DWF was a difficult decision,” said Ms Sherry.

“Ultimately, we felt Hill Dickinson was a better fit for us and our clients – Hill Dickinson had also wanted to expand its team for a while too.

“A lot of lateral hires are happening at the moment in the legal sector. We have clients up and down the country and Hill Dickinson has a national presence, so in the end it was an easy decision.

The other members of the DWF Liverpool private client team who have joined Hill Dickinson are Sheila Burnett, residential conveyancing who left DWF after 29 years, paralegal Barry McDonough who left after three years and fee-earning secretary Bernadette Parkinson, who spent nine years at the firm.

Tax planning, succession planning for generations of families, powers of attorney, probate work, court of protection and wills are among the core services the team provide.