Specialist Liverpool city region law firm Fletchers Group acquires 40-strong North West personal injury practice. Tony McDonough reports

Law firm Fletchers Group is continuing its expansion drive with the acquisition of North West personal injury practice Serious Injury Law.

Southport-based Fletchers Group, which in 2023 opened an office in Liverpool city centre, has previously said it is pursuing an aggressive mergers and acquisitions strategy after itself being taken over by private equity outfit Sun European Partners in 2021.

Based in Bolton, Serious Injury Law was founded in 1989 and has built a reputation as a leader in representing clients who have sustained severe injuries. It has secured “numerous” multi-million-pound settlements.

Led by equity partners Tim Walters, Matt Dixon and Ben Priestley, the firm also has a strong proposition in court of protection and clinical negligence, of which Fletchers is also a UK leader.

The value of the deal was not disclosed but filings on Companies House show Serious Injury Law had net assets of more than £833,000 as of September 30, 2023, as well as a staff of 40 people.

Peter Haden, chief executive of Fletchers, said: “This is an important deal for us, in that it reinforces our leadership in serious personal injury and underscores our strategy to strengthen the group by acquiring exceptional law practices with excellent reputations.

“The combination of our existing serious injury practice with our new colleagues from SIL will create the strongest team in the sector.

“We are particularly excited to invest behind the reputation and relationships that Tim, Matt and Ben have developed over recent years.”

In summer 2023 Fletchers revealed it was opening a new office in Liverpool’s central business district and was “actively recruiting” up to 50 new staff. It also has offices in Manchester and Leeds and employs more than 650 people.

Serious Injury Law’s team will become part of Fletchers Group and the Serious Injury Law brand will be retained, as will the offices in Bolton and Cambridge.

This integration is likely to be completed by May 1, with Caroline Morris, Fletchers’ director of serious injury, taking overall responsibility for the combined serious injury team.

Kate Edwards, Fletchers’ director of private client, will lead the court of protection team, and the clinical negligence lawyers will become part of the wider group clinical negligence team.”

SIL’s Tim Walters added: “Consolidation in the serious injury market is gathering pace thanks to a wave of reform and subsequent changes to business models which reflect the emerging market landscape.

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“It quickly became clear during our discussions with Peter and the team that combining our team with Fletchers represented the best possible future for our brilliant lawyers, support staff and our clients.

Fletchers Group was acquired by an affiliate of investment firm Sun European Partners, in October 2021 and since then has added Cycle SOS, Minton Morill, Emsleys’ PI division and Blume to its portfolio.