Merseyside-based personal injury law firm acquires niche practice specialising in motorcycle and cycle claims. Tony McDonough reports

Merseyside personal injury law firm Smooth Law has acquired a niche practice in Warrington that specialises in motorcycle, cycle and large value claims.

Knowsley-based Smooth, which itself specialises in accident claims, is taking over SorryMate Group in Warrington. The value of the deal has not been disclosed. It brings Smooth’s total headcount up to 25.

The firm says it has plans for further growth across the North West with a marketing strategy already in place to further increase turnover and employment by 2021. It is continuing to actively look for further growth opportunities.

Director Paul McKittrick said: “The acquisition of SorryMate Group is another step in the right direction for Smooth Law. We are very pleased to associate ourselves with a fellow practice that is dedicated to its clients.

“We will certainly be implementing an ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ attitude, to allow SorryMate to maintain its strong ethos and core values that have served it so well over the years.

“This deal will also help us weather the storm in terms of forthcoming Government-led changes to the personal injury small claims limit. These detrimental changes will now have minimal impact on our existing business model, activity and fee income, and that will help us with planned growth in quarter four and beyond.”

Smooth comprises Smooth Law and Smooth Commercial Law which focus on clients with personal injury claims of all types, covering a wide range of commercial legal services, as well as a variety of financial mis-selling issues, respectively.

Fergus Dalgarno, partner at SorryMate Group, added: “I am very excited about this deal – we look out for our biker clients like family because we are bikers too.

“It is clear from my conversations with Paul that the Smooth team is going to support the company’s continued growth plans, which will allow us to continue on our primary focus of looking after our biker community, which has specific needs and we pride ourselves on being bikers who really care, it’s our sole aim to get other bikers back on their feet after an accident.”