Leading Liverpool law firm MSB Solicitors has appointed five new partners after staff numbers rose by more than 30% in 2016.

Brad Armstrong joined MSB just last year to manage the expansion of the firm’s plot sales department. The team marked a record year, which saw them complete more than 1,250 units in the Liverpool city region.

Paul Gallager heads up Crown Court litigation at MSB and joined the firm when it was founded in 1988. Paul has been an accredited police station representative since the inception of the scheme in 1996 and predominantly represents clients in serious crime cases, including murder and drug importation.

Nicola Harris graduated in law from the University of Liverpool in 2004 and joined MSB as a trainee solicitor the following year. She qualified as a solicitor in 2007 before working as an associate in the firm’s matrimonial department.

Nicola is on the Law Society Children’s Panel and is a Resolution-accredited specialist in domestic violence and children’s issues.

Emma Palmer joined MSB in 2007 having graduated from University of Leicester. With particular expertise in women’s and children’s matters, Emma is on the Law Society’s Children Panel and is a Resolution accredited specialist in child abduction, domestic abuse, forced marriage and honour based violence.

Both Nicola and Emma have two children under the age of four.

Hayley Catherall has been with the firm for more than 10 years, and is one of a number at MSB who followed a non-traditional route into law. Hayley qualified as legal executive in 2000 and a Fellow in 2002, having taken up work as an assistant in a solicitor’s office after leaving school.

Hayley has a wealth of experience in all aspects of family law and is an accredited Resolution specialist in the areas of co-habitation and domestic violence.

Partner and head of the family team at MSB, Emma Carey said: “I am beyond delighted that 3 of my team have been invited to be partners with the firm. Not only is this testament to their hard work, commitment and capability – but also to the firms promise to support, enable and promote all members of staff.

“I’m incredibly proud to be part of a firm that has succeeding in creating an environment where all our staff can achieve their potential.

“When I joined MSB in 2000, it was an all-male partnership and I was the only female solicitor. 16 years later, we now have an equal gender partnership with 7 female partners and 28 female solicitors working in the firm – so clearly we have created an environment in which women feel they can achieve.

“In the last four years, there have been 20 babies born within the firm and all of those women, like Nicola and Emma, have returned to work at MSB. It is an incredible achievement and something I am very proud of.”

Managing partner at MSB, Paul Bibby adds: “It is an exciting time for MSB and this announcement of our new partners follows a year of accelerated recruitment in the firm in order to meet the demands of new work.

“We are now a 14 partner firm and can confidently draw on the experience of people like Paul Gallagher, who has been with us since our inception and has had a demonstrable impact on our growth and development over the years – and Brad Armstrong, who joined the firm in only 2016 but has already overseen a record year for his department.

“It is clear we have the right mix of skills and expertise now to continue to drive forward and I am incredibly excited for the year ahead.”

MSB grew its team by almost a third last year and now employ more than 100 staff and consultants across 3 offices in Allerton, Wavertree and St Paul’s Square.