Buckles Solicitors LLP is celebrating the start of a new year with an expanded team in Nottingham, building on its legal offering to commercial and private clients in the region.
Demand on the firm’s legal services, particularly in construction, commercial property and the corporate & commercial specialities, has led to Buckles more than doubling the team at its Park Row office – which opened in 2014.
The team is led by Partner James Coppinger, who is also Head of Construction at the firm. James, who started out his legal career in Nottingham has been overseeing the expansion of the team, and explains: “It’s an exciting time for legal services. With clients becoming more exacting in their standards and more sophisticated in their requirements we have been able to attract lawyers with both entrepreneurial flair and a proven track record of providing commercially focussed solutions. Whilst we remain comparatively small in Nottingham, we have the support of the wider firm behind us. This gives us a competitive advantage in being able to provide niche technical skill and excellent service whilst remaining responsive to clients’ changing needs. I am particularly keen to ensure that as the Nottingham offering expands, we continue to provide the same level of client care and personal attention.”
Whilst expanding its local client base, the firm has also attracted more international work following its alliance with CastaldiPartners who have offices in Paris and Milan.
Among the new recruits is Robin Johnston, an experienced corporate solicitor who trained with a leading international law firm and has since practiced in Nottingham, Birmingham, Leicester and London. Robin has a particular interest in corporate turnaround, rescue and recoveries and is an associate member of R3 and the Insolvency Lawyers’ Association.
He said: “I am delighted to have joined Buckles Solicitors – a forward thinking, pro-active legal firm which has built up an exceptional reputation during a relatively short time in Nottingham.
“The fact that we have more than doubled the number of legal experts in the office over the past two years shows how the demand on our services has grown, and is evidence that Buckles is a firm that is going places.”
Also joining is Rob Wallwork, a senior commercial property solicitor with over 16 years’ commercial experience as a director in the retail sector. As well as having acted for many leading retailers as a lawyer, Rob has first hand experience of the highs and lows of building and running businesses.
This unusual combination of skills means Rob’s advice is always rooted in providing practical solutions to the issues faced by his clients: “I have spent the last few years in top-tier firms acting for some of the largest and class-leading retailers in the country. Whilst that was an incredible experience, I really missed the buzz of working with SMEs where I can add real value and contribute directly to their growth and success. It’s great to be part of a growing team at Buckles which shares that buzz with its clients.”
The other new team members are:
Anika Aston, a family law solicitor and Nottingham local, Nikki is Chair of the Contact Centre for Inspire Family Hub.
Nicola Cockerill, who specialises in employment law. As well as being a qualified solicitor, Nicola has previous experience in undertaking the practical aspects of HR and therefore understands the day to day issues faced by employers in a way that some employment solicitors do not. Nicola is part of the firm’s larger employment law team which provides no-nonsense support to businesses throughout the UK on employment law issues. Nicola is also a member of the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) and the Discrimination Law Association.
Lei Jiang, who joins the construction and engineering team after having spent 4 years working in-house with a local authority.
In 2015, Associate Louise Read – a real estate litigation expert with a particular interest in retail – joined the team, along with private client solicitor Luke Appleby and company commercial solicitor Charlotte Stojak.
Louise trained with an American law firm in London before moving to one of the largest firms in Nottingham. She specialises in commercial landlord and tenant work and is a member of the PLA (Property Litigation Association), RICS Dilapidations Forum and WREN (Women’s Real Estate Network). Louise, Luke and Charlotte are all local to Nottingham and joined Buckles from much larger firms, because they “…wanted the opportunity to play an active role in the development of a forward looking and ambitious law firm.”
Buckles Solicitors LLP has recently improved its ranking on The Sunday Times ‘Best Companies’ list – having been awarded 1 star status in 2015, this has been upped to 2 star status in 2016 as a result of “building a people-focused organisation with a strategy of staff engagement at the heart of the business”.
