Aiming to reach fees of £12m by the end of 2017, law firm Talbots have strengthened its senior management team.
Employing almost 200 individuals across its network of offices, the Black Country firm has recently appointed its first ever Business Development Director, Matt Wistow. The new role will involve building on the company’s thriving reputation in residential property, family law as well as trusts and estates.
Among Mr Wistow’s responsibilities will be trying to grow engagement with intermediaries and SMEs in the region, taking the legal expertise of the firm to advise on commercial problems, corporate transactions as well as more general issues in the workplace.
Having previously worked in Senior Positions at The Royal Bank of Scotland and accountancy firm Shaw Gibbs, Mr Wistow brings 30 years of professional services and corporate banking experience to his new role at Talbots.
During his professional life, he has been responsible for supporting clients of high value with their commercial and personal requirements. At Talbots, Mr Wistow will utilise his network of contacts in addition to his b2b marketing knowledge in order to secure new opportunities in business law. These will include employment law, commercial property and corporate transactions.
Commenting on the growth of the firm and his new role, Mr Wistow stated: “This is a very exciting time for Talbots, with the management team keen to increase turnover by £2m over the next twelve months, an objective that will see us break £12m for the first time in our 25-year history.
“The company has a very strong reputation and has recently invested heavily in new branding that has been a big hit with clients. My role will be to reinforce that brand and also look at ways where we can adopt different approaches to accelerate growth across our core legal offers.”
As well as being responsible for a sales and marketing team, Mr Wistow will also be managing numerous external consultants that assist with PR, marketing and design.
He values building personal relationships and by attending events and networking, aims to promote Talbots’ presence in the local community.
Chief Executive of the firm, Mary Mocklow highlighted the skills she felt that Mr Winstow could bring to the firm, stating: “We are thrilled to have secured Matt’s services, especially the amount of experience and knowledge he can bring to the table.
“We have wanted to strengthen the senior management team for some time and felt we had got to the stage where a specialist in business development was needed. A lot of our growth has come from word of mouth and referrals, which is excellent. However, to really accelerate our expansion we require a more structured and cohesive approach.
“If we can generate £12m of fees in 2017 that will mean we will have more than doubled the size of the business in just five years. A fantastic achievement and one that we will be immensely proud of.”
The firm has a network of seven offices located in Codsall, Dudley, Halesowen, Kidderminster, Stourbridge, Stourport as well as Waterloo Road in Wolverhampton.
Talbots experienced a 26% growth in income last year (2016) across its residential property portfolio. It also helped thousands of clients on family issues, executing trusts and estates as well as delivering crucial business services.
