After 40 years in Newcastle, law firm Short Richardson & Forth look set to take off

One of the North East’s legal fixtures, solicitors SRF are looking to celebrate their 40th birthday with their biggest year to date. With the business set to expand in Newcastle, they are also hoping to take the North West by storm with a new office opening in Manchester at the start of March.

The expansion comes after a period of success for the firm, with growth of 20% reported year on year for the last three under the leadership of Directors; Tim Berg, Andrew Swan and Max Winthrop. This growth has included an expansion of the client base which ranges from large corporate entities like Npower to new start-ups and SME’s up and down the UK.

Manchester is home to a large portion of that client base, as well as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in Wilmslow, who the firm’s regulatory team work very closely with. Andrew Swan who heads up the regulatory team and is taking the lead on the Manchester office had this to say, ‘it’s important to the firm that those relationships are cemented, so naturally Manchester was top of the list of places for us to go. This is by no means the last though, and with a growing client base, we’re hoping this is the first in a line of new offices for the firm going forward.’

The new location near to Manchester airport has been highlighted regionally as a great place to do business due to developing links with both Europe and America, and in a post-Brexit world could become more important than ever in growing and maintaining a business with both national and potentially new international clients.

The hope is that this will lead to a number of commercial legal jobs being created in the near future in the North West, but the firm’s Managing Partner, Tim Berg was quick to point out ‘this move is an indicator of our intentions for the business to grow, and whilst obviously good news for Manchester, it will also lead to the further development of our ‘head’ office in Newcastle where we’re already looking to expand our current team.’

Tim Newns, chief executive officer at MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency, said: ‘Short Richardson & Forth are a great addition to Manchester’s legal sector and with specialisations around GDPR, it moves them closer to key national bodies such as The Information Commissioners Office which is based just south of Manchester Airport.’

‘Expertise in the field of GDPR is very timely with the new regulations coming in to force and therefore the bolstering of legal advice in this area is a great benefit to Greater Manchester’s businesses.’

This all coincides with the firm’s 40th Anniversary later this year, having been on Tyneside since 1978. They recently announced a year-long partnership with local Newcastle-based charity Tiny Lives, and will be spending 2018 raising money through various means for them including a summer 40th birthday party/fundraiser in June.