Addleshaw Booth & Co

Addleshaw Booth & Co
HeadquartersManchester, United Kingdom
Major practice areasGeneral practice
Date founded1997
Company typePartnership
Dissolved1 May 2003

Addleshaw Booth & Co was an English law firm which merged with Theodore Goddard in May 2003 to form Addleshaw Goddard.

History

Addleshaw Booth & Co traces its roots back to the very first public record of solicitors in the UK – the Law List – published in 1775.

Nicholas Smith founds the firm in 1775, and Samuel Lister Booth is admitted as a solicitor in 1823. The successors of these practices combined over the years to become Booth, Clough & Booth in 1869. Further amalgamations lead to the firm becoming Booth & Co based in Leeds. in c.1936. John William Addleshaw begins legal practice in 1857 and enters partnership with William Warburton in 1873. The firm becomes Addleshaw & Sons in 1904, and then Addleshaw Sons & Latham in 1917 based in Manchester.

Addleshaw Booth & Co was formed in 1997 by a merger between the Leeds-based Booth & Co. and the Manchester-based Addleshaw Sons & Latham.[1] Addleshaw Booth was a 'heavyweight' in the North of England legal sector, with offices in Leeds and Manchester.[2] Its local standing, amongst other things, led to the firm's high-profile appointment as the official lawyers to the 2002 Commonwealth Games.[3]

Addleshaw Booth was the employer of Sally Clark (and also her husband), the solicitor wrongly convicted of murdering her two sons in 1999.[4]

It was a member of the Norton Rose M5 alliance, which disbanded in 1998.[5]

However, the firm's small office in London, and its failure to garner City-based clients, led to the tie-up with Theodore Goddard in the spring of 2003 to become Addleshaw Goddard.[6] Seen by many commentators in the legal sector as a takeover, the majority of the management board of the new firm were made up of Addleshaw Booth & Co's partners.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Legacies lost – can Addleshaws regain that old polish?". Legal Week. 23 June 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  2. ^ The Lawyer Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine TG partners braced for Addleshaws takeover, Naomi Rovnick 17 February 2003
  3. ^ BBC Sport Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games Official partners
  4. ^ Obituary[dead link‍], The Daily Telegraph, 19 March 2007.
  5. ^ Norton Rose M5 alliance agrees to disband in August Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine from The Lawyer
  6. ^ Legal Business Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Profile of Addleshaw Goddard
  7. ^ The Lawyer Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Theodores partners vote for takeover by Addleshaws, Naomi Rovnick 16 April 2003