150 jobs on offer at booming law firm (From This Is Lancashire)

150 jobs on offer at booming law firm

8:57am Monday 18th March 2013 in News

A BOLTON law firm is to recruit up to 150 extra staff this year after acquiring a third floor of a town centre office block.

Asons Solicitors took out a second floor of the building in Bark Street in December and announced plans to recruit an extra 65 staff at the time.

Now it says fast growth in clinical negligence and personal injury work has prompted a further expansion into corporate legal services.

It now plans to launch a full corporate legal services arm in May. And bosses say other law industry changes have offered further opportunities and competition.

Overall it means the firm could employ up to 300 staff by the end of the year.

Last year its workforce grew from just 30 staff to 100.

Asons chief executive Imran Akram said: “This is a big move for us. The legal landscape is changing drastically in a way that could see smaller law firms closing their doors.

“Yet, with some forward planning, we’ve been able to develop a business model that will brave the legal reforms.”

The firm wants to expand into employment law, commercial property, civil litigation, company law and acquisitions and mergers.

Mr Akram said the firm had received good support from Bolton Council and HSBC, and has developed a new corporate website, mobile phone services and invested in marketing.

It is also offering to buy case loads and files from other law firms.

Mr Akram: “Following last year’s funding deal with the HSBC, we will be recruiting heavily in corporate service areas once we’ve finished setting up the department.

“We hope that this will provide a lot of opportunity for Bolton’s up-and-coming legal talent.”

The Legal Services Act, sometimes compared to the City of London’s “Big Bang” in the 1980s, was introduced by the last Labour government to shake up the legal industry and increase competition.

Among its changes it allows major non-legal businesses, such as supermarkets, to offer consumer law services which were previously only handled by private solicitors.

However some smaller law firms fear the changes could lead to intense competition from new rivals.