The Humber region’s largest law firm, with its headquarters in Grimsby, is marking major expansion with the acquisition of a company in South Yorkshire.
Wilkin Chapman Solicitors, currently sitting at 106th position in the UK’s Top 200 law firms, has completed the take-over of Silke and Co., a Doncaster-based Business Solutions company.
In acquiring Silke & Co., Wilkin Chapman solicitors is expanding its work in the area of recoveries – a team headed up by Partner Chris Grocock.
The new Doncaster branch is known as Wilkin Chapman Business Solutions and incorporates the existing Silke team of 50, which includes three corporate insolvency specialists. Existing director and Licensed Insolvency Practitioner Ian Rose is a director of the new business.
This development for Wilkin Chapman’s Recoveries team follows a growth which saw it take over the Personal Insolvency practice Carrick Read four years ago, creating a popular ‘one-stop’ shop process. It currently sits as one of the top five UK firms in this specialist area and with the new Doncaster team included, it now employs 130 people in this field of work, with an expected annual turnover of £7-million.
Of the future, Chris said: “The acquisition of Silke & Co is the final piece of the jigsaw for our Recoveries team meaning that Wilkin Chapman can offer clients corporate insolvency expertise, alongside our market leading debt recovery litigation and personal insolvency services. We have a true legal and insolvency ‘One Stop Shop’ that we hope will be attractive to existing and potential clients.”
The take-over of Silke & Co sees Wilkin Chapman’s growing strength with offices in Grimsby, Lincoln, Beverley, Louth, Horncastle, Alford and now Doncaster where its continuing commitment to the business community sees it sponsoring the SME Business of the Year at the town’s annual December business awards.
Welcoming this latest move, Wilkin Chapman Chief Executive Des Mannion added: “This acquisition highlights Wilkin Chapman’s progressive and innovative approach when looking to grow as both a law firm, but also as an organisation that can successfully offer a range of complementary services.”
