Regional law firm Withy King’s merger with long-established Swindon rival Lemon & Co has helped it achieve a record 18% increase in turnover to nearly £22m.
The tie-up, which has resulted in Withy King moving its 30 Swindon staff from its Old Town base to Lemon & Co’s Regent Circus office, added to strong organic growth in the year to the end of April. Withy King took over a small Oxford practice during the period.
Lemon & Co had 40 staff – including three full equity partners – and a turnover of £2.4m at the time of the merger in June last year. The firm had operated in Swindon for around 100 years. 
Withy King managing partner Graham Street, pictured, said the firm, which also has on office in Marlborough, set itself a challenging target three years ago for organic growth, underpinned by investment across all its practice areas as well as in its business support functions.
“I am delighted to say that our year-on-year performance continues to exceed both our target and our expectations,” he said.
“Recent acquisition opportunities in Swindon and Oxford have enabled further consolidation in our existing office locations.
“We look forward to continuing with our current investment programme, supplemented where possible, by strategically targeted acquisitions.”
Withy King made an impression in national legal circles earlier this week when it came second in the prestigious Lawyer Awards’ Ethical Initiative of the Year category – beating global firms such as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance.
Earlier this year it was ranked 42nd in The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Mid-Sized Companies to Work For in 2015 – up from 58th position last year – and was also awarded the highly sought-after Best Companies Two Star ‘Outstanding’ accreditation for the second year running.
And last October it was named a ‘winner’ by its trainee solicitors for job satisfaction, quality of work, client contact, living up to expectations, vacation schemes, friendliness, social life and confidence in being kept on in the respected annual Lex 100 survey.
Many of its teams are recognised nationally for their expertise in specialist areas such as cerebral palsy claims and head and spinal injuries while Chambers, the independent legal directory, has named 35 of its solicitors as ‘leaders in their field’.
The firm employs nearly 330 people across its network of offices which also include two in Bath and in Oxford, Headington, Abingdon and Thame.
