ACS eyes expansion after record financial year, pays staff 5% bonus
Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) has said it plans to accelerate recruitment after posting record annual turnover of £22.3m for its 2020/21 financial year, with profits also rising 15% to £5.38m.
The law firm, which operates offices in Birmingham and Manchester, said its 240 staff would receive a 5% of salary profit share bonus.
ACS highlighted the following work carried out during the year:
- acting on a £50m ESG funding agreement between Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) and NatWest. The deal will see NCHA create 2,100 new homes, with the ability to unlock lower debt interest rates by hitting set environmental, social and corporate metrics;
- working on a decarbonisation project that will entail making changes to many buildings owned by Newcastle-Upon-Tyne City Council or are for public use, including libraries, museums, leisure centres, schools, etc;
- helping to raise £1.4bn from funding projects to build 7,000 affordable homes;
- recovering £28m compensation for clinical negligence cases;
- registering 63 new charities, and
- enabling 384 vulnerable children to find better living arrangements.
The firm has appointed seven new partners, with Suzanne Gregson recently joining from Brabners to help grow the firm’s practice in Manchester. “Further lateral hires are already moving ahead,” it said.
The firm is currently looking to hire an experienced senior local government lawyer.
As part of its expansion plans, the firm is also aiming to build its private legal services team, which experienced a 24% growth in client work over the past year.
Peter Hubbard, senior partner at Anthony Collins Solicitors, said: “It has been a landmark year for the firm. We want to build on this, moving forward with our colleagues and client partners to continue delivering a positive social impact across the UK.
“In recognition of the extraordinary commitment of everybody working at ACS during the pandemic, I am delighted we are awarding a 5% of salary profit share bonus to all staff so we all share in the firm’s success. We have worked in challenging circumstances during lockdown and have fundamentally changed the way in which we do business. ACS colleagues have been extremely flexible in their approaches to work and we want to recognise and reward them for this.
“Our focus is on growing the firm’s national presence. This involves recruiting more talented people who share our values. We also want to empower staff. This is one of the reasons why we have recently created a legal director position, which is providing increased flexibility to career paths at ACS.”