Jobs at risk at law firm

A saviour is being sought for a regional law firm – which has offices on the Fylde coast – after it filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators.
Linder Myers, LythamLinder Myers, Lytham
Linder Myers, Lytham

The future of Manchester-based firm Linder Myers and its staff, totalling more than 300, hangs in the balance, with 34 workers at its Lytham office and another 18 positions in Kirkham and Preston at risk.

The company called in insolvency experts after what managing partner Bernard Seymour called “an increasingly challenging environment” in which law firms operate.

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Linder Myers, which posted a turnover of £18.7m for the year ending November 30, said it is in talks to sell the business or find a merger partner. The practice employs 260 staff and 51 partners.

Mr Seymour said: “The increasingly challenging environment in which law firms are operating has made trading very difficult in recent years.

“Following a successful period of growth at Linder Myers, the last few months and the Christmas period in particular, proved difficult and we have taken the decision to file an intention to appoint administrators in order to protect the business and our valued employees and partners.

“We are currently having positive negotiations with a number of interested parties with a view to either selling the business or merging with another firm. Linder Myers clients will remain unaffected as business continues to trade as usual.”

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The firm had acquired a number of practices through ‘pre-pack’ administration, including Dickson Haslam in Lytham in September, and had merged with two local companies, Rostrons and Apfel Carter, based in St Annes, in recent years.

The notice gives Linder Myers ten days’ breathing space from creditor pressure, with the possibility of a further ten days, to find a buyer and complete a deal.

The firm said the business was in the meantime carrying on unaffected.