60th year heralds change as law firm agrees to merger

10:56am Tuesday 24th June 2008

Law firm Mincoffs is marking its 60th anniversary by merging with another firm to help it jointly become one of the region's biggest legal players.

Deborah Johnson finds out more about the Tyneside firm's history, and why it will always remain true to the North-East.

FOR commerical law firm Mincoffs, this year has become a milestone in its history for two reasons.

One is that it is marking its 60th year in business, during which time it has maintained a regional and national presence, and can boast a growing reputation in its areas of expertise.

The second reason is that Tyneside- based Mincoffs is to merge with another firm - a move it has decided against several times previously.

It has opted to join Jacksons, on Teesside, to create a regional law firm with the power to compete with the "big five" of the North- East legal sector. From October, the firm will be known as Mincoff Jacksons.

"Very few firms survive this long.

This merger will benefit businesses across the region and is a big step in our future and our history," said Howard Gold, senior partner at the firm, who has been with Mincoffs for 40 years.

Are there any worries such a move will adversely affect the company, or dilute the pragmatism and personal relationships with clients on which it prides himself?

"No," replies Mr Gold, immediately.

"We have an ethos in dealing with people that is very important to us and we won't lose that. We want to retain our presence in Jesmond as well as our identity. I think that is very important.

"We have had offers before - both to merge and to be taken over - but they were not in the interests of the staff or of this firm.

"We have always believed the opportunity we decide to take must not compromise what we do or have already done."

Its North-East roots are key to the firm, which has matured throughout the past 60 years to achieve a record year last year - £750m of deals overseen, with a 20 per cent rise in profits - and oversaw its biggest-ever deal, £700m, the previous year.

Mincoffs was established in 1948 by Harry Mincoff, a nationallyrenowned criminal lawyer of his day, who, Mr Gold remembers, served as a soldier in North Africa in 1944. His replacement at his desert gun post was killed the day after Mr Mincoff left.

The firm went on to become Mincoffs, Science and Gold, before reverting back to Mincoffs.

Mr Gold joined the firm in 1969, after meeting Mr Mincoff through their shared pastime of tennis.

"This was my first job," he said.

"Harry Mincoff was chairman of the Northumberland Lawn Tennis Association and I played in the under-21s team. I didn't have a job at that time, but was training, so I was taken on here doing commercial and corporate work."

Since then, the firm has gone on to establish strong reputations in commercial property and corporate work in particular, and has an esteemed national presence in the licencing field.

Indeed, Mincoffs is one of only two North-East firms to have a specialist licencing, gaming and planning team, headed by nationallyrenowed licensing lawyer Richard Arnot.

After expanding steadily over the years, it now has more than 30 legal professionals and 70 support staff working at its Jesmond office.

"We are very proud of the culture we have here and don't have a high turnover of staff," said Mr Arnot, who first joined the firm in the Nineties, before leaving to work at other firms, including taking the post of head of licensing at Dickinson Dees.

"We have 11 people who have been here for 30 years, and one of our secretaries has worked here for 50 years," he added.

About four years ago, Mincoffs moved premises - only a matter of metres down the road in Jesmond - but is now in the advantageous position of owning its Osborne Terrace headquarters.

"We moved from just up the road after we felt we had outgrown that building", said Mr Arnot.

"One great advantage of the position that we're in is that we don't have expensive city centre offices to pay for. This means that we're able to keep our fees within what our clients consider to be a sensible and commercial level. Many of our competitors don't have this luxury. As businesses are forced to look at the amount they spend on their lawyers we see this as an important part of what we can offer."

Mincoffs refuses to follow the lead of several of its regional competitors and open a provincial office elsewhere in the country, with London being an ever popular choice.

While Mincoffs works on deals in the capital and has a string of London- based clients, it sees no need to be based there.

"We've found we can work nationally while still being based in the North-East.

"We can instruct from Newcastle without any problems at all using all the technology that exists now, and we can still visit London if necessary, although it hardly ever is,"

said Mr Arnot.

"Fifty years ago, you would need to spend two or three days at a time in London for work like this, but you don't need to do that anymore."

With the merger, which will take effect in just over four months' time, Mincoffs - under its new name of Mincoff Jacksons - will have more regional and national reach than ever.

While Mincoffs has always been an independent firm, its links with Stockton-based Jacksons have been increasing over recent months in bidding for new work and sharing expertise.

Phil Dean, a recently-appointed partner in the commercial property department, who joined from Ward Hadaway, said both firms benefit from them joining forces.

"We've developed a close and sensible working relationship with Jacksons, which is important when looking for major work in the North-East and in broadening your range of skills and expertise when looking at new projects," said Mr Dean, who is also president of the North-East Junior Chamber of Commerce.

"There has only really been Dickinson Dees which has had that major cross-regional presence (having offices in Newcastle and Stockton), so, by working with Jacksons, we too can compete on a truly cross-regional scale.

"Mincoffs and Jacksons are of a similar size and on some deals it is more viable to work with and talk with other people who maybe have a similar but different area of expertise.

"If you have a couple of people at your firm who can do a certain job, and your partner firm has another two, you have automatically doubled the size of the team who would be involved."

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