NATIONAL legal and professional services group Ampa, which has an office hub in Glasgow, has completed its merger with leading Sussex law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter.
The firm is the group’s South East legal anchor brand and brings Ampa to a turnover above £100m in the next financial year and a group of more than 1,200 people.
There have been no redundancies and no money has been exchanged as part of the merger. The firm’s equity partners have now merged into Ampa’s membership.
Mayo Wynne Baxter, founded more than 150 years ago in Lewes, will continue to operate as a separate LLP – retaining its brand and growing its market position as it continues to deliver legal services for businesses, people and their families throughout the South East.
The firm’s personal injury and clinical negligence teams will join Ampa’s existing national consumer-focussed law brand Lime Solicitors, with full continuity of service for clients, adding around £1.2m additional turnover to Lime Solicitors.
Mayo Wynne Baxter’s move to join Ampa is part of a wider strategy shared by the businesses for growth, collaboration and combined infrastructure, as well as shared values supporting clients and the community.
Ampa CEO Sarah Walker-Smith said: “We’re delighted that Mayo Wynne Baxter will officially join the group from today. Transition for clients will be seamless as Mayo Wynne Baxter remains a standalone LLP in the group. However, clients will benefit from access to experts from our other brands including legal and non-legal teams.”
Chief executive partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter Dean Orgill will sit on the Ampa group board while also working with the firm’s partners to steer the growth of Mayo Wynne Baxter as a regional anchor brand for the group.
Dean said: “As Mayo Wynne Baxter looks forward to the future, we are excited to be joining a group that shares our ambitions and values. Clients will continue to enjoy our commitment to exceptional service, but that will now be available across the hugely enhanced breadth and depth of skills and expertise that Ampa can offer.”
The merger was agreed in December 2021 and has now completed.
Ampa, which has pending B Corporation status, also includes cyber security company CSS Assure and uninsured loss recovery experts Corclaim, as well as Shakespeare Martineau LLP, Marrons Planning and its consumer brand Lime Solicitors.
All Ampa brands are recruiting lateral hires and teams, and the group is proactively looking for like-minded businesses to join the group. Mayo Wynne Baxter is specifically looking to grow across Sussex, Surrey and Kent.
