West law firm Foot Anstey has doubled the size of its office in Bristol in just 10 months. The firm opened the office in Victoria Street to meet the demand of its growing national client base last year.
It now has 35 staff including nine newly-recruited partners from national and international law firms as part of its talent acquisition strategy.
The latest arrival is another senior level lateral hire. Specialist technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) partner Jonathan Oddy joins from the London office of Veale Wasbrough Vizards and will head Foot Anstey’s national commercial law team.
Jonathan’s extensive track record includes more than 13 years’ experience in acting for leading TMT companies, advising private companies, Government departments and public sector bodies on information and communications technology procurement, outsourcing and shared services.
Foot Anstey has made a big impact on the Bristol legal marketplace since opening its office in the city. Its corporate, banking and real estate teams have advised on a string of deals including £64m of UK real estate transactions for London-based independent property advisory firm 90 North Real Estate Partners chaired by former BBC Dragon James Caan; advising the Bristol-based corporate banking centre of the Co-operative Bank on the funding aspects of an £8.66m management buyout, and completing the sale of Bath-based international sustainability agency Two Tomorrows Group to international risk management company DNV.
The Bristol office has also contributed to a strong performance by the firm, which has four other South West offices. Turnover has risen by 18% to £22.9m since 2008 – 11% in the past financial year.
Managing partner John Westwell said: “Our rapid growth in Bristol has been fuelled by our ability to attract high-calibre lawyers who clearly want to join a dynamic, client focused regional heavyweight firm with a growing national client base. Jonathan’s arrival further strengthens our specialist firm-wide commercial team and he will play a key part in the next phase of the development of our Bristol office.”
Pictured, from left, John Westwell and Jonathan Oddy
