Hall Brown Eyes Further Growth As It Strengthens Senior Team 

Published on 11 December, 2023 | Back to News/Press

Hall Brown Family Law has entered a “new and exciting” growth phase following a key addition to its senior ranks.

The firm has recruited Will Taylor as Chief Financial and Operations Officer, a move which it has boasted that it will allow it to add to its roster of outstanding legal talent.

Co-founder and Managing Partner James Brown has described the appointment as a significant step forward in Hall Brown’s evolution, reinforcing the rigorous high standards which have seen it become one of the country’s very best family law firms.

Within the last 12 months, Hall Brown has seen a double-digit increase in turnover, won a clutch of awards and completed yet another clean sweep of the UK’s leading legal rankings.

In another indication of the firm’s reputation, Mr Brown was also appointed to an influential Law Society advisory group.

“Will’s arrival is great news for our firm, our colleagues and – most importantly of all – our clients.

“He is an immensely experienced and capable individual who will add even more professionalism to the central support function which has been such a vital part of our overall success so far.

“It is a sign of our desire to put long-term plans in place to ensure that we sustain the momentum which has taken us far and fast in the relatively short time since we launched.

“We recognise that is not only best achieved by continuing our track record in attracting the very best family lawyers around but doing even more to retain those individuals who join us.

“Putting in place a structure which creates the ideal conditions for that to happen has another very personal benefit.

“As we have grown our client, staff and office numbers, both Sam Hall and myself have had to deal with a variety of managerial tasks out of necessity.

“By handing over some of that work to Will and his team, we will be able to work even more directly with clients – and that, after all, is why we wanted to be lawyers and open our own firm.”

Having qualified with BDO in Manchester in 2007, Mr Taylor’s career has seen him take up a series of financial leadership roles in consumer-facing and investment management businesses.

Most recently, they included his role as CFO and COO at Network Digital Marketing, a consumer membership business backed by one of Europe’s largest private equity houses.

Mr Taylor said he was “thrilled” to be joining. “Hall Brown has developed a reputation for first class service.

“I look forward to doing what I can to build on that strong performance and further enhance the firm’s ability to continue to deliver the sort of excellence for which it is renowned.”

He joins with Hall Brown already a part of the family law elite in England and Wales.

Last month, the firm clinched a place as one of the best law firms in England and Wales in a classification compiled by The Times newspaper for the sixth successive year.

Only 250 out of the 9425 firms currently practising in England and Wales made the final cut.

Hall Brown is one of only two boutique family law firms from the region to make the Times’ list and has been placed in the list in every year since it was first published in 2018.

Only weeks before, Hall Brown featured in the top echelon of family law practitioners in two other prestigious classifications drawn up by Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.

Having been dubbed “the crème de la crème ” in the North West by Legal 500, Hall Brown was referred to as “incredible” by Chambers and Partners.

In March, Mr Brown was one of eight new members appointed to the Law Society’s Leadership, Management and Operations Section Advisory Committee.

The Committee was set up to offer guidance on best practice and innovation to senior solicitors working either in-house or in private firms across England and Wales.

Three months later, it was named Medium-sized Law Firm of the Year in the Manchester Legal Awards (MLAs).

On the very same evening, it claimed the Boutique Law Firm title at the eprivateclient Excellence Awards in London.

During the last full financial year, Hall Brown saw turnover increase from £5.5 million to £6.6 million and its staff roster grow by a similar proportion.

It has recruited a dozen individuals during that time and now employs a total of 64 people, 48 of whom are fee earners.

As well as its headquarters at the Grade II-listed Ship Canal House in Manchester and a London operation based in Holborn, Hall Brown has two Yorkshire offices – in Leeds and Sheffield.