National legal and professional services group Ampa 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-focused 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.
Notes to editors
About Ampa
Ampa is a group of legal and professional services companies with a shared purpose: to unlock potential.
Ampa creates opportunities and provides businesses within the group with the infrastructure needed to enable and accelerate growth. The group encourages abundance mentality, distinct brands with personality, empowerment with accountability, and autonomy with transparency. It believes in fostering trust and honesty with authenticity.
Current brands within the group include full-service law firm for life and business Shakespeare Martineau, consumer champion law firm Lime Solicitors, planning consultancy Marrons Planning, uninsured loss recovery experts Corclaim, and cyber security consultancy CSS Assure.
Placing people first, the brands within the group have been listed in Best Companies 2021 as ‘outstanding’ and in the top 20 law firms, top 100 Midlands and top 75 large London businesses.
The group is proactively seeking mergers, acquisitions, team recruitment and lateral hires that share the group’s culture and values, with the ambition to double in size by 2023.
For more information visit: https://ampa.co.uk/
About Mayo Wynne Baxter
Founded 150 years ago in Lewes, East Sussex, today Mayo Wynne Baxter LLP (MWB) is considered one of the best law firms in the South East. The award-winning and progressive law firm has seven hubs across Sussex, in Brighton, Crawley, Eastbourne, Storrington, Lewes, Seaford and East Grinstead. It has ambitious plans to grow further into Kent and Surrey.
With more than 170 staff, the firm’s experts support clients across property, corporate and commercial law, employment, litigation, international, private client and family law.
Mayo Wynne Baxter’s long-standing reputation has been built on providing exceptional service, achieved by employing outstanding people.
For more information please visit: https://www.mayowynnebaxter.co.uk/