Pryke: Deal deepens and expands our services
A London law firm with a host of high-profile clients is targeting more acquisitions after bringing in a boutique practice well known for its entertainment work.
Hamlins now has a headcount of 100, including 20 partners, after bringing in three partners from Swan Turton – Stuart Barry, Julian Bentley and Catherine Fehler – two fee-earners and two other staff, along with three consultants, including founder Julian Turton.
Hamlins specialises in media, sport, real estate, retail, leisure and tech. It has been lead solicitor in all phone hacking cases brought against News Group Newspapers for a number of years, and is now acting for claimants against Associated Newspapers.
High-profile individual clients include Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, broadcaster Clare Balding, and former Spice Girls Mel B and Melanie Chisholm, as well as sports organisations like the England and Wales Cricket Board and Professional Triathletes Organisation.
Corporate clients include Foxtons Europe, Palace Capital PLC, LEON Restaurants, Structadene Group, Powerleague, Shutterstock, NCP, William Pears Group and Winkworth PLC.
Media and tech practice Swan Turton is particularly well known for its music work and acting for comedians and actors.
Through its work for PBJ Management, it has represented Adam Buxton, Noel Fielding, Eddie Izzard, Nish Kumar, Tim Minchin and Howard Goodall. Novelist Sebastian Faulks is another client.
Hamlins managing partner Matthew Pryke said: “This deal is a milestone in our evolution, bringing together two firms at the top of their game. It makes a lot of sense for both of us.
“Their expertise both deepens and expands our services, especially on the non-contentious side, while Swan Turton clients will have access to our broader offering.”
He pointed to the music practice. While Hamlins is a leading firm on rights and copyright infringement claims – acting for record label BMG and PPL PRS Ltd – Swan Turton represents a host of top bands and recording artists, including the estate of Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, Madness, and seminal electronic artists Underworld and Leftfield.
Julian Bentley, another founding partner of Swan Turton back in 2005, said the partners had received several approaches but Hamlins stood out for both the synergies between the two practices and its culture.
“At the heart of this deal is that we felt we would be really comfortable with these people,” he said.
Mr Pryke is in his second term as managing partner and turnover has increased by more than a quarter since he took over in 2020.
He said the commercial firm was looking to build on its model through bolt-ons rather than mergers so as to maintain its brand and culture.
Giles Bright joined last month as a commercial disputes partner from Bankside Commercial, bringing the central London firm’s disputes practice with him. It also hired a new head of employment, Penny Hunt, from Bird & Bird, at the start of the year.
Until now, the firm has been happy operating under the radar but senior partner Joseph Holder said the firm recognised that, in order to deliver its strategy, “the market needs to know more about us”.
He added: “Our culture, clients and ambition make us an attractive proposition for other lawyers and, in a competitive market for talent, we will now be more vocal about what we do.”
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