Following its most successful year to date, Derby-based law firm Flint Bishop, which employs 187 lawyers and support staff, opens its new Birmingham office this Wednesday (15 January).

This comes after a period of expansion across the full-service law firm with the new office to offer a broad range of commercial services.

Last year, Flint Bishop posted a record turnover of £14.4 m, up nearly 10% on the previous year with profits also rising over the same period.

With a substantial number of new recruits, including two partners in the insurance litigation and employment teams over the last 12 months, the firm has received a lot of interest from lawyers working within Birmingham to join the new office.

The new West Midlands operation will be based in the heart of the city’s business district at Grosvenor House on Bennetts Hill, just off Temple Row and Colmore Row.

Flint Bishop will have an immediate presence of lawyers working in insurance litigation, commercial litigation and debt recovery followed by further teams in other practice areas.

Insurance litigation is the firm’s largest practice area for headcount and revenue, which has significantly grown over the past three years.

The team represents clients across government agencies, insurers and companies handling claims such as motor claims, fraud, credit hire, large loss, catastrophic loss and recoveries.

The firm has already attracted candidates from BLM, DAC Beachcroft, Keoghs, Browne Jacobson and DWF.

With 36 staff, this makes it one of the largest defendant litigation teams across the region and it is also continuing to expand the portfolio of high quality, complex cases it undertakes.

Flint Bishop’s chief executive Qamer Ghafoor said:

“This is a very exciting time for us and the move into Birmingham reflects a period of sustained and significant growth for the firm.

“The new Birmingham office represents a huge investment for Flint Bishop and forms part of a wider strategy to meet the requirements of our national client base, raise our profile and attract more legal talent from the city.

“It provides an opportunity for lawyers to work within a gold standard Investors in People accredited law firm where staff are really valued, recognised and rewarded, whilst maintaining the quality of clients and legal work associated with the Birmingham market.”

Flint Bishop is recognised as one of the UK’s premier national firms for commercial litigation and debt recovery representing leading brands such as Royal Mail, Autoglass, Sixt, Costcutter and the Food Standards Agency. Ranked in the ‘Top Tier’ for The Legal 500 for both debt recovery and commercial litigation, the firm has also won all three major national debt recovery awards.

“Litigation and recoveries are major growth areas for us - over the past 12 months, we’ve handled almost 50,000 cases at the combined value over £100m. Our Birmingham operation will give us greater scope to build on this strength,”