We’ re also creating more opportunities for the people already here and we want to create more.”
LAW
The future – Ward Hadaway managing partner Steven Petrie( right) with the firm’ s Teesside office executive partner, Lee Bramley.
a glass ceiling. We couldn’ t resource specialisms. Maybe we’ d need a tax lawyer to do something or a planning lawyer in real estate. Trying to get those specialisms is expensive and they weren’ t available on Teesside.
“ We’ d have conversations almost annually about,‘ Do we branch out and do other areas of work?’ We were missing out on being a full-service law firm.
“ The benefit of merging, and the benefit for our clients and the wider business community on Teesside, is that, in one fell swoop, we now offer a whole range of services that we didn’ t before.”
The Endeavour Partnership was joining a major success story. Ward Hadaway employs nearly 600 people, including 315 lawyers, in its five UK centres and posted a 2024-25 turnover of £ 53.6m – up 11.6 %. And there’ s a 10-year plan to reach a £ 100m turnover by 2035.
Other areas now offered on Teesside include private client, planning, construction, family law, regulatory, tax, immigration and more.
But why was Endeavour such an attractive proposition for Ward Hadaway?
Head of private client, Alison Hall, explained:“ I know from conversations that Endeavour was always admired by other firms because they had such an excellent client base and expertise, so it was great for us that Endeavour chose Ward Hadaway to be its partner.
“ We wanted a foothold in Teesside but it needed to be so much more than a satellite office, or PO Box. It was about being very much a part of the fabric of Teesside, and Endeavour were uniquely positioned to own that crown.“
We’ re also creating more opportunities for the people already here and we want to create more.”
And seven months in, the vision we all had is already working.”
Nik Tunley joined The Endeavour Partnership in 2008 and led its corporate team for more than a decade before becoming its finance partner. He’ s now Ward Hadaway’ s head of corporate.
He said of the merger:“ With Teesside between the Leeds and Newcastle offices, everything becomes much more accessible. It gives us genuine coverage from South Yorkshire to the Borders and across to Manchester.
“ Joining Ward Hadaway, the cultural fit was right – it wasn’ t something driven purely by value, it was about developing the people.”
The leap from being a firm of 50 to part of a 600-strong organisation will take adjustments and time, Lee acknowledges – but he says the first seven months have been hugely encouraging.
He said:“ I said to the team before Christmas,‘ The transition from Endeavour to Ward Hadaway is a journey. What made Endeavour successful was not the name on the front of the building, but the people in it, and that’ s not changing’. Every week, I see more connections being made. It’ s very exciting times.”
To illustrate the opportunities for staff the new arrangement brings, he cites the example of a trainee banking lawyer who might otherwise have left Endeavour because that career path wasn’ t previously available.
He said:“ It creates opportunities for our people – they can now pick up their careers and take them where they want. It’ s within their gift.”
And he’ s more confident than ever that the merger has been good news for Teesside.
He said:“ I spoke to another law firm, who said,‘ Whatever the deal is, we’ ll do better’. And I said,‘ You’ ve already lost me. That’ s not what it’ s about.’
“ The culture had to be right. Our strength is the people in this building, so to do something that would adversely affect them would make no sense.
“ On Teesside, we’ re starting to add value, because now we can deliver services that we couldn’ t before and that was always the critical point for us. We’ re running big projects in the way they should be run, with people who are experts in their divisions.
“ We’ re also creating more opportunities for the people already here and we want to create more, as we grow from 50 to 60 to 70 or whatever the number might end up being – high-quality, well-paid jobs on Teesside.
“ Someone said the phrase‘ From Teesside, in Teesside, for Teesside’ and I think that sums it up.
“ People know how important Teesside is to me. If I thought this would be detrimental to Teesside, we wouldn’ t have done the deal. But everything that’ s happened since has reassured me it was the right thing to do.”
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