Author Archives: Tim Cogan

1. Local firm support propels Paralympian to Tokyo

   July 16, 2021 4:21 pm Leave a Comment

   Deeply rooted in the local community for almost 350 years, full-service law firm Tinsdills Solicitors are adding power to the paddle of North Staffordshire Paralympic canoeist, Ian Marsden.

   Propelling him all the way to the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020, this sponsorship deal sees Tinsdills Solicitors become Ian’s primary local sponsor, and both parties are looking forward to building a close, long-standing connection. Having had his eyes set on the Tokyo Paralympic Games for a year longer and a pandemic more than he had bargained for, he was stretched physically as a four-year run in to this major event, extended to five years. It was Tinsdills’ history of supporting local sports clubs and encouraging local people to easily access sports, that drew Ian’s attention.

   “There’s no denying that it’s been a challenging run up to the Games this summer and with the support of Tinsdills, I’m aiming to push the boundaries of what I can achieve. I want to promote that having a disability isn’t life limiting, in fact it’s just the opposite. It shows that whatever challenges life throws at you, you can go on to achieve great things, empowered by the positive spirit that belonging to a great community brings,” comments Ian. “It’s going to be a tough event with humidity to adjust to and changes to the rules now meaning only the winners of the heats go through to the next round, but it’s great to be able to face these challenges, inspire others and make local people proud.”

   Ian is well-known locally and was recognised as Sports Personality of the Year in 2016, by both Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford Borough Councils. Having achieved a Silver and Bronze medals for Shooting in the London 2012 Paralympics, he went on to win Silver in both the Europeans and World Championships for Paracanoe in 2013, won Gold in 2014 and 2015 at the Europeans, Silver in the World Championships in 2014 and Bronze at Rio’s 2016 Paralympics with the Paracanoe Sprint Team.

   Tinsdills’ Managing Director Tim Cogan commented, “Ian is an inspiration, and a fantastic role model for our community. That’s why we’ll be encouraging everyone to cheer him on as he prepares for Tokyo. We hope that knowing he has such strong local support will spur him on and help Ian to inspire other aspiring sportspeople in our community. We’re all about people at Tinsdills, it’s incredibly important to us to be able to commit time and resource to support our local community through events, donations and volunteering”.

   Giving back to the local community is a key pillar of the company’s ethos. Tinsdills have been strong supporters of the Alice Charity, the Donna Louise and the Douglas Macmillan Hospice for serval years. Staff engage in regular fundraisers for national charities such as Children in Need and Headway, as well as arranging initiatives to raise contributions for local food banks.

   Tinsdills see Ian’s sponsorship as a continuation of sporting support which includes being a main sponsor of Newcastle Town FC and its 32-team youth section, Trentham RUFC, Leek RUFC, Leek Cricket Club, Sandbach FC, Blythe Bridge Marvels and the Red Street Eagles. They also sponsor a Tee at Wolstanton Golf Club and get involved by taking part in many of their charity golf days, raising funds for a variety of city-wide initiatives.

   Tim adds, “We are in awe of Ian’s achievements and the strength, grit and determination he has shown on his way to Tokyo and wish him good speed across the all-important 200m canoe sprint, from his Staffordshire homeland 5,900 miles away.”

2. Tinsdills Acquires Several Departments from Grindeys Solicitors

   January 21, 2020 3:18 pm Leave a Comment

   [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We are pleased to announce that we have acquired the Corporate Law, Commercial Property, Dispute Resolution and Wills, Trusts and Probate departments of fellow Staffordshire based law firm, Grindeys Solicitors.

   The acquisition sees us welcome 11 team members from Grindeys Solicitors to now offer a larger team who are all dedicated to providing even more legal services. The new team members bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to our current teams to enhance the legal advice we offer across Staffordshire and Cheshire.

   Commenting on the acquisition Tim Cogan, Managing Director Compliance Officer and Head of the Personal Injury Department at Tinsdills Solicitors says “Tinsdills Solicitors and Grindeys Solicitors have both successfully worked in the local legal market as independent providers of high-quality legal advice to both personal and business clients for many years. As Grindeys Solicitors have now decided to contract the areas of legal work in which they operate this is a great opportunity to pool both firms’ expertise in these specific areas so that we can enhance the type and level of services offered to the mutual benefits of both firms clients”

   Our new team members include:

   Company and Commercial / Business Services –

   Ryan Marr, Solicitor

   

    

   Karen Green, Secretary

   

   Dispute Resolution –

   Jason Washington, Solicitor

   

    

   Linda Collett, Secretary

   

   Commercial Property –

   Julia Hagan, Solicitor

   

    

   Lauren Wild, Solicitor

   

    

   Laura Haughton, Secretary

   

   Wills, Trust and Probate –

   Luigi Dimaio, Solicitor

   

    

   Michelle Birchall, Legal Executive

   

    

   Hollie Higgins, Secretary

   

    

   Maggie Williams, Secretary

   

   Peter Hamilton, Managing Director and Head of the Wills Trusts and Probate Department comments; “I’m delighted to welcome new team members to our department and the business as a whole! The new additions will strengthen our business, helping us to continue to develop our already strong offering in the local area; creating a very exciting time and future for Tinsdills Solicitors”.

   This is an incredible milestone for the business, which is a testament to the outstanding team we have assembled, the great business we have created and exceptional service we continually deliver.

   We are incredibly excited about the potential this unlocks for us and with the additional resource which will leverage impact and scale for future growth across Staffordshire and Cheshire.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

3. Tinsdills Celebrate Another Award Success

   February 16, 2018 12:14 pm Leave a Comment

   Last night, 15^th February 2018, saw Tinsdills Solicitors add another award to its portfolio as it was presented with the Employer of the Year Award at the annual Performance Through People Achievement Awards Ceremony, held at The Village Hotel in Walsall.

   Tinsdills have worked with PTP training for a number of years and the partnership has resulted in a number of apprentices successfully completing their training in a variety of areas, including Business Administration, Customer Service and Team Leading. This has allowed them to then successfully progress their careers throughout the Company.

   Jane Massey, HR manager said “I am thrilled that we were awarded Employer of the Year. We have worked with Performance Through People over the past few years to train several of our Apprentices and Admin Staff. All the Apprentices who have completed training programmes with PTP have passed with flying colours and we are delighted that their hard work and the support that they have been given both by PTP and their work colleagues has been recognised in this award.”

   The award demonstrates Tinsdills’ commitment to training and development, which has always been at the forefront of company policy, and is evidenced by Tinsdills retaining their ‘Investors in People’ accreditation for over 10 years.

   Tim Cogan, Managing Director said “I am immensely proud of what our Company has achieved in providing our Apprentices with the opportunity to work and gain experience within the legal sector, and then to continue developing their career after successfully completing their apprenticeships.”

   

   Pictured above is Jane Massey HR Manager, Tim Cogan Managing Director and Sue Shallcross PTP Support Trainer.

   PTP Training have been providing high quality training throughout the Midlands to various companies for over forty years and have been graded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted for their partnership engagement.

   https://ptp-training.co.uk/

4. Here at Tinsdills, We Are Expanding!

   July 6, 2017 12:55 pm Leave a Comment

   Tinsdills are further strengthening their team with appointments in key positions across the firm.

   To support our business growth across all four of our offices in Hanley, Newcastle, Leek and Sandbach, we have recruited a number of new staff in key positions, meaning the firm now numbers 97 staff across our branches.

   We have grown steadily and carefully to build a strong team to adapt to the modern legal services market and to continue to service our expanding client base. Through natural growth, mergers and acquisitions we have been able to keep moving forward even in times when economic conditions have been far from ideal and many in our industry have struggled.

   We are also delighted to have been able to choose some great people to join us, meaning we have people who really understand the culture and ethics of what Tinsdills is all about.

   Some of the new faces include Liz Tappin, who specialises in residential property at our Sandbach office.

   After a successful career teaching Economics and Business Studies, Liz decided to move to the Legal profession and joined us in late 2016.
   Outside work, Liz enjoys walking, playing tennis and spending time with her friends and family. Liz is also a Hammer, meaning she is a lifelong West Ham United supporter.

   We also welcome James Charnock to our Newcastle under Lyme and Sandbach offices. James qualified as a solicitor in 2007 and specialises in wills, estate administration, inheritance tax planning, powers of attorney, court of protection and trust matters.

   Away from work, James enjoys spending time with family and friends, but also when conditions are right he can be seen heading to the shore as he pursues his hobby of surfing.

   Next, we wish to say a big welcome to Zoe Norgrove, who works in residential property in our Hanley office.

   Zoe previously worked for a large corporate firm in Birmingham  and qualified as a Licensed Conveyancer in 2011, and she is now putting her experience to great use dealing with residential property in our Hanley office.

   Being a mum, Zoe is kept busy with her baby boy and demanding dog, when away from the rigours of conveyancing.

   Rebekah Lewis qualified as a Solicitor in March having been through our Trainee Solicitor programme, and she has now joined our Business Services Unit to continue to specialise in Corporate and Commercial work.

   Rebekah can assist with a wide range of corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, disposals (both asset and share sales), management buy outs and re-organisations.

   Outside of work, Rebekah enjoys playing netball, reading and attending Sunday league football to support her local team.

   Deborah Turner has joined our Family Law department working in both Newcastle under Lyme and Sandbach.

   Deborah has 20 years’ experience in family law working all over the country and has been a member of the specialist Children Panel and Resolution Family Advanced Panel.
   In her home life, Deborah is a mum of two Junior School age girls and in her spare time, which many Mums will tell you is very little, she enjoys reading, theatre and takes ballet, tap and disco lessons!

   As well as these new faces, we also have three new Trainee Solicitors starting with us in September and we are recruiting for further positions throughout the business as we continue to broaden our service offering to our new and existing client base.

   We welcome all our new recruits to Tinsdills, and we are confident they will all play a huge part in our continuing success in delivering outstanding client service.

5. Another Law Firm Bites the Dust

   March 2, 2017 12:43 pm Leave a Comment

   – Does Anybody Care?

   Since the introduction of the Legal Services Act and the liberalisation of the rules around ownership of law firms, we have seen a considerable change in the way that law firms operate in the UK, and the recent relaxation of the rules regarding separate businesses introduced by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) will no doubt change things further.

   Over the last 9 years we have seen significant mergers of existing larger law firms in their attempt to retain their market share in the face of increased opposition. We have also experienced existing law firms selling out to venture capitalists, established legal brands from other countries setting up in the UK with a view to dominate the market and, of course, the setting up of new firms, and the setting up of alternative business structures (ABS) attempting to introduce novel and inventive ways of delivering legal services as a way to gain a foothold in the market.

   Any new business or change in the way in which an existing business operates carries its own risks, whether it be a significant culture clash following a merger, or a business model that looks attractive on paper but in practice proves to be exactly the opposite. Where venture capitalists’ money is involved, their voracious appetite for a return on their investment often results in firms having to significantly expand quickly (and probably invest all profits made in the interim to do so) only for the business to be sold on for a profit (with a healthier balance sheet) in the fairly short term. Whether or not such quick expansion or growth in a mature legal market is sustainable in the medium or long term remains open to question.

   On the basis that some of these new and “exciting” legal ventures are established purely for short term gain, rather than providing high quality legal services to clients who they intend to look after and nurture for the future, it is no surprise that there is a significant attrition rate amongst these firms and with any such failures there will be losers. However, to go back to my initial question – does anybody really care if that is the case?

   The public’s perception of lawyers has never been good, and this can only be harmed further by the publicity given to the demise of law firms which not only are likely to attract significant media coverage (Halliwells and Parabis being good examples of this) but are also likely to increase public concerns as to whether or not lawyers are actually putting their clients interests ahead of their own.

   In March 2016 the SRA’s Chief Executive Paul Phillip was reported as saying that if a large firm collapsed, he would expect the market to pick up the pieces rather than leave it to the regulator to sort out – in effect what mostly happens in these types of cases through a pre-pack administration. Apart from the entity who acquire the assets of a firm under such an arrangement (which sometimes is those quite closely connected with the firm that has collapsed), everyone else loses out. The staff still lose their jobs, unsecured creditors lose their money (just look at the recent example of Triton Global where it was reported unsecured creditors would face a shortfall of almost £4.9 million) and clients have to find new lawyers to deal with their ongoing or new legal matters.

   As a lawyer myself, although I run a business I also feel that I am a member of the “legal profession” and part of my duties as a lawyer, and manager of a legal firm, is to protect clients’ interests – and the SRA Code of Conduct confirms that. The best way to do this, in my view, and to try to maintain clients’ confidence in the legal profession, is to be able to answer three client questions in the affirmative:
   1. Yes – we are still here
   2. Yes – we still hold your original documents which have not been packed up and stored somewhere in an administrator/liquidator’s warehouse or sold
   3. Yes – we can provide you with the further legal services that you require.

   You may call my view conservative, with a small “c”, but it has always been our plan to build up our firm on a regional basis, not only providing excellent legal services (which clients take as a given) but also helping to support clients, either corporate or individual, on an ongoing basis. Clients want the security of continuity whether it is a client wanting to make a new Will or buy a house, or corporate clients who want to change their Shareholder Agreements. Do not think for a minute, however, that our firm hasn’t significantly changed its internal structures, the legal services that we offer and the way in which we deliver them. If you stand still, particularly in this ever changing legal environment, you will go under. A balance has to be struck and in our view that’s served best by evolution not revolution.

   I am sure that in addition to those firms who have, themselves, reported to the SRA that they may be in financial difficulties or have other reasons to suspect that their businesses may be failing, the SRA operates its own internal “watchlist”. In my view the SRA themselves should care if legal service providers fail. They should do all that they can to assist firms to prevent that happening rather than leaving it to others to sort out.

   It may only be a matter of time before what is perceived by the public as a large legal firm collapses – more likely to be a perception based on media branding than actual size– and to expect that not to have significant consequences in so far as the public’s confidence in legal firms is not, in my view, realistic.

   Liberalisation comes, not only with opportunities, but also threats. Let’s hope that going forward more care is taken to ensure that business models of new style firms are sustainable in the long term rather than predicated to short term gain.