Fieldfisher’s former Manchester head Matt Fleetwood, and Corporate Partner Jim Truscott, who both left the firm to found Beyond Professional Services Group, have today announced that the Head of Construction at Fieldfisher, James Flynn, has joined its corporate and transactional business Beyond Corporate as partner.
All three had worked together at boutique law firm Heatons and stayed together following its sale to Fieldfisher. Flynn cited the chance to reunite with respected colleagues, in a firm dedicated to delivering an exceptional customer experience to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial businesses, as an irresistible offer.
“Beyond is led by a strong management team, with a different approach to both its people and its clients than that of other, more traditional law firms,” he said. “Having worked with Jim and Matt before, I wanted to be a part of their vision for a new kind of legal business; it was a pretty compelling reason to join them.”
Flynn will play a lead role in Beyond’s very particular offering to entrepreneurial real estate clients, which will focus primarily on residential and commercial developments and investments, including hotels, student accommodation and PRS, as well as the energy sector.
“In addition, the team will continue to provide contentious and non-contentious support to our construction client base of main contractors, specialist sub-contractors and consultants,” he added.
“Our pipeline of work is extremely healthy – we are currently working on deals worth over £500m and there are a multitude of opportunities out there with our portfolio of regional, national and international clients. I believe we can achieve something very special here.”
Flynn said that further additions to the team were imminent.
In 2017, the Beyond Professional Services Group took a majority stake in corporate boutique law firm Atticus Legal and launching its Beyond Corporate brand. Several months later the Group added to its portfolio McAlister Family Law, the business led by highly respected child and family law specialist lawyer Amanda McAlister.
“The Group has grown rapidly from six to nearly 40 in little more than nine months, and every person we hire really gets what we’re trying to achieve here,” said Matt Fleetwood. “We’re not trying to be different for the sake of it, but because we want to challenge the norm and say – just because it’s always been done in a certain way doesn’t mean there aren’t better ways to reach the same goal. And although we’re deadly serious about the business of law, we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
“James totally understands, and appreciates, our ethos. We’re disrupting the traditional culture – which constrains many firms and practitioners – in a hugely positive way, and James is a key part of that.”
