Bath-headquartered law firm Royds Withy King has rebranded as RWK Goodman following the completion of its merger with single-office London practice Goodman Derrick.
The merged firm has revenues of more than £50m and 350-plus specialist lawyers across its business, personal and injury practices – roughly a third of them based in London – and a total staffing of more than 600 people.
It will continue to trade from Royds Withy King’s offices, including its two in Bath – Northumberland Buildings in Queen Square and Midland Bridge House on Midland Bridge – and its London base. It also has offices in Bristol, Swindon and Oxford.
Goodman Derrick’s office in St Brides Street in the City of London will close.
The Lawyer UK200 table of leading law firms ranked Royds Withy King at 93rd in its 2021 edition, with revenues of £36.9m.
Goodman Derrick, which has 20 partners leading a team of 90, was at number 171 in the table with revenue of £14.2m.
Based on these figures, RWK Goodman would be placed at 74th in the table.
Royds Withy King managing partner Graham Street will continue in that role in the enlarged firm with Goodman Derrick’s senior partner Edward Hoare and chief operating officer Mark Jones joining its executive committee.
Graham, pictured, said: “The completion of this merger is a significant step forward for both firms.
“It strengthens our position as a Top 100 UK practice, enhancing and extending the breadth and depth of expertise and specialist services available to clients, as well as providing significant opportunities for further growth and development for our people.
The two firms announced they were in talks about a possible combination last October. Goodman Derrick was founded in 1954 by Lord Goodman, who later became a key figure in British politics, including as solicitor and advisor to Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He was also chairman of the Arts Council.
Its core services range from corporate and corporate transactions, commercial contracts, employment law, real estate and construction to dispute resolution and wealth and family.
Royds Withy King was formed in September 2016 through the merger of Bath-headquartered Withy King with single-office city of London practice Royds.
Withy King had previously made a number of small, strategic mergers including with Oxfordshire-based Whetter Duckworth Fowler in 2013 and Swindon’s Lemon & Co and Edward Pilling & Co in Oxford in 2014.
