Hot on the heels of announcing Kate Moran’s appointment to our expanding partnership, the next stage of Collins & Hoy’s growth has already been set. On April 29th we will merge with Karina Leapman & Co a merger that sees Collins & Hoy expand into West Hampstead and St John’s Wood.
While we are very proud of our privileged position as a growing local business in what has been a very difficult market for everyone, this landmark is the first step towards providing the highest quality legal advice with the best possible level of service to even more clients across a larger area of north London.
From our first conversations with Karina, it was immediately obvious we shared a lot of common ground.
We are both long-standing local firms who have strong ties with and an unwavering focus on our local communities. We are both family firms, both in terms of where we’ve come from and in the way we strive to maintain our family feel for both our clients and our colleagues. And we both shared a deep desire to find a way to offering our clients an even better service.
For Karina Leapman (who’ll join us as a consultant) and her colleague Rina Patel (who’ll join us as a senior member of our family law team), this meant expanding to provide the additional personal legal services their clients needed: property, wills and probate and estate planning as Karina explains:
“Family issues almost always have a property or future planning element and it’s easier and more comfortable if a client can ask someone they already know and trust to help. Our merger with Collins & Hoy will mean our clients can now access a fully formed property and private client team already delivering the same exceptional advice and service our clients expect from us.”
For Collins & Hoy it meant increasing our footprint and making our services available to clients in the West Hampstead and St John’s Wood area.
We now have offices in St John’s Wood. This not only allows Karina and Rina to continue to be on hand for their existing clients in the area, but it will also provide an alternative venue for clients. It will make meeting more convenient for those working in central London, something managing partner Aisling Collins was quick to recognise:
“Many of our clients work in central London so being able to offer meetings in both Pinner and St John’s Wood will make our advice much more accessible. We are now only a few tube stops from the West End. We pride ourselves on the service we offer, and our new more central base will be a huge improvement.”
We also recognised Karina and Rina’s experience as family lawyers who make a great addition to our specialist family law team as commented by our managing partner, Bernadette Hoy:
“We are delighted to welcome Karina and Rina to our family law team and to Collins & Hoy. Both Karina and Rina have many years of experience as family lawyers and their reputations speak for themselves.”