It’s been a busy year at Farleys, as you may have seen from our website and social media updates! With so much going on you may have missed some of the exciting news we’ve announced in 2023, so here’s a brief run-down of the highlights…
Mulderrigs
After joining the Lawfront Group in 2022, we continued to expand our regional footprint by joining forces with Rawtenstall based firm, Mulderrigs. This allows us to provide a full range of legal services from their Bank Street offices and allow Mulderrigs to offer further legal services to their existing clients. We’ve enjoyed getting involved in events in the Rawtenstall community, including Rawtenstall in Bloom and a range of business networking events.
New Partners and Associate Partners
In January, we announced the promotions of Victoria Mitchell (employment), Richard Bell (corporate), Mark Hague (insolvency), Kelly Darlington (inquests), and Jane Chadwick (personal injury), to partners.
In a second round of promotions for 2023, in September we announced six further new partners in Angharad Bentley (family), Rachel Harrison (commercial litigation), Steve Garbett (IT), Reta Rose (marketing), Bridgette Hibbert (crime), and Barry Bunyan (office manager). Alongside these, Molly Greenwood (commercial property), Neil Howard (crime), Graeme Booth (property), and Angela Riley (accounts) were promoted to associate partners.
Also, in September, as we welcomed our new intake of trainee solicitors, we celebrated the qualification of four of our trainee solicitors. Georgia Sayer, Alicia Langley, Haiqa Riaz, and Ross Liddle all took up permanent roles within the private client, abuse, and commercial property teams.
Other Accolades
We were shortlisted for two awards at this year’s Manchester Legal Awards in June. The firm was in the running for the Law Firm of the Year while partner Kelly Darlington was shortlisted for Solicitor of the Year. Kelly was crowned the winner in her category, rounding off an excellent 12 months for her and her team.
Our teams and solicitors received recognition in both the Legal 500 and the Chambers and Partners Guides. You can find a full summary of our Legal 500 results here.
We have also already started off 2024 with the accolade of being included in The Times Best Law Firms for 2024.
Partnerships and Sponsorships
While we continued our sponsorship of the Clayton End (now the Farleys Stand) at Accrington Stanley and saw the club earn a high-profile cup draw against Leeds United broadcast on the BBC, we were also pleased to be the new sponsors of the driving range at Pleasington Golf Club and Johnson’s Muy Thai Club in Preston to name but a few.
We were also delighted to be headline sponsors of Blackburn Beer Festival in aid of Blackburn and Darwen Youth Zone and had a great day volunteering behind the bar!
In September, we sponsored Shelter Lancashire’s first ever Blackburn Colour Run, which welcomed hundreds of runners to Witton Park on a Sunday afternoon to get coated in brightly coloured paint powder. Our team were, of course, in charge of the purple colour station and ended up getting messier than some of the runners! The event raised more than £5,000 for the charity.
Fundraising
Continuing our support for Shelter Lancashire, five brave volunteers walked up The Big One rollercoaster in Blackpool raising £1,748. Lydia Griffin, Isabella Scahill, Jonathan Webster, Anna Billingsley, and Megan Billington took in the fantastic views from the top as the night drew in across the town.
In March, we held our annual St Patrick’s Day fundraiser which welcomed over 140 guests for an afternoon of food, drinks, and entertainment. The event raised a record breaking £7,645 for Cash for Kids Lancashire.
In May, we entered 11 runners in the Manchester 10k. Alongside aiming to beat their personal bests, the team chose to raise funds for Sands, the baby loss charity. In total they raised £2,000.
Another annual event that returned this year was our Fashion Fundraiser with Sunday Best. The evening at the Rawtenstall shop included a showcase of Sunday Best’s latest collections, alongside style tips and a goody bag. Our wonderful guests helped us raise £5,000 for Rosemere Cancer Foundation.
A few weeks later, in November, our Christmas shopping evening returned to Preston Golf Club and welcomed over 100 people to browse a wide range of local stalls. Through a combination of ticket sales, raffle tickets, and a percentage of stallholder profits, the event raised £4,000 for CancerHelp Preston.
Alongside these larger fundraisers, we’ve also been able to make a series of smaller monetary donations to local causes which matter to our colleagues.
Our Christmas gift appeal has also recently drawn to a close and saw the donation of essential items, gifts, and clothes to charities local to our offices – Lancashire Women, Nightsafe, Church on the Street, Wood Street Mission, Cash for Kids, and the RAFT Foundation.
Best Wishes from Farleys
So, there it is, a quick run-down of the highlights of 2023. We’ve already got lots of exciting plans for the year ahead which we can’t wait to tell you about.
We’d just like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in 2023 and wish you all the best for 2024!
If you’re interested in staying up to date on what’s going on at Farleys, you can follow our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X or sign up to our mailing list.