Yorkshire law firm Ison Harrison has made two new appointments, further boosting its company and commercial law division.

 

Victoria Boid joins as a Partner in the Corporate team and Chris Thomson as Commercial Litigation Solicitor. Both will be based at Duke House, the firm’s city centre headquarters in Leeds.

A specialist corporate mergers and acquisitions lawyer advising both buy and sell side clients with over 17 years’ experience gained in the commercial sector, Victoria Boid trained in London and has worked internationally. Having also worked as an in-house counsel within the Leeds tech sector, her most recent role prior to joining Ison Harrison was as legal director with DWF.

Having completed numerous client secondments over the years, Victoria has extensive experience of advising and representing owner-managed businesses, large corporates and financial institutions. Her new role involves supporting mid-market M&A activity in Leeds across a variety of commercial sectors and a diverse range of clients including those backed by private equity.

In her new position, Victoria will work closely with Richard Coulthard, Director and Head of Commercial services at Ison Harrison.

 

Chris Thomson is an experienced solicitor in commercial litigation work with a particular specialism in professional negligence, housing disrepair and financial mis-selling.

Previously with Jordans Solicitors and latterly heading up the professional negligence department, Chris brings over 14 years’ legal experience to his new role within Ison Harrison’s company and commercial division. Chris has specialist expertise in professional negligence claims against solicitors, unions, accountants and financial advisors and previously represented former coal miners recovering compensation for vibration white finger, where previous claims were under-settled.

 

Commenting on the appointments, Richard Coulthard, said: “We are delighted to welcome our newest recruits, Victoria and Chris to the firm’s company and commercial division. Our commercial services teams grew by over 30% in the last financial year and these appointments further expands our commercial offering. As the commercial departments continue to grow rapidly, Victoria’s appointment represents another strong strategic hire which further builds on the expertise and knowledge offered by the team. Victoria brings a highly valuable and varied skill set to the role that will serve to further our expansion plans for our commercial services. Chris’ appointment also serves to add considerable specialist expertise to the department, further diversifying the litigation team and our client base. The division as a whole continues to go from strength to strength and build on the outstanding successes achieved by the commercial team during the past two years.”

Ison Harrison, which has a network of seventeen offices throughout the region, was founded in 1978. 45 years on it now employs more than 240 staff across Yorkshire and offers the broadest suite of legal services in the region.

The firm, which became 100% employee-owned in 2022, has an annual turnover of £19 million and represents around 20,000 clients each year.

 

Jonathan Wearing, managing director of Ison Harrison, added: “A year after our new employee-owned structure was put in place, Ison Harrison remains totally committed to recruiting and retaining the very best people in the legal profession, as demonstrated by our two newest appointments. As an employee-owned business, we continue to attract highly experienced and skilled professionals to the firm. Making sure clients have access to such unparalleled expertise is a key focus for us in 2023 and to begin the year with two key strategic appointments represents a perfect start to what is shaping up to be another record-breaking year of success for the firm.”

Ison Harrison won Law Firm of the Year (Medium) at the Yorkshire Legal Awards in 2022 and currently holds 13 Law Society accreditations including Conveyancing Quality, Clinical Negligence, Children Law, Family Law, Immigration & Asylum, and SRA Higher Courts Rights – civil and criminal.

 

Image caption: Pictured (left to right): New recruits Chris Thomson and Victoria Boid with Richard Coulthard, director and head of commercial services at Ison Harrison.