Ince & Co

Last updated
Ince
Ince Gordon Dadds logo.png
Headquarters London
No. of offices21
No. of employees700
Major practice areasGeneral Practice
Key peopleDonald Brown
(Chief Executive) [1]
Simon Howard
(Chairman)
RevenueDecrease2.svg £97.0 million (2021/22) [2]
Date founded1866
Dissolved2023
Website www.inceco.com/en

Ince & Co was a United Kingdom-based holding company with a core business in legal services, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange. [3] The company also offered complementary services in accounting, financial services, consulting, and pensions advice. [4] It was previously known as Ince Gordon Dadds LLP , following the acquisition of Ince & Co by Gordon Dadds Group LLP, [5] and rebranded as The Ince Group in August 2019. [6]

Contents

In 2022, The Ince Group ranked 47th in The Lawyer UK 200 list, with £100.2 million in revenue during the previous year. [6] As of 2021, the firm operated in 9 countries and had 21 offices, and employed over 700 employees worldwide, including support staff. [7] The chief executive officer was Donald Brown, while the non-executive chairman was Simon Howard. [8]

In May 2023, Axiom DWFM purchased the firm out of administration and reverted its name to Ince & Co. On 3 October 2023, the Solicitors Regulation Authority intervened to close down Axiom Ince. [9]

History

In 2017, Gordon Dadds LLP became the second law firm to list on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, raising £20 million, two years after Gateley became the first UK law firm to have an IPO. [10] [11] The Legal Services Act of 2007, which went into force in 2012, had made it possible for non-lawyers to own or invest in law firms organised as "alternative business structures". [12] In 2018, Gordon Dadds acquired Metcalfes Solicitors in Bristol. [13]

In early 2019, Gordon Dadds LLP acquired the UK and Chinese businesses of Ince & Co for an estimated £21 million in consideration, [14] creating the largest publicly traded law firm in the UK based on revenue at the time, until DWF went public in March of that year. [15] [16] Both Gordon Dadds and Ince & Co were well established in the field of insurance law. [17] Gordon Dadds was known for resolving large and complex disputes in the London and international markets, [17] and had a private client and family practice, [18] while Ince & Co was a network of international commercial law firms, [17] specialising in the shipping and insurance sectors, [19] as well as energy and aviation. [6]

Six months into the merger, the firm rebranded the name of most of its legal businesses, including most of its international offices, to "Ince"; [5] only its private client business then in Mayfair retained the name "Gordon Dadds". [6] For its financial year 2020, the combined firm reported an 87% increase in revenue, followed by a slowdown in growth in subsequent years. [20] On 13 March 2022, the firm's IT team shut down its servers after detecting a cyber attack; [21] in April, it was granted an injunction to deter hackers from leaking its data online. [22]

In April 2023, Ince Gordon Dadds filed for administration while Donald Brown reportedly attempted to reclaim the firm. [23] Less than one month later, the firm was purchased by Axiom DWFM and operated under the former name "Ince & Co." [24] All former Ince employees were re-hired. [24]

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References

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