News: Sheffield Law Society offers help to former Atteys clients

The Sheffield & District Law Society is offering free help to all former clients of Atteys in tracing documents held by the firm, following the closure earlier this month.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) stepped in to close down the South Yorkshire firm with John Owen of Gordons LLP appointed to act as the SRA's intervention agent.

At its peak, Atteys employed more than 300 legal professionals throughout South Yorkshire, and operated from 14 locations including Wath-upon-Dearne and Rotherham town centre. The firm acquired numerous local law practices including Sheffield-based Porrett, Fawcett & Renwick, Taylors Solicitors; Rotherham-based Middleton, Oliver & Marsh and Barnsley-based Dibb and Clegg.

Since Atteys ceased trading, a number of parts of the business have been sold to other law firms. Neil Hudgell Solicitors acquired casework based on Personal Injury and Medical Negligence claims.

As well as helping former clients of Atteys, the Sheffield & District Law Society holds a complete record of every law firm that has traded in Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley and operates a free document location service, designed to help concerned members of the public to locate legal documents.

Anna Rudkin, president of the Sheffield & District Law Society said: "Atteys was a very well known and respected law firm throughout the whole of South Yorkshire and its closure is a very sad loss for the people that it served as well as the broader South Yorkshire legal community.

"The closure of the firm is likely to come as a shock to many who have used the firm as their family solicitor and many are likely to be worried about what has happened to important documents such as wills and property title deeds.

"When a law firm closes, the files that it held are transferred to another firm, who will provide advice to existing clients in the interim. It is usual for the appointed firm to make contact, advising that they hold the documents as well as discussing next steps.

"In addition to offering support to members of the public, we are working with former employees of Atteys, allowing them to continue to keep their training up-to-date, as well as helping them to find alternative employment in the local area."

Atteys website
Sheffield Law Society website

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News: Students set sights on grand designs

Students from Sheffield Hallam University have been applying their newly developed skills and expertise in a bid to help leading South Yorkshire law firm Atteys maximise their use of office space and improve the working environment for their staff. It is the first project of its kind to be undertaken in the region and was pioneered by Dr Barry Haynes and Nick Nunnington from the Faculty of Development and Society of Sheffield Hallam University and Atteys Managing Partner Gill Knight. The project was based on similar work Nick has undertaken as a consultant in Scandinavia and Barry with a number of local and national government organisations and an Australian bank. The winning team came up with a number of ideas aimed at helping to maximise the firm's use of space as well as enhancing the way in which the firm operates. Ideas including the introduction of new IT systems, creating and enhancing staff social areas, as well as creating a more open plan layout within each of the offices. Over the past few weeks, nine teams of students, currently working towards degrees in Business Property Management, have been visiting the firm's offices across South Yorkshire, surveying working space, preparing and analysing satisfaction questionnaires and space utilisation records and interviewing members of staff in order to prepare reports and recommendations on how the business could achieve its goals by better use of its premises. Managing Partner Gill Knight said: "This project has been a really worthwhile partnership with benefits all round. It has been a real privilege to work with Sheffield Hallam University, and it's clear from the quality of work produced that the students have been working hard on their proposals. Each group produced some really innovative ideas and there is no doubt that they provoked a debate within the firm about how we use our premises to create a better working environment. "Nine groups of students presented a number of different ideas to us. What particularly impressed me was that each group came up with quite different solutions. I will certainly be looking at the viability of implementing a number of their recommendations in the near future."

Sheffield Hallam website
Rotherham

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News: New business club highlights growth of Dearne Valley

More than 200 businesses from across the Dearne Valley attended a new networking group, which hosted its inaugural meeting earlier this month. The newly formed Dearne Valley Business Club has been developed by one of South Yorkshire’s leading law firms, Atteys and The Royal Bank of Scotland, both patrons of the Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber. The new business club offers an opportunity for businesses to meet new contacts and help to encourage greater collaboration between local companies. It also aims to offer a less formal approach to networking and hopes to become a regular feature of the local business calendar. Charlotte Bradbury, partner at Atteys, told The South Yorkshire times: "I have worked in the Dearne Valley for a number of years and it has firmly established itself as one of the region's foremost places to do business. The change in the local economy has been dramatic to say the least and despite talk of a global economic downturn, many remain optimistic about the future."
Chamber article
South Yorkshire Times article
Rotherham

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