Paul Hardman has been appointed partner at 450-strong law firm Morgan Cole.

He has headed the firm’s Bristol city centre office since it was established in early 2007, an office which has expanded rapidly to include three corporate lawyers and another 10 specialist insurance solicitors.

Robin Havard, Chairman of Morgan Cole, said, "Paul and his team have made a major impact on the South West market since they established our presence in Bristol.

"Paul has completed a large number of transactions in a short space of time; his partnership at Morgan Cole is a reflection of the excellent work undertaken to date and the confidence with which the firm views prospects for our Bristol office."

Paul Hardman joined Morgan Cole from Bristol law firm Clarke Willmott, where he was head of the corporate and commercial team.

He is a founder member of the South West Corporate Governance Forum and author of the Accountants’ Digest (Tottell) on Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004 and contributor to Aspatore Books chapter on doing deals in the UK. 

He said, "This year’s performance has been a stunning result for our office and we are delighted that our offering to the SME market has been so well received. We have been extremely busy since day one, proving the firm’s confidence in moving into Bristol was very well founded."
 
"We have also entered 2008 with a very strong pipeline of new work across the South West and are looking forward to developing our relationships in the region."

Regional corporate partner Johnathan Rees added, "We are delighted at the performance of Paul’s team and confident that their SME focus allied to our wider leveraged M&A offering will provide a solid basis for the firm’s development in the region."

Paul Hardman is the sixth solicitor to be appointed Partner at Morgan Cole during the last year, the others being Sian Jones (DMG, Property Litigation), Joanna Rees (Commercial, Construction), Matt Jenkin (Employment), Mark Bailey (Insurance) and Matthew Smith (Employment).

Morgan Cole also has offices in Reading, Oxford, Cardiff and Swansea.