We have appointed a new Chief Executive and Management Board

Our three Equity Partners, Qamer Ghafoor, Andrew Cochrane and Ian Beardmore, have decided to revamp and streamline the management structure of the business, with a move away from traditional law firm management arrangements to a more corporate-style board structure.

The management changes come at the end of a period of consolidation and organic growth, in which the financial performance of the business has significantly outstripped expectations, with increased revenue across the firm, substantial new national client wins and strengthening of teams.

In the last financial year, turnover increased by 11% and net profit by 15%. The results for the current financial year are even more impressive, with performance to Q3 up by 21% on last year. The firm’s insurance litigation offering, overseen by Qamer, is set to break the £3m mark, a 300% increase in just two years, with a number of key lateral hires from national law firms.

The new corporate structure is designed to build on those successes and ensure the continued progress of the firm as a whole in the years to come.

With effect from 1 March 2018, Qamer, who was the Managing Partner of Commercial Services, has assumed the new role of Chief Executive for the firm and will oversee the new Management Board. Qamer joined Flint Bishop in 2003, making Partner in 2005, Head of Commercial Litigation 2008 and an Equity Partner in 2010.

Qamer has been instrumental in implementing strategies that have resulted in unrivalled business performance and substantial growth in revenue and profits in a number of departments.

Wai Yan Fung joined the firm in 2017 from multi-national vehicle rental firm Sixt, where she spent many years as Finance Director of the UK arm of the business and has taken on the role of Chief Finance and Chief Operations Officer, working closely with Qamer on financial management and strategy.

Ian Beardmore, as well as being Head of Property, is now also Head of Compliance. As the firm continues to grow, compliance becomes significantly more important. Ian Beardmore is responsible for all compliance issues, including the retention of the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 27001 quality standards.

Andrew Cochrane has taken up the position of Chairman and Senior Partner of the firm. He will continue to support the management in strategic planning and will act as the leading ambassador for the firm, as well as focusing on his role as Head of Licensing, a department which has doubled in size.

The new Management Board comprises of a small number of Partners who will participate in formulating the strategic objectives of the firm and will play a vital role in management and planning for the future.

The Board consists of Qamer Ghafoor (as Chair of the Board), Wai Yan Fung, Andrew Cochrane and Holly Dixon.

Qamer Ghafoor comments:

“I am delighted to be appointed Chief Executive and to have the opportunity to lead and shape the firm in the coming years. The firm is in a very strong position and the focus will be to develop further specialist areas of law, recruit key lateral hires, make a significant investment in people and technology and, overall, to ensure that clients continue to receive exceptional and affordable advice. I have appointed Wai Yan to bring her wealth of finance and business knowledge to the firm and I hope that her experiences from other sectors will help us to break from the traditional law firm model. The members of the new Management Board are all very experienced lawyers and have excellent commercial knowledge. Importantly, we all share the same vision, passion, ambition and drive for the future of Flint Bishop.”