Thames Valley: Coffin Mew hires two new partners for Newbury and Wantage offices

Regional law firm Coffin Mew has appointed two new partners to its Newbury and Wantage offices, strengthening the firm’s depth of expertise and market knowledge in the Thames Valley region in the area of international corporate transactions, and agriculture and rural business.

Tim Watkins joins Coffin Mew’s Newbury corporate team from an independent legal practice in the United Arab Emirates, where he spent 15 years managing international cross-border acquisitions and high profile commercial projects. These include the establishment of Abu Dhabi’s national airline, Etihad Airways.

“With Coffin Mew recently announcing turnover growth exceeding 30%, I am delighted to be joining at what is clearly an important time,” Watkins said. “I hope my extensive corporate experience, combined with my strong understanding of the commercial realities within which large international firms must operate, will support Coffin Mew’s ambition to become a £20 million firm by 2020. I am also very pleased to return to the UK after working overseas for so long.”

In Wantage, Derek Walsh will head up Coffin Mew’s agricultural and rural business practice. Previously he worked for 12 years as an agricultural specialist at another leading law firm where he focussed on representing farmers and rural businesses nationwide on sector-specific contract disputes, trading standards and regulatory investigations and property disputes.

Walsh commened: “I am very excited to be tasked with developing Coffin Mew’s agricultural and rural practice. Agriculture and food production is currently high on the British agenda, and with the inevitable changes ahead, farming and rural businesses will require sound legal and commercial advice. Having worked in the sector for over 12 years, I am looking forward to providing that advice to clients across the Thames Valley and the Southern regions.”

Watkins and Walsh are the latest strategic hires for Coffin Mew, which is seeking to build its market share, visibility and client portfolios across all its key sectors.

Coffin Mew CEO Miles Brown added: “We are excited to see what Tim and Derek will bring to our firm in terms of knowledge, expertise and contacts. Their appointments are part of a wider strategy to increase our investment, deliver growth plans and broaden our service offer to privately-owned and managed businesses in the Thames Valley. I warmly welcome Tim and Derek to the Coffin Mew family and wish them every success going forward.”