Just a few months into a four-year plan, Hill Dickinson has evidently set itself some serious goals. A new year merger with 14-partner Liverpool property specialists Bullivant Jones, winning George Davies’ clinical negligence team at the beginning of this year, and some serious hires all suggest that the 111-partner northwest firm has picked up the direction that it was arguably lacking in previous years.

Sports and media law specialist Chris Farnell joined as a partner from Eversheds in July last year, and his specialism in image rights and endorsement contracts has seen him advising Chelsea on the team’s northwest deals, along with IP specialist Phillip Woods. The firm also benefited from the then troubled, now defunct, Elliotts, picking up two senior professional indemnity lawyers, Sarah Naylor and Susan Walsh, from the Manchester firm, the bulk of which was absorbed by Ricksons.