Focus on: A jam packed year in Oxford

Hello Oxford!

On 19 April 2022, an overcast morning but with high spirits, Mills & Reeve officially moved into its Oxford office. It followed years of interest in moving into the region due to the large volume of work that we continue to advise on in the education, life sciences, real estate investment, private wealth and technology sectors based in Oxford, the wider Thames Valley region and Oxford to Cambridge arc.

Winning ‘best law firm’ in the OxPropFest Awards in September 2021 was a great indicator that we were ready to open an office in the region and the award programme’s comments cemented this, saying: “Mills & Reeve justify their participation in the OxPropFest Awards not only through their work over many years for Oxford colleges but in recent months for Thomas White Oxford and with Kadans at Abingdon Business Park. Maybe also time to get an office in Oxford?”

Fast forward to nearly one year on and with a lot of work from various people across the firm, led by managing and senior partners Claire Clarke and Justin Ripman, alongside Peter McLintock, Angus Turner and Mark Pearce who gave their initial commitment to the office, we were officially open for business!

And like many of our offices, it is just a stone’s throw from the train station which is brilliant for clients as well as those working from it.

For the first few months, we even had a lovely bar attached to our office. Called the Jam Factory, it was home to a number of internal and external meetings, lunches and after-work catchups so when it announced its closure in September 2022, it broke a few hearts! We look forward to seeing what opens in its place and in the meantime, various team members are enjoying trying to find a new ‘local’!

An important part of the city’s history, the building had been a mixed-use commercial building for many years before Oxfordshire County Council embarked on a £6 million refurbishment in 2015.

Getting out and about in the region

Since moving into Oxford, it’s safe to say that we have hit the ground running. This was supported by Matt Skipper in his role as head of new business attending various networking groups, making new contacts and building relationships. Peter McLintock, head of our Oxford office, has also been out making lots of new contacts alongside a host of other lawyers who have enjoyed various events in the area.

This business development was accelerated after being joined by senior business development manager Robert Pinheiro, previously at RWK Goodman, back in August who has a huge wealth of contacts and Oxford knowledge. His focus is to continue and grow awareness of Mills & Reeve in Oxfordshire.

We have also been joined by William Downing, employment partner, and Dominic Jones, construction partner, both from Blake Morgan. They bring a huge experience and knowledge of the Oxford area and have been a very welcome addition to the office.

And just last month, Matthew Heyworth joined us from BDB Pitmans, Reading. A leading family lawyer, he specialises in complex cases involving business interests, trusts, foreign assets and property portfolios. Principal associate, Claire Burton and associate, Kerry Haugh, also from BDB Pitmans, joined us that month too creating an instant family team in Oxford to support the head of Oxford’s family team, Tim Whitney