Liverpool Law Mar 2017

Movers & Shakers
MSB appoint 5 new partners following
major recruitment drive
Leading Liverpool law firm MSB
Solicitors has appointed 5 new partners
after staff numbers rose by more than 30
per cent in 2016.
Brad Armstrong, Hayley Catherall, Paul
Gallagher, Nicola Harris and Emma Palmer
will join 9 existing partners with effect from
March 1.
Brad Armstrong joined MSB just last year
to manage the expansion of the firm’s plot
sales department. The team marked a
record year, which saw them complete more
than 1,250 units in the Liverpool city
region.
Paul Gallager heads up Crown Court
litigation at MSB and joined the firm when
it was founded in 1988. Paul has been an
accredited police station representative since
the inception of the scheme in 1996 and
predominantly represents clients in serious
crime cases, including murder and drug
importation.
Nicola Harris graduated in law from the
University of Liverpool in 2004 and joined
MSB as a trainee solicitor the following
year. She qualified as a solicitor in 2007
before working as an associate in the firm's
matrimonial department.
Nicola is on the Law Society Children’s
Panel and is a Resolution-accredited
specialist in domestic violence and
children’s issues.
Emma Palmer joined MSB in 2007 having
graduated from University of Leicester.
With particular expertise in women’s and
children’s matters, Emma is on the Law
Society’s Children Panel and is a Resolution
accredited specialist in child abduction,
domestic abuse, forced marriage and
honour based violence.
Both Nicola and Emma have two children
under the age of four.
Hayley Catherall has been with the firm for
more than 10 years, and is one of a number
at MSB who followed a non-traditional
route into law. Hayley qualified as legal
executive in 2000 and a Fellow in 2002,
having taken up work as an assistant in a
solicitor’s office after leaving school.
L-R: Emma Palmer, Paul Gallagher
Hayley Catherall, Nicola Harris and
Brad Armstrong
firms promise to support, enable and
promote all members of staff.
“I’m incredibly proud to be part of a firm
that has succeeding in creating an
environment where all our staff can achieve
their potential.
“When I joined MSB in 2000, it was an allmale
partnership and I was the only female
solicitor. 16 years later, we now have an
equal gender partnership with 7 female
partners and 28 female solicitors working in
the firm – so clearly we have created an
environment in which women feel they can
achieve.
“In the last four years, there have been 20
babies born within the firm and all of those
women, like Nicola and Emma, have
returned to work at MSB. It is an incredible
achievement and something I am very
proud of.”
Managing partner at MSB, Paul Bibby adds:
“It is an exciting time for MSB and this
announcement of our new partners follows
a year of accelerated recruitment in the firm
in order to meet the demands of new work.
“We are now a 14 partner firm and can
confidently draw on the experience of
people like Paul Gallagher, who has been
with us since our inception and has had a
demonstrable impact on our growth and
development over the years – and Brad
Armstrong, who joined the firm in only
2016 but has already overseen a record year
for his department.
16 www.liverpoollawsociety.org.uk
Hayley has a wealth of experience in all
aspects of family law and is an accredited
Resolution specialist in the areas of cohabitation
and domestic violence.
Partner and head of the family team at
MSB, Emma Carey said: “I am beyond
delighted that 3 of my team have been
invited to be partners with the firm. Not
only is this testament to their hard work,
commitment and capability – but also to the
“It is clear we have the right mix of skills
and expertise now to continue to drive
forward and I am incredibly excited for the
year ahead.”
MSB grew its team by almost a third last
year and now employ more than 100 staff
and consultants across 3 offices in Allerton,
Wavertree and St Paul’s Square.