Litigation specialists to become fourth firm to list on AIM

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Stock exchange: Firm to be admitted next month

City law firm Rosenblatt is to become the fourth law firm to list on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, it announced today.

The 19-partner commercial law firm, best known for its litigation work, is to be admitted on 8 May, joining Gateley, Gordon Dadds and Keystone Law.

How much the firm is looking to raise has not been specified as yet, nor how much of the business will remain in private hands.

Founder and senior partner Ian Rosenblatt owns 55.4% of the firm at the moment. Cascades, an independent trust company of which chief executive Nicola Foulston is a beneficiary, holds 24.8% and managing partner Tania MacLeod 2.83%.

Ms Foulston said: “Our decision to seek a listing on AIM is an exciting step in the development of Rosenblatt. The funding will support the growth of the firm, building on our position as one of the top three dispute resolution firms in the capital and allow us to take advantage of the disruption in the UK legal marketplace.”

She said there has already been “strong interest” from investors: “We are focused on improving margins and profitability, compared to traditional legal partnerships run by lawyers, which concentrate on revenue and often lack commercial expertise.

“Importantly, the listing will allow us to better align remuneration for employees with the overall performance of the firm. By being able to offer a broader range of equity participation, it will help us to attract and retain talent at all levels.”

Brook Land is to be the independent non-executive chairman of the listed company, joined on the board by Ms Foulson, finance director Patrick Firebrace and independent director Stephen Davidson.

In recent months, Rosenblatt has launched an India practice, headed by Ajit Mishra – who joined from Pennington Manches – strengthened its ties in China, particularly with leading local law firm DeHeng, and acted for Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell group on the £127m sale of its newspaper and magazine publishing business to Trinity Mirror.