Case Study: Myerson Solicitors

Image: UK EO Awards 25 compere Jacey Normand interviewing Carl Newton, CEO of Myerson Solicitors

In early September 2024, Myerson Solicitors formally completed a transition that had been carefully planned and shaped over many years. The firm they had built wasn’t changing its identity or culture; rather, the day marked the legal and structural confirmation of a future that partners and employees had long been working towards together.

Myerson became 100% employee owned, making it the first law firm in Greater Manchester to adopt this model. The celebration that followed recognised not a sudden transformation, but the shared endeavour that had brought the firm to this point, and the start of a new chapter grounded in the same values that had guided it for decades.

Only now, with the firm crowned ‘EO Transition of the Year’ at the 2025 UK Employee Ownership Awards, is that journey being fully understood outside its walls.

This is the story of how a fiercely independent legal practice, rooted in the North West since 1982, chose a future that would protect its culture, empower its people, and challenge conventional thinking about what a modern law firm should be.

The Seeds of a Different Future

Long before employee ownership became a more well-known business succession option, and long before law firm consolidation began reshaping the professional services landscape, Myerson’s future CEO, Carl Newton, was developing an interest in alternative ownership models. 

As a corporate lawyer in the early 2000s, he advised several employee owned businesses. Something about their clarity of purpose, the alignment between people and performance, and the unusual mix of commercial discipline and cultural loyalty stuck with him.

By 2010, Carl was seriously considering what employee ownership might look like for Myerson. The legal sector was beginning to change with new regulations enabling non-lawyers to own law firms for the first time. Four years later, the introduction of Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) gave the idea structure.

Inside Myerson, the Equity Partners – all in their early forties, and none near the retirement horizon that normally prompts succession planning – inserted the possibility of an EOT transition into their ten-year plan. Not yet a promise, but a direction of travel.

This early thinking would prove crucial, because when the UK legal market entered the era of consolidation and private equity money flowed in, firms were absorbed, merged, floated, acquired, and rationalised, Myerson already knew what it didn’t want.

As Carl recalls: “We had lots of offers from people offering millions of pounds. We had no interest whatsoever in selling out to private equity. It would change the culture completely. We just couldn’t do it.”

Becoming a Pioneer

Myerson began laying the groundwork needed to test the feasibility of an EOT at a time when only a tiny handful of law firms in the UK had made the leap. There was no established blueprint and no industry playbook to work from. 

Carl sought out those first pioneers – fellow eoa member Ison Harrison among them – speaking directly to their leaders to understand what they’d done, what surprised them, and which pitfalls they’d avoid if they could do it over again. They also joined the eoa, absorbing as much expertise as they could from other industries, aware that nobody in law had answers at scale.

When it came to sharing their ambitions, the leadership team were unambiguous. The firm’s future should belong to the people who built it, not external shareholders or consolidators. Only an EOT could guarantee this independence and shared ownership for the long-term.

Behind Closed Doors

The transition itself was a highly complex corporate project which took 24 months. Before anything else, the firm had to shed its LLP structure and become a limited company. This alone was a substantial legal and regulatory shift requiring Solicitors Regulation Authority approval.

Then came the human challenges. Partners who’d always operated as self-employed business owners had to become employees of the very firm they led. Newly appointed non-lawyer directors were welcomed onto a reconstituted Board. In addition, insurance structures, professional indemnity coverage, and banking arrangements all needed to be reviewed.

Myerson’s Corporate Department, which had been used to advising others on corporate and EOT restructures, now had to guide its own firm through the legal nitty-gritty of transition. 

Preparing for a Future Without Traditional Ownership

As the transition approached, the partners and senior leaders immersed themselves in training and leadership development that challenged decades of professional norms. Without direct equity, leadership would have to derive its authority from stewardship, transparency, and collaboration rather than ownership rights.

Advisers, including eoa member Postlethwaite, facilitated frank conversations about what this would require. This was a busy period where strategies were stress-tested, and governance models built and rebuilt until they’d be fit for purpose. Senior Associates – some of them aspiring to partnership – were openly included in discussions about how career progression would work in the new structure. 

By the time Myerson formally announced its plans to employees in January 2024, the leadership team had already lived and breathed the transition for months. Employees were given a detailed FAQ and a video of the announcement and where then asked for confidentiality. 

Pre-transition surveys revealed an environment of excitement, not anxiety, with the overriding sentiment being pride that the firm was choosing a path designed to protect its culture.

A Governance Model Built for Visibility

If traditional partnership models often operate behind closed doors, Myerson’s EOT model was designed to do the opposite. Governance is now documented in full on the firm’s intranet – dubbed ‘the Hive’ – and is part of every new employee’s induction.

Three trustees act as guardians of the firm’s independence, currently comprising a Former Partner Trustee, Joanne Evans; a highly experienced Independent Trustee in Steve Tudge, a Chartered Accountant and former CEO of Private Equity firm ECI Ventures; and an Employee Trustee, James Birch, who also leads the firm’s recruitment function.

Trustees meet quarterly with the CEO and COO to review performance and strategy, and informally every six weeks to ensure proximity to day-to-day developments. They receive financials, operational updates, engagement scores, and culture reports.

Alongside them, the newly formed Employee Engagement Committee brings together colleagues from every part of the firm. Their work has already led to remodelled performance structures, a refresh of core values, and a direct role in shaping the firm’s ten-year vision.

The committee’s minutes, like the Trustees’ reports, are shared openly. Doing so, ensures governance is something employees can see, question, and influence.

Making a Strong Culture Stronger

When Myerson came together during the first year of its transition for its first employee conference, held to coincide with EO Day, it became clear just how deeply EO was reshaping the firm’s culture.

Employees asked candid questions about costs, strategy, and financial performance, challenging assumptions and proposing new efficiencies. Some presented alternative ways to allocate resources or improve ROI. 

Engagement scores also reflected this shift. 91% said they were satisfied with organisational updates, 92% felt their opinions counted, and 90% said they were motivated to go beyond their day job.

Even externally, the cultural impact was paying dividends with early-talent job applications almost doubling while offer acceptance rates jumped to 95%. By the following year, thirty-two new starters had joined the firm. 

One new joiner, Senior Associate Clare Wainwright, summed it up perfectly: “Employee ownership creates a refreshing openness, and it feels that the firm are working together to meet a common goal.”

A Commercial Strategy with Cultural Power

The commercial gains match what was happening within the firm’s culture. Myerson’s first Net Promotor Score survey returned an 80% score, a remarkable feat in a sector where the average hovers around 43%. Clients cited the firm’s independence and governance as differentiators. Some, like eoa Trustee member Richer Sounds, chose Myerson specifically for its EO status.

EOT enquiries soared by 1,000% and work in the space increased 200%. Having successfully navigated its own transition, Myerson is now advising others. Carl himself is increasingly called upon as a thought leader, mentoring firms contemplating their own transitions and speaking at the UK200 Group, MSI Global Alliance, and the Employee Owned Law Firm Conference. His work on a ‘Code of Governance for EOTs’ is set to guide the next generation of professional-services conversions.

Even insurers have recognised the strength of Myerson’s new structure. Its enhanced governance reduced the firm’s risk rating and its professional indemnity premium.

Recognition Reflecting a Decade of Vision

By the time the Law Society Gazette placed Myerson on its front cover in May 2025, the firm had already been profiled in The Lawyer, Legal Futures, HR Director, and a host of industry publications. Carl’s selection for The Lawyer’s Hot 100 list confirmed the firm had blueprinted a new pathway for legal-industry succession.

Winning ‘EO Transition of the Year’ at the UK EO Awards brought formal recognition to a decade-long journey spent on building a future no one pressured the firm to choose, but which it believed in wholeheartedly.