Lewis Silkin expands corporate practice rapidly

Lewis Silkin has announced the appointment of Mark Winthorpe as a partner in its corporate practice in Manchester. Mark, who has over 20 years of experience in the Manchester legal scene, is notable for his consistent ranking in Band 2 of Chambers and Partners for corporate M&A in the North West since 2012. Additionally, he has been recognised as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 for Corporate and Commercial matters since 2014.

With extensive expertise in venture capital and private equity transactions, Mark has worked with both investors and management teams. His proficiency extends to complex cross-border M&A transactions and deals across multiple sectors such as financial services, energy, and industrials, as well as scalable growth businesses typically associated with technology propositions. Among his recent achievements, three notable transactions were shortlisted at the North West Dealmakers awards 2024: his work for YFM on the £8m Series A round into Fuuse, the Series A round into CultureAI, and the sale of the MIDEL business to Shell plc.

Mark’s hiring follows closely behind the addition of fellow corporate partner Ashi Amershi, with whom Mark collaborated for 14 years at his previous firm. Since its inception in 2022, Lewis Silkin's Manchester office has expanded significantly, growing from a four-person employment law team to a robust operation featuring seven partners and over 40 staff members. Together, they cater to creative and entrepreneurial businesses, regional corporate enterprises, private equity, and venture capital investors across a variety of legal needs, including employment, commercial, real estate, intellectual property, and corporate law.

Sally Hulston, Partner and head of Lewis Silkin’s Manchester Office commented, “We’re very excited to welcome Mark to the team. He has a longstanding reputation in his field and real local clout, having advised some of the biggest names in business headquartered in the region. Mark has built one of the leading venture capital practices in the region and his experience of building a successful practice from scratch means he is well placed to support our expanding corporate presence in Manchester and our growth ambitions in the North of England more broadly.”

She further noted that the addition of Mark will enhance their capacity to manage higher volumes of corporate transactional work from Manchester, which is regarded as an increasingly investable and rapidly growing business hub outside of London, also hosting one of the UK’s largest startup and scaleup ecosystems. “Our growth and investment in Manchester in just three years has been incredibly exciting; we aren’t slowing down and are continuing to recruit in Manchester at multiple levels. We very much look forward to working with Mark as this journey continues.”

Mark Winthorpe, who now joins Lewis Silkin as a partner, expressed, “The strength of Lewis Silkin’s tier 1 national corporate offering, its adoption of market leading technology products and the quality of the team already assembled in Manchester, created a fantastic opportunity for me to continue to develop and enhance my practice. I am particularly excited at the prospect of further developing the firm’s corporate offering in the North alongside Ashi, with real opportunities to be leveraged and value to be added for clients from our presence in Leeds as well as Manchester. The positive energy of the team at Lewis Silkin is infectious and it is an environment I am very much looking forward to working in. The firm has already established itself as a success story in Manchester and the rate of growth is evidence both of the firm’s strategic focus on the city and the wider North - and also of the thriving and fast growing business community here in the Greater Manchester region.”