Commercial Law Firm St James' Square were delighted to welcome two new members of staff into the team this month.
The new starters are part of the firm’s inaugural Graduate Recruitment Scheme, which was launched in the summer of this year, as part of a wider recruitment drive. Over 150 applications were received by the firm for the sought-after positions and after a tough recruitment process, Samuel Scott and Josh Campbell were successfully appointed onto the programme.
As part of their two-year development, Samuel and Josh will spend time being mentored by some of the North Easts leading lawyers at St James’ Square. They will undertake seats in several commercial areas of law, giving them valuable experience in a wide range of business areas. Upon successful completion of the scheme, they will join one of the commercial departments on a permanent basis, as fully qualified lawyers.
The trainees will initially join Jackie Turner, head of the Employment and HR team and Oli Gray, head of the Corporate and Commercial Services team. Both departments have grown quickly following increased demand for its services and the appointments have come at a perfect time. Jackie said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome our new trainees onto our first ever graduate scheme and into both departments. It is an exciting time to join the firm and they are both going to learn a lot.”
Oli added “Both Josh and Samuel have made an excellent start here and they should be extremely proud to secure their training contracts with St James Square”.
The scheme forms a key part in the firm’s strategic plans for growth which have not slowed down, despite the uncertainty that Covid-19 has brought to the region. The firm has been pleasantly surprised to see demand for its services grow over the past few months.
Paul Monaghan, Managing Partner at St James’ Square said, “We have been on quite a journey of growth since we launched the firm three years ago. It’s always great to be able to take on more staff and we were delighted to able to launch our Graduate Recruitment Scheme earlier this year. Like all businesses in the region, we were concerned about the impact of Covid-19 but through the flexibility and determination of the whole team we have been able to manage and respond well to our clients’ needs. Josh and Samuel have joined us at a very exciting time and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.”
The firm has had an extremely busy few months with one of the highlights being the work undertaken during the recent football transfer window. The Commercial and Corporate Services team and the Sports Services team were kept extremely busy with the transfer of the Greek National goalkeeper, Vasilis Barkas, from AEK Athens to Celtic FC for a sum of £4.5 million. The Sports Services team work extremely closely with the firm’s sister company, St James’ Square Sports Management, which act as football agents for professional football players and clubs from around the world and whilst it offers many services to its clients, it is carving out a reputation for assisting players from abroad entering the Premier League.
Formed in 2017 and initially operating out of one room at Hoults Yard, St James’ Square has expanded rapidly. The firm now employs over 30 staff, occupies 7,000 sq ft of Grade A premises at Esh Plaza in Newcastle and has a turnover exceeding £2.5 million. It has expanded its commercial departments to include services in Employment & HR, Corporate & Commercial Services, Dispute Resolution, Real Estate – Commercial Property, Real Estate – Residential Property, Corporate Recovery & Insolvency, Debt Recovery and Sports Services.
