When South Yorkshire firm Bell & Buxton merged with Sills & Betteridge in September, it marked the start of a new chapter – not just for the two firms, but for legal services in Sheffield.
Now operating as Sills & Betteridge incorporating Bell & Buxton in Sheffield, the newly combined team is already seeing the benefits of a merger designed to strengthen local delivery while expanding the range of services available.
“We’d had a presence in Sheffield for nearly four years through our family law practice and subsequent merger with Acclaimed Family Law but always intended to expand into a full-service firm here when the right opportunity came up,” said Richard Bussell, a partner at Sills & Betteridge. “We’ve done the same in other areas since 2007 and Bell & Buxton felt like the right fit.”
That approach of slow and steady growth has seen Sills & Betteridge grow from a single office in Lincoln to 17 across Lincolnshire, the East Midlands and South Yorkshire – including a presence in Sheffield, Doncaster and Wath Upon Dearne. The merger brings the total partners and staff to over 400 across the business, including 200 legal professionals, and significantly broadens what can now be offered to clients in Sheffield.
For Bell & Buxton’s team, the timing was right too. “We recognised the legal landscape was changing, with consolidation happening everywhere,” said former Bell & Buxton partner and new Sills & Betteridge partner, Matthew Rodgers. “We’d already identified that we needed to be part of something bigger – it was just about finding the right partner.”
That need for change wasn’t just strategic, it was about creating more opportunities for our lawyers. “We wanted to be part of an organisation where they could develop their careers and feel supported for the long term,” said Matthew Rodgers. “Joining a larger firm gives us the scale to offer broader experience, better resources and a more stable environment, all of which ultimately benefit our clients too.”
“It’s also about building a stronger team,” added Alex Ross, now a partner with Sills & Betteridge. “Being part of a larger firm gives us access to a wider pool of expertise and support, which makes a real difference – both for our colleagues’ professional growth and the depth of service we can offer to client. Working alongside a bigger team of lawyers allows us to deliver an even more responsive service to clients, especially in commercial transactions when deadlines are tight.”
Finding the right firm to merge with wasn’t chosen lightly. “We’ve been up against each other in court and transactions over the years,” said Alex Ross. “So, when this came about, we knew them, respected them – and importantly, they weren’t a hard-nosed corporate type just out to asset strip. They actually wanted to keep people and grow.”
Growth, though, doesn’t mean losing what made Bell & Buxton one of Sheffield’s most respected firms. That deep local knowledge and decades of client relationships remain at the heart of the new operation.
Bell & Buxton’s roots in Sheffield stretch back more than 150 years, the firm was originally founded in 1871 and that heritage remains central to its identity post-merger.
The firm’s modern incarnation emerged from a rather dramatic split in the early ‘80s. “It goes back to 1982 when the old firm dissolved,” said Alex Ross. “One of the partners hand-wrote a dissolution notice and left it on someone’s desk at lunchtime. Because there was no written partnership agreement, they had to go through a formal dissolution – even auctioning off the assets.”
Out of that turbulent episode, Bell & Buxton was born. “At the time, it was one of the medium-sized firms in Sheffield,” said Matthew Rodgers, who joined in 1997. “Over the years, as other firms merged and expanded, we found ourselves smaller by comparison. That’s when the conversation about our future began.”
“We’ve acted for generations of the same families,” said Matthew Rodgers. “That kind of brand loyalty means something. Some clients come to you once and that’s it, but many come back again and again – and now we can offer them even more.”
Crucially, the senior team from Bell & Buxton remain at the forefront. “Some mergers are about retirement planning, but that’s not the case here,” added Matthew. “We’re still here, still leading the office, and that was always the plan.”
That continuity has been echoed in the choice to retain the Bell & Buxton name as part of the new identity – something Sills & Betteridge have done in previous mergers too. “We don’t want to extinguish Bell & Buxton – we want to build on it,” said Sills & Betteridge CFO, Martyn Hall. “That name has meaning to clients.”
With legal consolidation increasingly being driven by private equity investment, Sills & Betteridge stand out for being traditionally partner-owned and managed, with no external investors. That independence has shaped their strategy, focusing on long-term growth and local knowledge rather than fast profits.
“We’re not acquisitive for the sake of it,” said Richard Bussell. “Because we own the business, we only take opportunities we’re genuinely excited about – we have to believe in them ourselves.”
That belief has also translated into positive feedback from staff. “They’ve been really impressed by the benefits,” said Alex Ross. “There’s better in-house training, sponsorship for courses, even things like access to an assistant solicitor that we didn’t have before. It’s made a big difference.”
“We’ve got 20 trainee solicitors across the business right now, including apprentices,” said Martyn Hall. “People have developed their careers with us – we’ve got partners who started in the post room. That kind of progression is something we’re proud of.”
That sense of building something sustainable and locally rooted came through strongly across the board. “The days of generalists are mostly gone – now it’s about specialists working together,” said Richard Bussell. “We’ve got experts in most aspects of the law - litigators, property lawyers, corporate experts, even including solicitors who have worked and still work on international deals – and now our clients in Sheffield have access to all that." But with continuity of staff, long-standing client relationships and the same city-centre offices, the message is clear: this is still Bell & Buxton – just with more behind it.
“It’s not about changing who we are,” said Alex Ross. “It’s about giving people better service and better value. Whether you’re an existing client or looking for someone new, just pick up the phone. We’re still here – and we’re ready.”
