UK law firm Shoosmiths has spun out its 80-strong serious injury practice to private equity-backed firm Fletchers.

Shoosmiths said the sale would enable it to focus on other areas of its business as it moves to become a leading firm in the UK’s upper mid-market. 

“The serious injury market has evolved quickly, and continued success in this area demands substantial, specialist investment,” said Shoosmiths’ chief executive, David Jackson. 

“After extensive discussions, we’re confident that Fletchers offers the right home for our people and our clients, with the focus, scale and ambition needed to support long-term growth.”

The deal, Jackson added, “allows us to continue to sharpen our focus on the areas aligned to our 2030 strategy through further investment in lateral talent in the coming months, supporting our ambition to lead the upper mid market by excelling in our chosen markets across corporate, real estate and litigation”.

The deal will see around 900 clients have the option to move their claims to Fletchers, including 20 ultra-high-value cases worth £20m or more. It also includes a substantial number of Court of Protection cases.

Fletchers, which now has one of the largest clinical negligence and personal injury practices in the UK, will also add new bases in Reading, Northampton and Birmingham to its six other locations across the UK. 

The deal is expected to be completed in August, with Shoosmiths national head of serious injury, Phil Barnes, to lead the practice in the Midlands and South. Seven more partners will also move over. 

Fletchers has grown significantly since it was bought in 2021 by Sun European Partners, part of a growing trend of private equity investment in the legal sector.

Over the past three years, Fletchers has acquired seven firms, including Scott Rees & Co at the start of this year, and in 2024 signed around 13,000 serious injury cases, almost double since Sun European’s investment.

Fletchers chief executive Peter Haden said the Shoosmiths team had “a strong track record in complex, high-value cases, including major birth injury and catastrophic injury claims. I am confident that they will make a major contribution to our business, not just in case volumes but also through their deep experience of this area of the law”.

He added: “I expect Fletchers to continue to be a leading player in the current wave of consolidation working through the claimant sector. We remain resolute in our ambition to be the UK’s most successful serious injury law firm, via a mix of inorganic and organic growth, and continued investment in our people and technology. 

“We also intend to be a vocal contributor to the debate about the essential role we and our peers play in helping people move forward from what is often the worst experiences of their lives.”

The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

In 2023, Shoosmiths transferred its entire private client business to Midlands-based firm Rothley Law for an undisclosed sum following a review and last year it spun out its business-to-business division to Solaris Law.