Following news of its highest ever turnover of £13.4M, law firm Buckles has wasted no time in strengthening its service offering with the appointment of Partners David Egan and Alastair Gunn to the Company Commercial team.

David, who trained and qualified at Baker & McKenzie in London, before spending 15 years in their Sydney office, joins Buckles from Keystone Law, where he further enhanced his reputation for a proactive style in relation to transactional matters.

Alastair joins Buckles after working for more than 20 years at Greenwoods Legal LLP, where he developed his reputation for being a skilled corporate and commercial lawyer with particular expertise in corporate transactions and general business contracts.

David and Alastair worked together at Greenwoods for a period of time.

Duncan Jackson, Chief Executive of Buckles commented: “These arrivals signal that we are delivering on our ambitious growth strategy, built on attracting and retaining talented individuals who recognise the opportunities Buckles presents them.

“David is a renowned corporate lawyer, specialising in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. His experience in corporate finance matters, including equity raising, corporate borrowing & lending, together with project finance, will be invaluable to our future success.

“Recruiting Alastair to our business is a real coup – he brings with him his vast experience of advising on a wide range of domestic and international corporate transactional matters, including MBOs, MBIs, share and trade & asset acquisitions and disposal.

“David and Alastair have worked together in the past and we expect great things in the future from their collaborative approach; they work in a similar way and our clients will benefit hugely from their addition to the Company Commercial team.”

Founded in 1817, Buckles is a full-service law firm employing 200 people across 5 offices including the recently expanded London office. The firm holds the Investors in People Silver accreditation, demonstrating a clear focus on employee welfare and engagement.

David said of his appointment: “It was clear from my first conversation with the senior management that Buckles is a firm on the up, with ambition and a serious plan to drive the planned growth.

“My appointment stands testament to the focus on expansion of the firm’s London office as a key pillar of the overall growth strategy. My clients expect to deal with London-based lawyers and it’s easier to build the valuable connections we need, when we’re close to the action, here in the capital.”

Alastair commented: “It was the right time to join Buckles, to bring a new direction to my career. It will be good to work with David Egan again and revive our partnership with a focus on high quality transactional work.

“I believe the Buckles’ international offering will be important to the firm’s success as we look to expand our cross-border work, through our connections in the EU and other jurisdictions including the US and China. I am confident we can build on the firm’s recent growth trajectory.”