Law firm Lewis Silkin has hired Mark Winthorpe as a partner into its corporate practice in Manchester.
Winthorpe has been practising in Manchester with Pannone for over 20 years and has extensive experience working with venture capital and on private equity transactions, acting for both investors and management teams, as well as acting on complex cross border M&A transactions.
He has advised on deals spanning sectors including financial services, energy and industrials, and highly scalable growth businesses often wrapped around a technology proposition.
He had three deals shortlisted at the North West Dealmakers awards 2024: acting for YFM on the £8m Series A round into Fuuse, acting for Mercia Ventures and Smedvig on the £8m Series A round into CultureAI, and for the shareholders of M&I Materials on the sale of the MIDEL business to Shell plc.
Winthorpe’s appointment closely follows the hiring of fellow Manchester corporate partner Ashi Amershi, with whom he worked with for 14 years at his previous firm.
Since launching in 2022 with a four-person employment law team led by Sally Hulston, in less than three years Lewis Silkin’s Manchester offering has grown to comprise seven partners and a wider a team of over 40.
Together they support creative and entrepreneurial businesses, leading regional corporate enterprises, private equity houses and venture capital investors in the region with their employment, commercial, real estate, intellectual property and corporate law requirements.
“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,” said Hulston, partner and head of Lewis Silkin’s Manchester Office.
“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.
“With the addition of Mark, we’ve added further capacity to support higher volumes of corporate transactional work from Manchester – which continues to host one of the most investable and fastest growing business communities outside of London, as well as being home to one of the country’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.”
Winthorpe commented: “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.”