Tue, 01 Sep 2026 | BUSINESS SALE
Milners, a longstanding full-service law firm with offices in Leeds, Harrogate, Malton, Darlington and Pontefract has been acquired by Manchester-based private equity-backed counterpart Orwins.
Headquartered in Leeds, Milners offers services ranging from commercial litigation, property, public law, corporate, employment and HR management services to private client and family. The firm has seven partners and 41 staff.
Aliter Capital-backed Orwins has announced the acquisition of Milners alongside London-based boutique criminal, white collar and regulatory law firm Roe Lawyers. The latest deals follow Orwins’ investments into Clarkslegal and Clarke Mairs in May and July this year.
Orwins now has in excess of 250 staff, with combined revenues of £34 million. Backed by Aliter, the company is continuing to scale through strategic investments and organic growth as it targets revenues of more than £50 million.
Dov Black, Chief Executive at Orwins, commented: "Over many years, Milners has earned a strong and established reputation in the Yorkshire community. Alongside this, we were particularly impressed by Milners' personable and flexible approach to client relationships which closely reflects the way we work at Orwins. That shared outlook and strong cultural alignment give us great confidence in what we can achieve together.”
Milners Managing Partner Simon Bass added: "We take great pride in our swift, straightforward approach to providing our clients with professional, flexible and affordable legal advice, with no time-wasting or red tape. In Orwins, we believe we have found a like-minded partner, and we look forward with real excitement to the opportunities created for our team and our clients by this alliance. Joining Orwins will take the business to the next level."
Milners’ current partners will remain with the firm and become shareholders in Orwins, alongside Roe Lawyers’ founder and Managing Partner Stephanie Roe.
Founded in 2015, Roe Lawyers provides specialist criminal, white collar, extradition and regulatory law services to individuals and businesses. Dov Black said that the firm would bring “specialist crime and regulatory services into the group as a further area of expertise."
Stephanie Roe commented: "Building a highly respected private client criminal law firm has been enormously rewarding and my entire team is rightly proud of what we have achieved. The legal market is however changing, with client needs best served with a greater range of support in other legal areas.”
"We know the Orwins team well and work closely with Reena Popat, the founder of Carter Bond and now Chief Operations Officer at Orwins, and share its entrepreneurial vision. The merging of our businesses is an opportunity to grow with Orwins and with our shared values of putting clients front and centre."
Find out more about M&A in the UK legal sector
This established London-based specialist crime law firm, operating since 1985, offers a robust client base and a diverse work mix, with impressive CQS and Excel accreditations.
This London-based will writing company, holding an impressive 105,000 wills, is fully digitalised, providing extensive and paid services that ensure high client satisfaction and referral rates.
An exciting opportunity to acquire a highly regarded independent financial advisory firm in the North-West, managing £100 million funds under management.
Looking for more businesses? Try our off-market tool.
Please choose your settings for this site below. For more information please read our Cookie Policy
These cookies are necessary for our website to function properly and provide you with access to all features.
These are analytics cookies that help us to improve the way our website works.
These are used to improve the functional performance of the website and make it easier for you to use.