Bluestones Group acquires legal recruitment specialist

The company will continue to operate as a standalone business, building on the legacy of the brand and the strong candidate and client relationships that have been developed over years of focus on the legal sector. Headquartered in Preston, yet recruiting throughout the UK, the business has a diverse client base that includes Legal 500, Top 200, regional and boutique law firms, recruiting legal professionals at all levels and across a wide variety of legal disciplines.

Steve Pendergast, Bluestones Group CEO commented,

“In acquiring Clayton Legal we’re continuing to evolve our divisional structure within the Group whilst adding to our ever-growing portfolio of high-quality recruitment and staffing service brands. Growth through acquisition is just one of our strategic pillars, yet it clearly demonstrates our ability to grow at pace and outperform the market as we leverage the economies of scale and support services in the Group to fast-track this acquisition”

Clayton Legal has been operating in the sector for over 20 years, acting for a wide range of legal businesses across the UK. The team covers all legal roles from newly-qualified, junior fee earning positions and support staff, to solicitors, partners and associates. They cover every type of contract required from permanent to temporary, locum, and interim.

Louise Kearns, Managing Director at Clayton Legal shared her thoughts on the acquisition,

“I believe we can build on our existing platform as one of the UK’s leading legal recruiters to achieve our ultimate goal of establishing Clayton Legal as the employer and recruiter of choice in the legal sector and continuing to exceed the expectations of our clients and candidates. Our team has developed an in-depth understanding of their legal disciplines and we’ve identified several significant growth opportunities that we believe we can now capitalise on with the help and support from Bluestones”.

Bluestones Group has grown rapidly since its inception in 2014, and now has 24 recruitment and staffing service businesses in its portfolio. It has secured a Two-Star Best Companies rating for the last four consecutive years, an impressive measure of engagement across its 450+ employees – and last year a number of its businesses secured Recruiter Awards in their first year of entering.

The company primarily operates throughout the UK across a wide variety of industry sectors, but also expanded internationally recently with an acquisition in New Zealand. Growing its portfolio organically through sector penetration and geographical expansion, the business also constantly looks for new investment opportunities – both in terms of start-up and established agencies, or via acquisition – and welcomes direct enquiries from interested parties.