NORTH Essex law firm Ellisons Solicitors is to expand next year through a merger with another local partnership, it has been revealed.

NORTH Essex law firm Ellisons Solicitors is to expand next year through a merger with another local partnership, it has been revealed.

Colchester-based Ellisons, which also has offices in Frinton-on-Sea and Dovercourt, it to merge with PTL, which has offices in Colchester and Clacton, with effect from next May.

The merged firm, which will continue to be known as Ellisons, will have 18 partners and around 40 other fee earners.

Ellisons said the merger reflected its commitment to growth, through a combination of organic development and strategic mergers. It was also in keeping with the firm's vision to focus on commercial work, particularly through the Colchester office, while still maintain a strong private client base across the region.

Peter Powel, Ellisons' senior partner, said he was delighted at the agreement between the two firms, and that it had been reached relatively quickly.

“When two firms enter into merger talks, it is all about testing out compatibility and identifying synergies,” he said. “For an agreement to be reached so quickly confirms our initial instincts that PTL are a natural match for Ellisons and will complement and strengthen our existing practices.

“In particular, it provides us with a further presence in the Tendring peninsula in which we are now the pre-eminent firm of solicitors.”

Tim Logan, managing partner of PTL, added: “This chance to combine forces with Ellisons was just too good to miss.

“We may be the smaller party in the merger but feel more than comfortable that our clients and our people will benefit from the greater opportunities presented by the merged firm, which will combine two very similar cultures.”

Ellisons is one of East Anglia's oldest established legal practices, having been founded in the mid-18th Century.

PTL, which took its current name in 2005, was previously known as Plummer Tisley Logan and is the result of a number of previous mergers.

Among the former firms it incorporates are Plummer & Co, Tilsley Thew and Cyril Page & Wicks in Colchester and Reynolds Coleman & Jones of Clacton.