Richard Dean

CORPORATE & COMMERCIAL LAW SPECIALIST

Many years ago, I swapped life as a professional rugby player for a legal career away from the field. I exchanged a dressing room for an office and between 2009 and 2016, became an equity corporate partner with Milners Solicitors, Leeds. Between 2016 and 2022, I returned to Ramsdens Solicitors in Huddersfield – the firm where I had trained – as a corporate partner.
 
At Ramsdens, I played a key role in doubling the corporate team’s headcount and turnover. I introduced business development activity, while mentoring and training fee earners, both on the technical aspects of corporate law and developing relationships with clients and referrers.
 
At Milners, I was instrumental in restructuring the firm from a predominantly litigation and conveyancing-based practice into a niche commercial law firm. Despite a recession, I increased turnover and profitability.  I established a corporate team, strengthened the commercial property department and acquired practices.
 
I join Legal Studio as their first corporate solicitor, to establish and grow a corporate team and the practice generally.
 
For me, the benefits of working as a consultant provide greater flexibility. I can focus on my wonderful clients and valued referrers, without the distractions and constraints of traditional practice. It allows me to set my own targets and charge out rates, giving me greater control and flexibility that can only benefit my clients.
 
I bring to Legal Studio a wealth of managerial, corporate and commercial legal experience:

I am excited by this direction in my legal career, and I am keen to hit the ground running. The skills I learnt in the dressing room and on the field never left me. I continue to put my best foot forward to develop those early leadership skills, while also recognising the success of working as part of a wider team.
 
I am currently a commercial director of a successful GP-led commercial occupational health provider. I also own a property development and lettings business. This experience has provided me with a complete commercial overview of the business sector and the impact transactions have on businesses, as well as the people behind those businesses.
 
I find it is often this business and commercial acumen that results in the best outcome for my clients, rather than a strict interpretation of the law. But it is my clients who remain at the heart of everything I do. Trust and collaboration are always the aim of my game.
 
On a more personal note, my wife and I have three children, so in between our ‘chauffeur hats’ and busy day jobs, we don’t get a lot of down time, but I do still enjoy a spot of life on the pitch – now as an assistant coach with Honley Junior Football Club.