A national firm which rebranded just over a year ago has been put in the hands of administrators, the Gazette learned today. 

Joint administrators from advisory firm Quantuma were appointed on Friday to handle the affairs of Youngs Law Ltd, which has its headquarters in Stoke.

A notice on the firm’s website confirms that all client files will be transferred to other firms who will make contact with clients. A former employee of the firm has told the Gazette staff were made redundant with immediate effect at the end of August and informed via email.

The firm, which had offices in Stoke, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Kent, Liverpool, Southampton and Havant, rebranded to Youngs Law from Swain & Co Solicitors in April 2022. This change was intended to ‘better communicate the breadth of expertise that Swains truly represents and realign with our refined values and vision’.

The original firm could trace its roots back to the first half of the 19th century and by April last year it had grown to a business with 58 staff offering a full range of private client services.

According to Companies House, the business has two active directors: Zubair Afzel and Nazia Zubair - the latter is the firm's head of legal practice and finance and administration as part of its licence from the SRA as an alternative business structure.

For the year ended April 2022 – the most recent accounts available – the company had net assets of almost £500,000, although cash reserves had shrunk from £196,000 to £63,000. Money owed to the business increased from £1.35m to £2m.