A lawyer who has handled multi-million pound property deals for fashion giants, celebrity chefs, footballers and leading developers has joined one of Wales’s fastest-growing legal firms.
It’s a homecoming for Llanrug girl Megan Jones, who has joined Swayne Johnson which has a chain of six offices across North Wales and Cheshire.
Welsh-speaker Megan has spent the past seven years in the Manchester offices of two of the UK’s biggest law firms, Hill Dickinson and JMW where she specialised in commercial property finance and worked on major residential and commercial developments nationwide.
The former Ysgol Brynrefail pupil said: “It was always my intention to return to North Wales and when the opportunity came to join Swayne Johnson it was too good a chance to turn down.
“Part of the motivation behind moving home was that I had been worried I might lose my Welsh, so working at a forward-thinking firm which is able to provide legal services bilingually has been very rewarding.
“It’s great to be back and working with a progressive, specialist firm with such a strong presence across the region.”
Swayne Johnson Managing Director Sarah Noton said: “We’re delighted to be able to make such a high calibre appointment as we continue an expansion that has seen us grow from two offices to six in the last ten years.
“We cover a huge geographical area and provide a comprehensive range of services backed by real expertise as well so that clients don’t need to look to firms from outside the area for the legal skills they need.
“Megan will strengthen our commercial property law department and add to our all-round experience and strength.
“We cover just about every aspect of the law and we have experts in most fields across the group which is very important in these increasingly complex times so our clients can be secure in the knowledge they have expert legal help right on their doorstep”
Megan studied English Literature at Manchester Metropolitan University before taking a Law Conversion and Legal Practice Course at Chester University of Law and joining Hill Dickinson in Manchester.
She said: “I specialised in commercial property finance, acting for a variety of borrowers and lenders on really diverse transactions, from helping SME’s with funding for expansion to re-financing large investment portfolios and including specialist lending to the dental, care home, hospitality and leisure sectors.
“One of the things that attracted me to Swayne Johnson was the opportunity to take on broader commercial property work and it’s been fantastic coming here because there’s such a diversity of work.
“Since returning, I have already had the opportunity to work on agricultural matters, wind farms, large residential developments, restaurants, hotels and a Site of Special Scientific Interest and I’m really enjoying the intellectual stimulation that comes from dealing with this diversity of work.
“North Wales is full of thriving, innovative businesses both new and established and getting to know them and finding new ways to support and advise them from a commercial property perspective is an incredibly interesting and satisfying element of my role.”
Megan is based at the firm’s offices in Llandudno and Menai Bridge but covers the entire area of operations for Swayne Johnson which has a history dating back to the early 19th century.
The firm’s rapid expansion has seen it grow to employ 60 staff at offices which also include Denbigh, Ruthin, St Asaph and Tattenhall, near Chester.
“Having offices right across North Wales and in Cheshire means we have strength and depth and a great geographic spread and Megan’s arrival adds to the high quality service we provide.”
Megan and her partner are currently living back in Llanrug and are enjoying getting back to rural life. Megan added: “It is good to be able to speak Welsh every day again and to enjoy the countryside.
“Being able to go to the beach on my lunch break is a privilege, and catching the dolphins playing in the Menai Straits a couple of weeks ago was very special. You didn’t get them in the Manchester Ship Canal.
Outside of work, Megan is a passionate music fan and is enjoying getting involved in the local music scene.
She is also an avid reader and fiction writer, having retained her interest in literature since undertaking her first undergraduate degree and is currently working on her first novel.
For more on Swayne Johnson go to http://www.swaynejohnson.com/
