North Ainley Halliwell

Working for you

The family tree of North Ainley Halliwell shows roots to one of the oldest legal practices in Oldham. The Wellock practice dates back to the early part of the nineteen hundreds when Tom Wellock Senior, a local character and hard taskmaster, formed the firm and added it to his other business interests in the Town. He had two sons, Jack and Tom, who succeeded him and went on to run the highly successful general practice of T Wellock & Sons.

The story goes that when Jack’s wife had their first child, the telephone rang whilst they were in a business meeting with clients. When Jack announced the arrival, his father replied ‘there’s nothing clever in having children, get on with the meeting’. There is still a strong work ethic in the firm although this is tempered with a sense of priorities!

The established practice of Rowbottom Son and Brewer was later acquired and the practice combined to become North Ainley in 1978. John Ainley and Brian North (the then local Coroner and partner with George E Mellor & Co) teamed up to take the practice forward. Subsequently, local company lawyer John Ritson retired and we took over the practice of Rowntree & Ritson, a small but very long established firm that boasted some of the most influential company clients of the period.

Malcolm Hurst & Co joined us and in 2001 we acquired the practice of Pickles Halliwell, again a highly regarded commercial firm in the Town and North Ainley Halliwell was formed. The practice went from strength to strength to provide comprehensive services designed to meet the sophisticated legal requirements of both individuals and commercial clients. We constantly remind ourselves that the ethos of the firm is and has always been that we are working for you.