A WELL-KNOWN North-East employment lawyer has branched out on his own.

Paul McGowan, who spent 15 years with Newcastle law firm Watson Burton, has established his own firm, Collingwood Legal.

The business will specialise in employment law and is already working with a number of public and private sector organisations across the North- East, as well as with clients based in other parts of the UK.

He is now looking to recruit more staff to help manage the swiftly growing client base.

Mr McGowan said: “The demand for expertise in issues relating to employment law and human resources is always present, no matter what the economic climate, and the regional market in this sector has continued to remain strong despite prevailing conditions.

“There are many clear commercial opportunities in our sector for a firm with the right focus on building long-term relationships with clients and providing them with high quality services which help make their operations more efficient and effective, and Collingwood Legal has been set up to provide the structure required to take advantage of them.

“Collingwood provides the full range of employment law services, from managing business reorganisations to drafting key employment contracts and policy documents, and I’m very confident that we will quickly become an established part of the North-East legal sector.

“We’ve already got a strong flow of work coming in from both within and outside the North- East, much of which is being won on the recommendation of existing clients, and I’m expecting to expand the team as we build on this momentum through 2011 and beyond.”

After beginning his career with a top five London law firm, Mr Mc- Gowan moved to the region in the mid- Nineties and spent 15 years with Newcastle law firm Watson Burton, becoming a partner in 2004 and leading a large team of employment lawyers.

Mr McGowan has acted exclusively in employment law since 1997, covering all aspects of human resources and employment regulation, and has particular expertise in the education, health and local authority sectors.

One of the few employment lawyers in the UK to have acted in a case at the European Court of Justice, Paul has been recommended for his depth of knowledge and thoroughness of approach by the legal industry’s primary reference guide, The Legal 500.