ROB Kelly’s career seems to have come full circle.
The Kirkheaton man gained a law degree at Oxford University, but only became a lawyer in his 40s – after a successful career as a chartered accountant, financial director and a spell running his own small construction business.
Now he is associate in the company commercial department at Huddersfield law firm Armitage Sykes – and couldn’t be happier in his work.
Rob was born in Crosland Moor and attended Crosland Moor Junior School and Huddersfield New College in its last year as a grammar school.
At that stage, his career aspirations remained somewhat vague. “I did a law degree at Oxford University, but decided not to become a lawyer,” he recalls.
“I was never sure that life in an office would suit me, but I always wanted to do something that added real value.
“As a law student at Oxford, most of my contemporaries went to work for big law firms in London. I was 100% sure I didn’t want to do that.
“Instead, I became a chartered accountant. When I did decide I quite liked the idea of becoming a lawyer I had to go back to university because my degree was out of date.
“University the first time round was hard work. The second time round, it seemed easy. Mind you, the second time round you aren’t spending so much time nursing a hangover!”
Rob began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1984, advising high-calibre companies including Ciba Geigy, Kunick plc and Provident Financial Group.
After qualifying as a chartered accountant, he joined Kunick plc, a leisure-based company with interests ranging from the London Dungeon to nightclubs and pool halls.
As financial director, he was involved in deals, disputes and supply contract negotiations. He also set up and retained responsibility for the group's offshore companies in the Isle of Man.
Rob later held director level positions at Caudwell Communications and Minorplanet Systems plc. He has managed rights issues, moved companies from AIM to full listing on the Stock Exchange and dealt with several company disposals and acquisitions both in the UK and overseas.
Rob worked in Dusseldorf for a year in a financial role for a mobile telecoms company and was financial director for a vehicle tracking specialist in Leeds. He also ran his own building company.
But he says: “Even when I was at Kunick, I decided I would have fancied becoming a lawyer after all. It was a friend at Eversheds in Leeds who said that if I wanted to be a lawyer, why didn’t I do something about it?”
Rob completed his legal training with Eversheds in Leeds. “That was a bigger challenge than going back to university,” he says. “From being a financial director I was back to being a trainee. I found that hard, but once I got a few years under my belt was quickly into the groove.
“I had no problems with ‘transferable’ skills like people management, financial management, negotiating skills and meeting skills. But instead of having a secretary write everything up for me, I had to do it myself! The real challenges were to do with law and I had to work pretty hard at that.”
Later, he was approached by Robert Turner, senior partner at Armitage Sykes and a long-time friend, about the prospect of joining the firm in Huddersfield. Rob happily agreed.
He says: “Although I am a Huddersfield man and have always had a house with an HD postcode, it is the first time I’ve worked in Huddersfield. I haven’t regretted the move.
“The deals you do with a big firm in Leeds are bigger than the deals you do in Huddersfield, but you get pigeon-holed in a bigger firm. At Armitage Sykes, I get lots of varied work and people expect you to be knowledge on a wider range of matters.
“I fancied the idea of working in Huddersfield. Being a big fish in a smaller pond and being a generalist suits me very well.
“Huddersfield is also a friendly place. The professional community is incredibly friendly and you tend to be friendly with rival firms of lawyers as well as the accountants, financial advisers and so on.
“There’s also the fact that when I worked in Leeds I had to catch the 7.08 train every morning. Now at 7.08 I’m just getting out of bed!”
Says Rob: “I had been a client of Armitage Sykes on the commercial property side and I thought they were pretty good lawyers. Armitage Sykes is a firm which doesn’t shout about itself very much, but we are moving towards promoting ourselves a bit more.”
Rob says there are big differences in how business operates in Huddersfield and Leeds.
“Eversheds is a big firm with 4,000 employees while Armitage Sykes has about 65,” he says. “There is also huge difference in the kind of clients you get. Here, you tend to deal with the business owner – the chap who is paying for your services out of his own pocket. In the city, you are dealing with someone who may be a director, but who is spending the shareholders’ money. There is a completely difference mindset.”
At Armitage Sykes, Rob is involved in a full range of company commercial work, including the sale and purchase of companies and businesses, commercial contracts and commercial disputes. He also acts for insolvency practitioners in dealing with such matters as sales of businesses by administrators and undertakes a significant amount of employment work – having had experience of acting for both employer and employee.
The firm’s full range of services covers commercial, commercial property, residential property. insolvency, employment, litigation, dispute resolution, matrimonial, debt collection, probate and wills and trusts.
In the current climate, Rob sees fewer merger and acquisition deals between businesses – and fewer deals achieved with external finance.
He says: “The banks insist they are open for business and where companies have a three-year track record of good profits, that is certainly the case. But it is still incredibly hard for SMEs to get bank finance.
“We are doing more deals on the basis of deferred contributions where the buyer is taking longer to pay and the seller has to wait longer to be paid. Everyone is having to work harder for their money.
“But things are still moving. Companies still have to expand and business owners still have to retire.
“We are dealing with more insolvency-related work with sales from administration and liquidators, but on the other hand we have some clients who are expanding. There are some areas of business doing well.”
Work can mean long hours for Rob, who can find himself completing paperwork on a weekend to meet a tight deadline. But he says: “It’s the nature of being a corporate layer and if you don’t want to do that, you are in the wrong job. I quite like it!”
In his spare time, Rob is keen on sport. A Huddersfield Town season ticker holder since he was nine, he took part in the club’s charity bike ride to Brighton and will be back in the saddle for the next epic cycle ride from Yeovil in May.
A playing member of Huddersfield Lawn Tennis Club, Rob also works out regularly at the gym and enjoys ski-ing holidays.
Rob is also back in the construction business. He is currently building a workshop/studio for his eldest daughter Lauren, 23, who is a sculptor. “I had half a dozen people working for me when I had the building company,” he says. “This is just me! It’s a labour of love – a combination of work and pleasure.”
