In Brief Newsletter

www.rollits.comMay 2010

www.rollits.comPage 6

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

www.rollits.comPage 5

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

New chapter opens up for Rollits

Our intention is that the change will beseamless and that our clients will noticelittle change. We will continue to deliverthe high quality legal advice and servicethat our clients have come to expect and appreciate.

We place a great emphasis on buildingrelations with clients. We are notinterested in short-term gain. A huge partof this is trust – our clients need to trust usand we need to trust our clients. Ourpartners and senior lawyers have a depthof experience in many sectors. We want toknow about our clients’ businesses andthe sectors in which they operate becausewe know this is the only way to give bestadvice. The firm’s partners were recentlypraised in the latest edition of UK LegalExperts as having some of “the leadinglights in the UK legal profession”.

Similarly the conversion to LLP will notaffect the range of services we provide. We deliver a range of legal serviceswhich include Banking and Finance,Contracts and Commercial, DisputeResolution, Property, Corporate,Corporate Finance, Corporate Recoveryand Insolvency, Employment andPensions, Family and Matrimonial,Mediation, IT and Information, PlanningConstruction and Development, PrivateCapital and Regulatory.

We are also committed to continuing todevelop our sector specialisms whichinclude Agriculture and Horticulture,Banking and Finance, Charities andSocial Enterprise, ConstructionEngineering, Education, Family andOwner Managed Businesses, FoodManufacturing, House Builder and

Development, Local Government,Manufacturing (Non-Food), Retail, SocialHousing and Transport and Logistics.

We have never believed in being “allthings to all men”. We have alwayssuccessfully focused our efforts ondeveloping specialist lawyers to provideour clients with sound specialist legaladvice based upon sector experience.That focus will remain unchanged.

The change to LLP status will not affectthe close working relationships we seekto have with all our clients and will, mostcertainly, not affect our core values ofintegrity and trust, the encouragementof innovation, teamwork and thecontinuing personal development of allour lawyers.

Rollits opening chapter began with ourfounder John Rollit having the confidenceto set up his own law practice in 1841.One hundred and sixty nine years laterRollits LLP will become the proud bearerof John Rollit’s legacy and looks forwardto the future with the same confidencethat inspired our founder.

Richard Field, Managing Partner

In this issue

• A brief history of Rollits

• New partners at Rollits

• On-the-Spot with Steve Trynka

• Top marks for client satisfaction

• Ainsley’s acquisition

• £13m buy-in at Pasta King

• Rollits prize for Business & Enterprise

• Rollits in Run for All

• Fresh Thinking for business

• Supporting Young Enterprise

• Rollits support regional Food Awards

• GreenPalm Trading Programmeadvised by Rollits

• NVQ success for Linda andRebecca

Contact details

For more information about Rollitsand our services contact us

Hull OfficeWilberforce Court, High Street, Hull HU1 1YJ Tel 01482 323239Fax 01482 326239Email info@rollits.com

York OfficeRowntree Wharf, Navigation Road,York YO1 9WE Tel 01904 625790Fax 01904 62580Email info@rollits.com

www.rollits.com

Regulated by the Solicitors RegulationAuthority under number 54472

Rollits is a trading name of Rollits LLP.Rollits LLP is a limited liabilitypartnership, registered in England andWales, registered number OC 348965,registered office Wilberforce Court,High Street, Hull HU1 1YJ.

A list of members’ names is availablefor inspection at our offices. We usethe term ‘partner’ to denote membersof Rollits LLP.

1 May 2010

Yorkshire Bank and Rollits offer some Fresh Thinking for business

The first Fresh Thinking event, which tookplace in January, included a lunch with Alec“The Gaffer” Stewart, the most cappedEngland cricketer of all time who delivereda fascinating question and answer sessionon leadership in sport.

The programme aims to blend practicalapplication, theory and experienceallowing participants to take bestpractice back to their business, alongwith the opportunity to step away fromthe day-to-day pressure of working “in”

their business and spend some timefocussing “on” their business, in thecompany of like-minded local businessmen and women.

Partner George Coyle said: “Over thecourse of 2010 and 2011, we will behosting expert speakers from UK business,leading academics from both theuniversities of Leeds and Hull and specialguest speakers who will offer a uniqueperspective on leadership and business.

Future topics to be covered in theprogramme include leadershipdevelopment; strategy; digital mediaand marketing; brand and businessdevelopment and finance and legals.

The first event in January focussed onShaping Change and the critical issuesthat can affect the outcome of changeinitiatives. It was led by Prof John Hayes,Director of the Centre for OrganisationBehaviour Research & Analysis at LeedsUniversity Business School who helpedattendees reflect on their own directexperience of organisational change andidentify issues that have either facilitatedor blocked change.”

Rollits helped land a tasty dealwhen it advised Pasta King’smanagement team on their£13m buy-in of the companywhich provides healthy pastameals to businesses and theeducation sector.

The group’s new Managing DirectorHoward Farquhar and chairman Mike Cole,become shareholders in the acquisitionvehicle set up by majority stakeholderNBGI Private Equity. They also headed upthe management team that NBGIPEbacked in 2003 when it invested insandwich maker Brambles Foods.

Pasta King provides meal solutionscomprising mostly pasta with fresh sauces.The meals are served hot from “pastabars” that are loaned out free-of-charge tothe customer base. As a healthy and tastyfood offering, Pasta King has become verypopular in secondary schools nationwide.It satisfies new Governmental standards onsalt, fat, fibre and vegetable content.

Nasim Sharf, corporate partner, who ledthe team at Rollits, said: “Rollits waspleased to work again with HowardFarquhar and Mike Cole who have agreat track record and bring provenquality to Pasta King. Rollits’ expertiseand experience of private equity dealswere put to good use in ensuring thisdeal was completed sensibly and withinthe tight timescale”.

Howard Farquhar said: “Pasta King has avery strong position in secondary schools.We want to build on that with improvedmerchandising, marketing and productdevelopment not only for further growthin the education sector but also toincrease significantly our presence inother markets”.

Last year Pasta King was nominated as anofficial meals supplier to NHS hospitals inEngland and parts of Wales.

May 2010 heralds a new chapter in Rollits history when we willchange from a traditional law partnership to a Limited LiabilityPartnership. In doing so we can’t honestly claim to be trendsettersas many of the major City legal and accountancy partnerships haveconverted to LLP status over the last few years. We are, however,pleased to join the ranks of professional partnerships now tradingas Limited Liability Partnerships as we believe this will provide thefirm with the right corporate structure for its future developmentand make us more nimble in embracing new commercialopportunities that arise for the firm and adapting to the changesin the legal landscape arising out of the Clementi Review and theLegal Services Act 2007.

In conjunction with Hull College, the RollitsPrize is awarded to outstanding studentswho have overcome particular challengesin order to complete their studies.

Luma, who has cerebral palsy, has excelledin her studies over the past seven years atthe College, undertaking a number ofcomputing-related qualificationsculminating in her obtaining a BSc Degreein Computing with First Class Honours.

Tom Morrison, Partner at Rollits whopresented the prize to Luma at the Awards

Ceremony said: “Our congratulations goto Luma on her success. We are proud tohave been given the opportunity to awardthe prize and look forward to doing soagain next year when the next cohort ofstudents complete their studies”.

Caron Wright, Hull College’s Director ofLearning, added: “Luma’s achievementsover the past seven years, and inparticular in relation to her First ClassHonours Degree, bear testament to hercommitment to her studies and a desireto become involved in the IT industry”.

Rollits has advised on asuccessful GreenPalmcertificate trading programmedesigned to tackle theenvironmental and socialproblems created by theproduction of palm oil.

Exclusively endorsed by the Roundtableon Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), theGreenPalm programme is based on theprinciple that the best way to encouragepeople to work in a sustainable andresponsible way is to reward them fordoing so.

Rollits’ Commercial Partner Keith Bentonsaid: “We advised Book&Claim Limitedin setting up the GreenPalm programme,

which has proved to be a great successand is operating worldwide. Producers ofpalm oil are able to sell certificatesrepresenting palm oil production on theGreenPalm web-based trading platform.The proceeds of sale of the certificatesare used to increase the production ofpalm oil in an environmentally friendlyand sustainable manner.”

GreenPalm Trading programme advised by Rollits

Yorkshire Bank and Rollits are running an exclusive series of business seminars, workshops and round tablediscussions in Hull throughout 2010 and 2011 for locally owned and managed businesses.

Rollits in Run for All

The Rollits team have been training inpreparation for the event, pounding thepavements and clocking up the miles ontreadmills in their spare time.

The Corporate Challenge event, which issponsored by Yorkshire Bank, will hopefullyraise lots of cash for good causes.

Pat Coyle of Rollits said: “Many of us hereat Rollits have taken part in charity eventsbefore and also try to keep fit and thiscombines the two which is great.

The Run for All allows participants tochoose which charities they want todonate their sponsorship to and we havedecided to support the Love You 2

Appeal for Dove House Hospice which isan appeal to raise £2.5 million towardsthe re-development of the hospice siteon Chamberlain Road in Hull as thehospice desperately needs to extend itsfacilities to meet current demands.

The corporate run also has other benefitssuch as team building and networkingopportunities, race-day hospitality and pre-event networking events, which weare all looking forward to.”

The run takes place on Sunday, May 23rdin the Hull city centre. If you would like tosponsor the Rollits team, please contact01482 337318. Or visit our Just Givingpage at www.justgiving.com/rollits10k.

Twelve Rollits employees will be dusting off their running shoesto take part in the Jane Tomlinson 10k Corporate Challenge atthe end of May.

£13m buy-inat Pasta King

Luma wins Rollits prize forBusiness & EnterpriseLuma Anayi has become the winner of the inaugural Rollits Prizefor Business & Enterprise at Hull College.

Luma Anayi (Rollits prize winner, centre front) and (left to right) Tom Morrison (Rollits), Sana Matti(Luma’s mother), Sabah Anayi (Luma’s father) and Caron Wright (Hull College)

www.rollits.comPage 2

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

www.rollits.comPage 4

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

Over the last six months questionnaireshave been sent out to a range of corporateand private clients with 37 per cent ofclients giving Rollits a 100 per cent rating.The overall satisfaction rating for the surveyto date is 86%, putting the firm well into the‘excellent’ category.

Participants of the surveys are asked torate Rollits services on different aspectsincluding the overall service the clientreceived from Rollits, how promptlyqueries were dealt with, if the servicereceived from reception and business

support was helpful and polite and if theparticipants were kept informed withprogress throughout their matter.

John Lane, Client Relations Partner atRollits said: “We are extremely pleasedwith the results of these surveys and theydemonstrate that our clients are clearly veryhappy with the services we provide.

We will continue to send out the surveysto clients to ensure that we alwaysprovide the best possible service thatwe can.”

What was your first job?Waiter/night manager at Eve’s caféScarborough.

If not in your present job, what wouldyou like to be?The owner of a restaurant in an idylliclocation.

What would be your ideal day out of the office?A day’s golf followed by dinner with my family.

Name of person you would like to havedinner with and why?Nelson Mandela because he is probablythe person with the most to tell.

What was your best subject at school?History.

What are your hobbies?Sport (participating and watching), diningout and reading.

What’s your top money saving tip?Live within your means.

What would you do if you won thenational lottery?Retire!

Which political, legal, economic orsporting event would you most like to seehappen in your lifetime and why?One has already happened which is HullCity in the Premiership. In the future itwould be a successful London Olympicsand being there when Great Britain winsathletic gold medals.

What is your favourite time of day?Early evening on a nice summer’s day.

What is the best thing about being inbusiness in Yorkshire?The people.

What would you like your epitaph to read?“He was a decent man.”

On-the-Spot with Steve Trynka, Senior Partner

Clients have continued to score Rollits highly in a series of surveyswhich show the firm consistently delivers “excellent” service forclient satisfaction. The firm issues questionnaires to clients toinvestigate client satisfaction rates where they are asked to rateRollits’ services from one to five on a variety of factors.

Rollits scores tops for client satisfaction

Rollits advise on Ainsley’s acquisition

The move by the two companies saved120 jobs at Ainsley’s which went intoadministration in November last year as it struggled with increased competition.

Each company, which is a separatebusiness, bought ten stores in Leeds andwider West Yorkshire from administratorsGrant Thornton in deals funded entirelyin cash.

Nasim Sharf, corporate partner, who ledthe legal team at Rollits said: “This was aninnovative deal as Cooplands (Doncaster)and Coopland & Son (Scarborough) areentirely independent of one another. Theshared name is a quirk of history. PoolingRollits’ expertise allowed the deals tocomplete smoothly and efficiently”.

Julian Wild, Food Group Director at Rollitsadded: “We have a strong relationshipwith both Cooplands companies and thiswas an excellent opportunity to worktogether to secure most of the Ainsley'sretail bakery business”.

Paul Coopland, Chief Executive ofCoopland & Son (Scarborough) said:

“We worked with Rollits on acquiringthe Skeltons business in Hull in 2007and this acquisition complements ourexisting operations very well”.

Chris Peck, Executive Chairman ofCooplands (Doncaster) said: “We aredelighted with the deal as the heritageand family culture of Ainsley’s fitscomfortably with our own businesswhich has been in retail baking foralmost 80 years.

Even more importantly it has provided animmediate foothold in West Yorkshireand broadened the distribution networkof the company considerably.

Re-branding of the stores should becomplete within a month, taking groupsales to £20m generated through 86stores in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire andNottinghamshire employing 863 peopleand sourcing £5.5m of UK producedingredients each year.”

Other Rollits solicitors who also workedon the deal include Chris Crystal and Ed Jenneson.

Rollits advised on the recent acquisition of troubled Leeds bakerychain Ainsley’s by clients Coopland & Son of Scarborough andCooplands of Doncaster.

Rollits continues to play its partwith young people in thecommunity and has close tieswith Young Enterprise, the UK’sleading business and enterpriseeducation charity.

Staff at Rollits have been engaging withlocal schools as volunteers in YoungEnterprise’s learning by doingprogrammes, which bring volunteersfrom business into the classroom to workwith teachers and students.

Pat Coyle, Jennifer Sewell and KateAtherton have all delivered ‘Enterprise inAction’ programmes at local secondaryschools while Wilf Fowler, Rollits’ Directorof Administration, has delivered theYoung Enterprise Primary Programme atMolescroft Primary School – where hehelped children with a range of hands-onactivities to enable children to betterunderstand the relevance of theireducation to the workplace.

Wilf said: “Young Enterprise aims tobuild a better-motivated, educated andenterprising workforce and, at the sametime, make a real difference to the livesand future potential of young peoplewho live and attend schools in our area.”

Rollits’ Partner, Julian Wild,presented the Champion awardto Stephanie Moon at the fifthannual deliciouslyorkshireawards dinner at Rudding Park.

This is the fourth time that Rollits havesponsored an award at this glitteringevent, which showcases the best ofYorkshire and Humber food and drink.Stephanie Moon is chef consultant atRudding Park and chef tutor at LeedsCity College (Thomas Danby campus).

Stephanie had cleverly designed themenu for the dinner along with RuddingPark’s head chef Stephen Ashburn,using local produce from the award-nominated businesses.

On the night there were 20 award winnersannounced by BBC Radio 2 residentfoodie Nigel Barden, BBC Look North’sChrista Ackroyd and Regional Food Groupchief executive Jonathan Knight.

“These fantastic awards get bigger andbetter every year and prove what a

show-stopper Yorkshire food and drink is– innovative, exceptional in quality and,of course, delicious,” said Nigel Barden.

Rollits support regional Food Awards

Supporting Young Enterprise

Rollits remains committed tothe ongoing personaldevelopment of colleagues so we are delighted toannounce that two members of the business support teamhave achieved NationalVocational Qualifications.

Linda Cook and Rebecca Ekinci wererecently awarded their NVQ certificatesfor their hard work.

Rebecca passed her NVQ Business &Administration Level 2 Apprenticeshipwith JHP Training in York and has alsorecently passed NVQ Customer ServicesLevel 2.

Meanwhile, Linda passed her NVQ Level 4Management certificate with YH Training inScarborough in February 2010.

NVQ success for Lindaand Rebecca

Meanwhile, in Hull, John Rollit, the son ofa local cabinet-maker became an ArticledClerk in the offices of local solicitor WilliamDryden at 2 Bowlalley Lane.

Later, having married Eliza Kaye thedaughter of the “Builder ofHuddersfield”, the architect JosephKaye, John set up the law firm at 62Whitefriargate in 1850 since when Rollitshas been a stalwart of the East Yorkshireand North Yorkshire legal scene.

Into the twentieth century and Rollitsprospered under the direction of John’stwo sons Albert and Arthur. ThomasFarrell joined the firm in 1875, after aspell as a journalist for the Hull MorningNews, but it was his son, Hugh who putthe family name on the name plate. Laterhe was joined by Dick Bladon whobecame a Partner on New Year’s Day1934 when the firm became Rollit Farrell& Bladon.

Since then the firm has continued togrow as a private and commercial firmwith Partners changing over the years to

reflect the changing needs of commerceand new legal strictures that were placedon business under each newGovernment administration.

After the Second World War and into the1960s the firm increased in size as itbecame essential to share the growingworkload. In the 1970s the firm mergedwith Mainprize & Rignall growing furtherin stature and in the 1980s acquiredNeville Hobson & Co.

It was at this point, that the traditionalmode of partnership management whichinvolved all Partners in every decision wasabandoned in favour of a “more modern”management committee.

Today the firm has adopted a managementstructure for the future with a managementboard supported by three teams: businesssupport, knowledge and skills and clientrelations. With large offices in York as wellas its birth city of Hull, Rollits continues tolook to the future and the move frompartnership to Limited Liability Partnershipis the latest manifestation of that spirit.

A brief history of RollitsAs Rollits moves to become aLimited Liability Partnership ithas announced the promotionof three new partners – CarolineHardcastle, Donna Ingleby andTom Morrison.

Donna Ingleby, who joined the firm twoyears ago, becomes a partner in the firm’sEmployment Group as a specialist incontentious and non-contentiousemployment issues, including tribunalpreparation and advocacy. She will continueto work alongside Neil Maidment in theGroup which has one of the largestspecialist employment teams in the region.

Tom Morrison, who has been with the firmsince joining as a Trainee Solicitor in 1999,becomes a partner in Rollits' CommercialGroup. Tom specialises in advising oncontractual matters, intellectual property,data protection, freedom of information,information technology and e-commerce.

Meanwhile, Caroline Hardcastle, whotrained with Kennedys Solicitors inLondon, becomes a partner withinRollits’ Dispute Resolution departmentdealing with a range of commercialdisputes. Caroline, who has worked atRollits for eleven years, specialises inconstruction and engineering disputeswhere she has acted on behalf ofemployers, developers and contractorsin adjudications and Court proceedings.

Managing Partner Richard Field said:“We encourage continual professionaldevelopment throughout Rollits so it isvery pleasing to see three talentedindividuals progressing through the firmand taking their position as partners.Their commitment to the firm and theirdepth of knowledge of client sectorsand the services they provide is a greatasset to Rollits and our clients.”

New partners at Rollits

Left to right: Tom Morrison, Donna Inglebyand Caroline Hardcastle

Bowlalley Lane about 1883 from a drawing by F S Smith

In 1841 Hong Kong became a British colony, John Clark Ross becamethe first European to enter the Arctic ice pack and Thomas Cookopened his first travel agency.

www.rollits.comPage 2

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

www.rollits.comPage 4

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

Over the last six months questionnaireshave been sent out to a range of corporateand private clients with 37 per cent ofclients giving Rollits a 100 per cent rating.The overall satisfaction rating for the surveyto date is 86%, putting the firm well into the‘excellent’ category.

Participants of the surveys are asked torate Rollits services on different aspectsincluding the overall service the clientreceived from Rollits, how promptlyqueries were dealt with, if the servicereceived from reception and business

support was helpful and polite and if theparticipants were kept informed withprogress throughout their matter.

John Lane, Client Relations Partner atRollits said: “We are extremely pleasedwith the results of these surveys and theydemonstrate that our clients are clearly veryhappy with the services we provide.

We will continue to send out the surveysto clients to ensure that we alwaysprovide the best possible service thatwe can.”

What was your first job?Waiter/night manager at Eve’s caféScarborough.

If not in your present job, what wouldyou like to be?The owner of a restaurant in an idylliclocation.

What would be your ideal day out of the office?A day’s golf followed by dinner with my family.

Name of person you would like to havedinner with and why?Nelson Mandela because he is probablythe person with the most to tell.

What was your best subject at school?History.

What are your hobbies?Sport (participating and watching), diningout and reading.

What’s your top money saving tip?Live within your means.

What would you do if you won thenational lottery?Retire!

Which political, legal, economic orsporting event would you most like to seehappen in your lifetime and why?One has already happened which is HullCity in the Premiership. In the future itwould be a successful London Olympicsand being there when Great Britain winsathletic gold medals.

What is your favourite time of day?Early evening on a nice summer’s day.

What is the best thing about being inbusiness in Yorkshire?The people.

What would you like your epitaph to read?“He was a decent man.”

On-the-Spot with Steve Trynka, Senior Partner

Clients have continued to score Rollits highly in a series of surveyswhich show the firm consistently delivers “excellent” service forclient satisfaction. The firm issues questionnaires to clients toinvestigate client satisfaction rates where they are asked to rateRollits’ services from one to five on a variety of factors.

Rollits scores tops for client satisfaction

Rollits advise on Ainsley’s acquisition

The move by the two companies saved120 jobs at Ainsley’s which went intoadministration in November last year as it struggled with increased competition.

Each company, which is a separatebusiness, bought ten stores in Leeds andwider West Yorkshire from administratorsGrant Thornton in deals funded entirelyin cash.

Nasim Sharf, corporate partner, who ledthe legal team at Rollits said: “This was aninnovative deal as Cooplands (Doncaster)and Coopland & Son (Scarborough) areentirely independent of one another. Theshared name is a quirk of history. PoolingRollits’ expertise allowed the deals tocomplete smoothly and efficiently”.

Julian Wild, Food Group Director at Rollitsadded: “We have a strong relationshipwith both Cooplands companies and thiswas an excellent opportunity to worktogether to secure most of the Ainsley'sretail bakery business”.

Paul Coopland, Chief Executive ofCoopland & Son (Scarborough) said:

“We worked with Rollits on acquiringthe Skeltons business in Hull in 2007and this acquisition complements ourexisting operations very well”.

Chris Peck, Executive Chairman ofCooplands (Doncaster) said: “We aredelighted with the deal as the heritageand family culture of Ainsley’s fitscomfortably with our own businesswhich has been in retail baking foralmost 80 years.

Even more importantly it has provided animmediate foothold in West Yorkshireand broadened the distribution networkof the company considerably.

Re-branding of the stores should becomplete within a month, taking groupsales to £20m generated through 86stores in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire andNottinghamshire employing 863 peopleand sourcing £5.5m of UK producedingredients each year.”

Other Rollits solicitors who also workedon the deal include Chris Crystal and Ed Jenneson.

Rollits advised on the recent acquisition of troubled Leeds bakerychain Ainsley’s by clients Coopland & Son of Scarborough andCooplands of Doncaster.

Rollits continues to play its partwith young people in thecommunity and has close tieswith Young Enterprise, the UK’sleading business and enterpriseeducation charity.

Staff at Rollits have been engaging withlocal schools as volunteers in YoungEnterprise’s learning by doingprogrammes, which bring volunteersfrom business into the classroom to workwith teachers and students.

Pat Coyle, Jennifer Sewell and KateAtherton have all delivered ‘Enterprise inAction’ programmes at local secondaryschools while Wilf Fowler, Rollits’ Directorof Administration, has delivered theYoung Enterprise Primary Programme atMolescroft Primary School – where hehelped children with a range of hands-onactivities to enable children to betterunderstand the relevance of theireducation to the workplace.

Wilf said: “Young Enterprise aims tobuild a better-motivated, educated andenterprising workforce and, at the sametime, make a real difference to the livesand future potential of young peoplewho live and attend schools in our area.”

Rollits’ Partner, Julian Wild,presented the Champion awardto Stephanie Moon at the fifthannual deliciouslyorkshireawards dinner at Rudding Park.

This is the fourth time that Rollits havesponsored an award at this glitteringevent, which showcases the best ofYorkshire and Humber food and drink.Stephanie Moon is chef consultant atRudding Park and chef tutor at LeedsCity College (Thomas Danby campus).

Stephanie had cleverly designed themenu for the dinner along with RuddingPark’s head chef Stephen Ashburn,using local produce from the award-nominated businesses.

On the night there were 20 award winnersannounced by BBC Radio 2 residentfoodie Nigel Barden, BBC Look North’sChrista Ackroyd and Regional Food Groupchief executive Jonathan Knight.

“These fantastic awards get bigger andbetter every year and prove what a

show-stopper Yorkshire food and drink is– innovative, exceptional in quality and,of course, delicious,” said Nigel Barden.

Rollits support regional Food Awards

Supporting Young Enterprise

Rollits remains committed tothe ongoing personaldevelopment of colleagues so we are delighted toannounce that two members of the business support teamhave achieved NationalVocational Qualifications.

Linda Cook and Rebecca Ekinci wererecently awarded their NVQ certificatesfor their hard work.

Rebecca passed her NVQ Business &Administration Level 2 Apprenticeshipwith JHP Training in York and has alsorecently passed NVQ Customer ServicesLevel 2.

Meanwhile, Linda passed her NVQ Level 4Management certificate with YH Training inScarborough in February 2010.

NVQ success for Lindaand Rebecca

Meanwhile, in Hull, John Rollit, the son ofa local cabinet-maker became an ArticledClerk in the offices of local solicitor WilliamDryden at 2 Bowlalley Lane.

Later, having married Eliza Kaye thedaughter of the “Builder ofHuddersfield”, the architect JosephKaye, John set up the law firm at 62Whitefriargate in 1850 since when Rollitshas been a stalwart of the East Yorkshireand North Yorkshire legal scene.

Into the twentieth century and Rollitsprospered under the direction of John’stwo sons Albert and Arthur. ThomasFarrell joined the firm in 1875, after aspell as a journalist for the Hull MorningNews, but it was his son, Hugh who putthe family name on the name plate. Laterhe was joined by Dick Bladon whobecame a Partner on New Year’s Day1934 when the firm became Rollit Farrell& Bladon.

Since then the firm has continued togrow as a private and commercial firmwith Partners changing over the years to

reflect the changing needs of commerceand new legal strictures that were placedon business under each newGovernment administration.

After the Second World War and into the1960s the firm increased in size as itbecame essential to share the growingworkload. In the 1970s the firm mergedwith Mainprize & Rignall growing furtherin stature and in the 1980s acquiredNeville Hobson & Co.

It was at this point, that the traditionalmode of partnership management whichinvolved all Partners in every decision wasabandoned in favour of a “more modern”management committee.

Today the firm has adopted a managementstructure for the future with a managementboard supported by three teams: businesssupport, knowledge and skills and clientrelations. With large offices in York as wellas its birth city of Hull, Rollits continues tolook to the future and the move frompartnership to Limited Liability Partnershipis the latest manifestation of that spirit.

A brief history of RollitsAs Rollits moves to become aLimited Liability Partnership ithas announced the promotionof three new partners – CarolineHardcastle, Donna Ingleby andTom Morrison.

Donna Ingleby, who joined the firm twoyears ago, becomes a partner in the firm’sEmployment Group as a specialist incontentious and non-contentiousemployment issues, including tribunalpreparation and advocacy. She will continueto work alongside Neil Maidment in theGroup which has one of the largestspecialist employment teams in the region.

Tom Morrison, who has been with the firmsince joining as a Trainee Solicitor in 1999,becomes a partner in Rollits' CommercialGroup. Tom specialises in advising oncontractual matters, intellectual property,data protection, freedom of information,information technology and e-commerce.

Meanwhile, Caroline Hardcastle, whotrained with Kennedys Solicitors inLondon, becomes a partner withinRollits’ Dispute Resolution departmentdealing with a range of commercialdisputes. Caroline, who has worked atRollits for eleven years, specialises inconstruction and engineering disputeswhere she has acted on behalf ofemployers, developers and contractorsin adjudications and Court proceedings.

Managing Partner Richard Field said:“We encourage continual professionaldevelopment throughout Rollits so it isvery pleasing to see three talentedindividuals progressing through the firmand taking their position as partners.Their commitment to the firm and theirdepth of knowledge of client sectorsand the services they provide is a greatasset to Rollits and our clients.”

New partners at Rollits

Left to right: Tom Morrison, Donna Inglebyand Caroline Hardcastle

Bowlalley Lane about 1883 from a drawing by F S Smith

In 1841 Hong Kong became a British colony, John Clark Ross becamethe first European to enter the Arctic ice pack and Thomas Cookopened his first travel agency.

www.rollits.comPage 2

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

www.rollits.comPage 4

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

Over the last six months questionnaireshave been sent out to a range of corporateand private clients with 37 per cent ofclients giving Rollits a 100 per cent rating.The overall satisfaction rating for the surveyto date is 86%, putting the firm well into the‘excellent’ category.

Participants of the surveys are asked torate Rollits services on different aspectsincluding the overall service the clientreceived from Rollits, how promptlyqueries were dealt with, if the servicereceived from reception and business

support was helpful and polite and if theparticipants were kept informed withprogress throughout their matter.

John Lane, Client Relations Partner atRollits said: “We are extremely pleasedwith the results of these surveys and theydemonstrate that our clients are clearly veryhappy with the services we provide.

We will continue to send out the surveysto clients to ensure that we alwaysprovide the best possible service thatwe can.”

What was your first job?Waiter/night manager at Eve’s caféScarborough.

If not in your present job, what wouldyou like to be?The owner of a restaurant in an idylliclocation.

What would be your ideal day out of the office?A day’s golf followed by dinner with my family.

Name of person you would like to havedinner with and why?Nelson Mandela because he is probablythe person with the most to tell.

What was your best subject at school?History.

What are your hobbies?Sport (participating and watching), diningout and reading.

What’s your top money saving tip?Live within your means.

What would you do if you won thenational lottery?Retire!

Which political, legal, economic orsporting event would you most like to seehappen in your lifetime and why?One has already happened which is HullCity in the Premiership. In the future itwould be a successful London Olympicsand being there when Great Britain winsathletic gold medals.

What is your favourite time of day?Early evening on a nice summer’s day.

What is the best thing about being inbusiness in Yorkshire?The people.

What would you like your epitaph to read?“He was a decent man.”

On-the-Spot with Steve Trynka, Senior Partner

Clients have continued to score Rollits highly in a series of surveyswhich show the firm consistently delivers “excellent” service forclient satisfaction. The firm issues questionnaires to clients toinvestigate client satisfaction rates where they are asked to rateRollits’ services from one to five on a variety of factors.

Rollits scores tops for client satisfaction

Rollits advise on Ainsley’s acquisition

The move by the two companies saved120 jobs at Ainsley’s which went intoadministration in November last year as it struggled with increased competition.

Each company, which is a separatebusiness, bought ten stores in Leeds andwider West Yorkshire from administratorsGrant Thornton in deals funded entirelyin cash.

Nasim Sharf, corporate partner, who ledthe legal team at Rollits said: “This was aninnovative deal as Cooplands (Doncaster)and Coopland & Son (Scarborough) areentirely independent of one another. Theshared name is a quirk of history. PoolingRollits’ expertise allowed the deals tocomplete smoothly and efficiently”.

Julian Wild, Food Group Director at Rollitsadded: “We have a strong relationshipwith both Cooplands companies and thiswas an excellent opportunity to worktogether to secure most of the Ainsley'sretail bakery business”.

Paul Coopland, Chief Executive ofCoopland & Son (Scarborough) said:

“We worked with Rollits on acquiringthe Skeltons business in Hull in 2007and this acquisition complements ourexisting operations very well”.

Chris Peck, Executive Chairman ofCooplands (Doncaster) said: “We aredelighted with the deal as the heritageand family culture of Ainsley’s fitscomfortably with our own businesswhich has been in retail baking foralmost 80 years.

Even more importantly it has provided animmediate foothold in West Yorkshireand broadened the distribution networkof the company considerably.

Re-branding of the stores should becomplete within a month, taking groupsales to £20m generated through 86stores in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire andNottinghamshire employing 863 peopleand sourcing £5.5m of UK producedingredients each year.”

Other Rollits solicitors who also workedon the deal include Chris Crystal and Ed Jenneson.

Rollits advised on the recent acquisition of troubled Leeds bakerychain Ainsley’s by clients Coopland & Son of Scarborough andCooplands of Doncaster.

Rollits continues to play its partwith young people in thecommunity and has close tieswith Young Enterprise, the UK’sleading business and enterpriseeducation charity.

Staff at Rollits have been engaging withlocal schools as volunteers in YoungEnterprise’s learning by doingprogrammes, which bring volunteersfrom business into the classroom to workwith teachers and students.

Pat Coyle, Jennifer Sewell and KateAtherton have all delivered ‘Enterprise inAction’ programmes at local secondaryschools while Wilf Fowler, Rollits’ Directorof Administration, has delivered theYoung Enterprise Primary Programme atMolescroft Primary School – where hehelped children with a range of hands-onactivities to enable children to betterunderstand the relevance of theireducation to the workplace.

Wilf said: “Young Enterprise aims tobuild a better-motivated, educated andenterprising workforce and, at the sametime, make a real difference to the livesand future potential of young peoplewho live and attend schools in our area.”

Rollits’ Partner, Julian Wild,presented the Champion awardto Stephanie Moon at the fifthannual deliciouslyorkshireawards dinner at Rudding Park.

This is the fourth time that Rollits havesponsored an award at this glitteringevent, which showcases the best ofYorkshire and Humber food and drink.Stephanie Moon is chef consultant atRudding Park and chef tutor at LeedsCity College (Thomas Danby campus).

Stephanie had cleverly designed themenu for the dinner along with RuddingPark’s head chef Stephen Ashburn,using local produce from the award-nominated businesses.

On the night there were 20 award winnersannounced by BBC Radio 2 residentfoodie Nigel Barden, BBC Look North’sChrista Ackroyd and Regional Food Groupchief executive Jonathan Knight.

“These fantastic awards get bigger andbetter every year and prove what a

show-stopper Yorkshire food and drink is– innovative, exceptional in quality and,of course, delicious,” said Nigel Barden.

Rollits support regional Food Awards

Supporting Young Enterprise

Rollits remains committed tothe ongoing personaldevelopment of colleagues so we are delighted toannounce that two members of the business support teamhave achieved NationalVocational Qualifications.

Linda Cook and Rebecca Ekinci wererecently awarded their NVQ certificatesfor their hard work.

Rebecca passed her NVQ Business &Administration Level 2 Apprenticeshipwith JHP Training in York and has alsorecently passed NVQ Customer ServicesLevel 2.

Meanwhile, Linda passed her NVQ Level 4Management certificate with YH Training inScarborough in February 2010.

NVQ success for Lindaand Rebecca

Meanwhile, in Hull, John Rollit, the son ofa local cabinet-maker became an ArticledClerk in the offices of local solicitor WilliamDryden at 2 Bowlalley Lane.

Later, having married Eliza Kaye thedaughter of the “Builder ofHuddersfield”, the architect JosephKaye, John set up the law firm at 62Whitefriargate in 1850 since when Rollitshas been a stalwart of the East Yorkshireand North Yorkshire legal scene.

Into the twentieth century and Rollitsprospered under the direction of John’stwo sons Albert and Arthur. ThomasFarrell joined the firm in 1875, after aspell as a journalist for the Hull MorningNews, but it was his son, Hugh who putthe family name on the name plate. Laterhe was joined by Dick Bladon whobecame a Partner on New Year’s Day1934 when the firm became Rollit Farrell& Bladon.

Since then the firm has continued togrow as a private and commercial firmwith Partners changing over the years to

reflect the changing needs of commerceand new legal strictures that were placedon business under each newGovernment administration.

After the Second World War and into the1960s the firm increased in size as itbecame essential to share the growingworkload. In the 1970s the firm mergedwith Mainprize & Rignall growing furtherin stature and in the 1980s acquiredNeville Hobson & Co.

It was at this point, that the traditionalmode of partnership management whichinvolved all Partners in every decision wasabandoned in favour of a “more modern”management committee.

Today the firm has adopted a managementstructure for the future with a managementboard supported by three teams: businesssupport, knowledge and skills and clientrelations. With large offices in York as wellas its birth city of Hull, Rollits continues tolook to the future and the move frompartnership to Limited Liability Partnershipis the latest manifestation of that spirit.

A brief history of RollitsAs Rollits moves to become aLimited Liability Partnership ithas announced the promotionof three new partners – CarolineHardcastle, Donna Ingleby andTom Morrison.

Donna Ingleby, who joined the firm twoyears ago, becomes a partner in the firm’sEmployment Group as a specialist incontentious and non-contentiousemployment issues, including tribunalpreparation and advocacy. She will continueto work alongside Neil Maidment in theGroup which has one of the largestspecialist employment teams in the region.

Tom Morrison, who has been with the firmsince joining as a Trainee Solicitor in 1999,becomes a partner in Rollits' CommercialGroup. Tom specialises in advising oncontractual matters, intellectual property,data protection, freedom of information,information technology and e-commerce.

Meanwhile, Caroline Hardcastle, whotrained with Kennedys Solicitors inLondon, becomes a partner withinRollits’ Dispute Resolution departmentdealing with a range of commercialdisputes. Caroline, who has worked atRollits for eleven years, specialises inconstruction and engineering disputeswhere she has acted on behalf ofemployers, developers and contractorsin adjudications and Court proceedings.

Managing Partner Richard Field said:“We encourage continual professionaldevelopment throughout Rollits so it isvery pleasing to see three talentedindividuals progressing through the firmand taking their position as partners.Their commitment to the firm and theirdepth of knowledge of client sectorsand the services they provide is a greatasset to Rollits and our clients.”

New partners at Rollits

Left to right: Tom Morrison, Donna Inglebyand Caroline Hardcastle

Bowlalley Lane about 1883 from a drawing by F S Smith

In 1841 Hong Kong became a British colony, John Clark Ross becamethe first European to enter the Arctic ice pack and Thomas Cookopened his first travel agency.

In Brief Newsletter

www.rollits.comMay 2010

www.rollits.comPage 6

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

www.rollits.comPage 5

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

New chapter opens up for Rollits

Our intention is that the change will beseamless and that our clients will noticelittle change. We will continue to deliverthe high quality legal advice and servicethat our clients have come to expect and appreciate.

We place a great emphasis on buildingrelations with clients. We are notinterested in short-term gain. A huge partof this is trust – our clients need to trust usand we need to trust our clients. Ourpartners and senior lawyers have a depthof experience in many sectors. We want toknow about our clients’ businesses andthe sectors in which they operate becausewe know this is the only way to give bestadvice. The firm’s partners were recentlypraised in the latest edition of UK LegalExperts as having some of “the leadinglights in the UK legal profession”.

Similarly the conversion to LLP will notaffect the range of services we provide. We deliver a range of legal serviceswhich include Banking and Finance,Contracts and Commercial, DisputeResolution, Property, Corporate,Corporate Finance, Corporate Recoveryand Insolvency, Employment andPensions, Family and Matrimonial,Mediation, IT and Information, PlanningConstruction and Development, PrivateCapital and Regulatory.

We are also committed to continuing todevelop our sector specialisms whichinclude Agriculture and Horticulture,Banking and Finance, Charities andSocial Enterprise, ConstructionEngineering, Education, Family andOwner Managed Businesses, FoodManufacturing, House Builder and

Development, Local Government,Manufacturing (Non-Food), Retail, SocialHousing and Transport and Logistics.

We have never believed in being “allthings to all men”. We have alwayssuccessfully focused our efforts ondeveloping specialist lawyers to provideour clients with sound specialist legaladvice based upon sector experience.That focus will remain unchanged.

The change to LLP status will not affectthe close working relationships we seekto have with all our clients and will, mostcertainly, not affect our core values ofintegrity and trust, the encouragementof innovation, teamwork and thecontinuing personal development of allour lawyers.

Rollits opening chapter began with ourfounder John Rollit having the confidenceto set up his own law practice in 1841.One hundred and sixty nine years laterRollits LLP will become the proud bearerof John Rollit’s legacy and looks forwardto the future with the same confidencethat inspired our founder.

Richard Field, Managing Partner

In this issue

• A brief history of Rollits

• New partners at Rollits

• On-the-Spot with Steve Trynka

• Top marks for client satisfaction

• Ainsley’s acquisition

• £13m buy-in at Pasta King

• Rollits prize for Business & Enterprise

• Rollits in Run for All

• Fresh Thinking for business

• Supporting Young Enterprise

• Rollits support regional Food Awards

• GreenPalm Trading Programmeadvised by Rollits

• NVQ success for Linda andRebecca

Contact details

For more information about Rollitsand our services contact us

Hull OfficeWilberforce Court, High Street, Hull HU1 1YJ Tel 01482 323239Fax 01482 326239Email info@rollits.com

York OfficeRowntree Wharf, Navigation Road,York YO1 9WE Tel 01904 625790Fax 01904 62580Email info@rollits.com

www.rollits.com

Regulated by the Solicitors RegulationAuthority under number 54472

Rollits is a trading name of Rollits LLP.Rollits LLP is a limited liabilitypartnership, registered in England andWales, registered number OC 348965,registered office Wilberforce Court,High Street, Hull HU1 1YJ.

A list of members’ names is availablefor inspection at our offices. We usethe term ‘partner’ to denote membersof Rollits LLP.

1 May 2010

Yorkshire Bank and Rollits offer some Fresh Thinking for business

The first Fresh Thinking event, which tookplace in January, included a lunch with Alec“The Gaffer” Stewart, the most cappedEngland cricketer of all time who delivereda fascinating question and answer sessionon leadership in sport.

The programme aims to blend practicalapplication, theory and experienceallowing participants to take bestpractice back to their business, alongwith the opportunity to step away fromthe day-to-day pressure of working “in”

their business and spend some timefocussing “on” their business, in thecompany of like-minded local businessmen and women.

Partner George Coyle said: “Over thecourse of 2010 and 2011, we will behosting expert speakers from UK business,leading academics from both theuniversities of Leeds and Hull and specialguest speakers who will offer a uniqueperspective on leadership and business.

Future topics to be covered in theprogramme include leadershipdevelopment; strategy; digital mediaand marketing; brand and businessdevelopment and finance and legals.

The first event in January focussed onShaping Change and the critical issuesthat can affect the outcome of changeinitiatives. It was led by Prof John Hayes,Director of the Centre for OrganisationBehaviour Research & Analysis at LeedsUniversity Business School who helpedattendees reflect on their own directexperience of organisational change andidentify issues that have either facilitatedor blocked change.”

Rollits helped land a tasty dealwhen it advised Pasta King’smanagement team on their£13m buy-in of the companywhich provides healthy pastameals to businesses and theeducation sector.

The group’s new Managing DirectorHoward Farquhar and chairman Mike Cole,become shareholders in the acquisitionvehicle set up by majority stakeholderNBGI Private Equity. They also headed upthe management team that NBGIPEbacked in 2003 when it invested insandwich maker Brambles Foods.

Pasta King provides meal solutionscomprising mostly pasta with fresh sauces.The meals are served hot from “pastabars” that are loaned out free-of-charge tothe customer base. As a healthy and tastyfood offering, Pasta King has become verypopular in secondary schools nationwide.It satisfies new Governmental standards onsalt, fat, fibre and vegetable content.

Nasim Sharf, corporate partner, who ledthe team at Rollits, said: “Rollits waspleased to work again with HowardFarquhar and Mike Cole who have agreat track record and bring provenquality to Pasta King. Rollits’ expertiseand experience of private equity dealswere put to good use in ensuring thisdeal was completed sensibly and withinthe tight timescale”.

Howard Farquhar said: “Pasta King has avery strong position in secondary schools.We want to build on that with improvedmerchandising, marketing and productdevelopment not only for further growthin the education sector but also toincrease significantly our presence inother markets”.

Last year Pasta King was nominated as anofficial meals supplier to NHS hospitals inEngland and parts of Wales.

May 2010 heralds a new chapter in Rollits history when we willchange from a traditional law partnership to a Limited LiabilityPartnership. In doing so we can’t honestly claim to be trendsettersas many of the major City legal and accountancy partnerships haveconverted to LLP status over the last few years. We are, however,pleased to join the ranks of professional partnerships now tradingas Limited Liability Partnerships as we believe this will provide thefirm with the right corporate structure for its future developmentand make us more nimble in embracing new commercialopportunities that arise for the firm and adapting to the changesin the legal landscape arising out of the Clementi Review and theLegal Services Act 2007.

In conjunction with Hull College, the RollitsPrize is awarded to outstanding studentswho have overcome particular challengesin order to complete their studies.

Luma, who has cerebral palsy, has excelledin her studies over the past seven years atthe College, undertaking a number ofcomputing-related qualificationsculminating in her obtaining a BSc Degreein Computing with First Class Honours.

Tom Morrison, Partner at Rollits whopresented the prize to Luma at the Awards

Ceremony said: “Our congratulations goto Luma on her success. We are proud tohave been given the opportunity to awardthe prize and look forward to doing soagain next year when the next cohort ofstudents complete their studies”.

Caron Wright, Hull College’s Director ofLearning, added: “Luma’s achievementsover the past seven years, and inparticular in relation to her First ClassHonours Degree, bear testament to hercommitment to her studies and a desireto become involved in the IT industry”.

Rollits has advised on asuccessful GreenPalmcertificate trading programmedesigned to tackle theenvironmental and socialproblems created by theproduction of palm oil.

Exclusively endorsed by the Roundtableon Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), theGreenPalm programme is based on theprinciple that the best way to encouragepeople to work in a sustainable andresponsible way is to reward them fordoing so.

Rollits’ Commercial Partner Keith Bentonsaid: “We advised Book&Claim Limitedin setting up the GreenPalm programme,

which has proved to be a great successand is operating worldwide. Producers ofpalm oil are able to sell certificatesrepresenting palm oil production on theGreenPalm web-based trading platform.The proceeds of sale of the certificatesare used to increase the production ofpalm oil in an environmentally friendlyand sustainable manner.”

GreenPalm Trading programme advised by Rollits

Yorkshire Bank and Rollits are running an exclusive series of business seminars, workshops and round tablediscussions in Hull throughout 2010 and 2011 for locally owned and managed businesses.

Rollits in Run for All

The Rollits team have been training inpreparation for the event, pounding thepavements and clocking up the miles ontreadmills in their spare time.

The Corporate Challenge event, which issponsored by Yorkshire Bank, will hopefullyraise lots of cash for good causes.

Pat Coyle of Rollits said: “Many of us hereat Rollits have taken part in charity eventsbefore and also try to keep fit and thiscombines the two which is great.

The Run for All allows participants tochoose which charities they want todonate their sponsorship to and we havedecided to support the Love You 2

Appeal for Dove House Hospice which isan appeal to raise £2.5 million towardsthe re-development of the hospice siteon Chamberlain Road in Hull as thehospice desperately needs to extend itsfacilities to meet current demands.

The corporate run also has other benefitssuch as team building and networkingopportunities, race-day hospitality and pre-event networking events, which weare all looking forward to.”

The run takes place on Sunday, May 23rdin the Hull city centre. If you would like tosponsor the Rollits team, please contact01482 337318. Or visit our Just Givingpage at www.justgiving.com/rollits10k.

Twelve Rollits employees will be dusting off their running shoesto take part in the Jane Tomlinson 10k Corporate Challenge atthe end of May.

£13m buy-inat Pasta King

Luma wins Rollits prize forBusiness & EnterpriseLuma Anayi has become the winner of the inaugural Rollits Prizefor Business & Enterprise at Hull College.

Luma Anayi (Rollits prize winner, centre front) and (left to right) Tom Morrison (Rollits), Sana Matti(Luma’s mother), Sabah Anayi (Luma’s father) and Caron Wright (Hull College)

In Brief Newsletter

www.rollits.comMay 2010

www.rollits.comPage 6

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletterwww.rollits.comPage 5

May 2010 In B

rief New

sletter

New chapter opens up for Rollits

Our intention is that the change will beseamless and that our clients will noticelittle change. We will continue to deliverthe high quality legal advice and servicethat our clients have come to expect and appreciate.

We place a great emphasis on buildingrelations with clients. We are notinterested in short-term gain. A huge partof this is trust – our clients need to trust usand we need to trust our clients. Ourpartners and senior lawyers have a depthof experience in many sectors. We want toknow about our clients’ businesses andthe sectors in which they operate becausewe know this is the only way to give bestadvice. The firm’s partners were recentlypraised in the latest edition of UK LegalExperts as having some of “the leadinglights in the UK legal profession”.

Similarly the conversion to LLP will notaffect the range of services we provide. We deliver a range of legal serviceswhich include Banking and Finance,Contracts and Commercial, DisputeResolution, Property, Corporate,Corporate Finance, Corporate Recoveryand Insolvency, Employment andPensions, Family and Matrimonial,Mediation, IT and Information, PlanningConstruction and Development, PrivateCapital and Regulatory.

We are also committed to continuing todevelop our sector specialisms whichinclude Agriculture and Horticulture,Banking and Finance, Charities andSocial Enterprise, ConstructionEngineering, Education, Family andOwner Managed Businesses, FoodManufacturing, House Builder and

Development, Local Government,Manufacturing (Non-Food), Retail, SocialHousing and Transport and Logistics.

We have never believed in being “allthings to all men”. We have alwayssuccessfully focused our efforts ondeveloping specialist lawyers to provideour clients with sound specialist legaladvice based upon sector experience.That focus will remain unchanged.

The change to LLP status will not affectthe close working relationships we seekto have with all our clients and will, mostcertainly, not affect our core values ofintegrity and trust, the encouragementof innovation, teamwork and thecontinuing personal development of allour lawyers.

Rollits opening chapter began with ourfounder John Rollit having the confidenceto set up his own law practice in 1841.One hundred and sixty nine years laterRollits LLP will become the proud bearerof John Rollit’s legacy and looks forwardto the future with the same confidencethat inspired our founder.

Richard Field, Managing Partner

In this issue

• A brief history of Rollits

• New partners at Rollits

• On-the-Spot with Steve Trynka

• Top marks for client satisfaction

• Ainsley’s acquisition

• £13m buy-in at Pasta King

• Rollits prize for Business & Enterprise

• Rollits in Run for All

• Fresh Thinking for business

• Supporting Young Enterprise

• Rollits support regional Food Awards

• GreenPalm Trading Programmeadvised by Rollits

• NVQ success for Linda andRebecca

Contact details

For more information about Rollitsand our services contact us

Hull OfficeWilberforce Court, High Street, Hull HU1 1YJ Tel 01482 323239Fax 01482 326239Email info@rollits.com

York OfficeRowntree Wharf, Navigation Road,York YO1 9WE Tel 01904 625790Fax 01904 62580Email info@rollits.com

www.rollits.com

Regulated by the Solicitors RegulationAuthority under number 54472

Rollits is a trading name of Rollits LLP.Rollits LLP is a limited liabilitypartnership, registered in England andWales, registered number OC 348965,registered office Wilberforce Court,High Street, Hull HU1 1YJ.

A list of members’ names is availablefor inspection at our offices. We usethe term ‘partner’ to denote membersof Rollits LLP.

1 May 2010

Yorkshire Bank and Rollits offer some Fresh Thinking for business

The first Fresh Thinking event, which tookplace in January, included a lunch with Alec“The Gaffer” Stewart, the most cappedEngland cricketer of all time who delivereda fascinating question and answer sessionon leadership in sport.

The programme aims to blend practicalapplication, theory and experienceallowing participants to take bestpractice back to their business, alongwith the opportunity to step away fromthe day-to-day pressure of working “in”

their business and spend some timefocussing “on” their business, in thecompany of like-minded local businessmen and women.

Partner George Coyle said: “Over thecourse of 2010 and 2011, we will behosting expert speakers from UK business,leading academics from both theuniversities of Leeds and Hull and specialguest speakers who will offer a uniqueperspective on leadership and business.

Future topics to be covered in theprogramme include leadershipdevelopment; strategy; digital mediaand marketing; brand and businessdevelopment and finance and legals.

The first event in January focussed onShaping Change and the critical issuesthat can affect the outcome of changeinitiatives. It was led by Prof John Hayes,Director of the Centre for OrganisationBehaviour Research & Analysis at LeedsUniversity Business School who helpedattendees reflect on their own directexperience of organisational change andidentify issues that have either facilitatedor blocked change.”

Rollits helped land a tasty dealwhen it advised Pasta King’smanagement team on their£13m buy-in of the companywhich provides healthy pastameals to businesses and theeducation sector.

The group’s new Managing DirectorHoward Farquhar and chairman Mike Cole,become shareholders in the acquisitionvehicle set up by majority stakeholderNBGI Private Equity. They also headed upthe management team that NBGIPEbacked in 2003 when it invested insandwich maker Brambles Foods.

Pasta King provides meal solutionscomprising mostly pasta with fresh sauces.The meals are served hot from “pastabars” that are loaned out free-of-charge tothe customer base. As a healthy and tastyfood offering, Pasta King has become verypopular in secondary schools nationwide.It satisfies new Governmental standards onsalt, fat, fibre and vegetable content.

Nasim Sharf, corporate partner, who ledthe team at Rollits, said: “Rollits waspleased to work again with HowardFarquhar and Mike Cole who have agreat track record and bring provenquality to Pasta King. Rollits’ expertiseand experience of private equity dealswere put to good use in ensuring thisdeal was completed sensibly and withinthe tight timescale”.

Howard Farquhar said: “Pasta King has avery strong position in secondary schools.We want to build on that with improvedmerchandising, marketing and productdevelopment not only for further growthin the education sector but also toincrease significantly our presence inother markets”.

Last year Pasta King was nominated as anofficial meals supplier to NHS hospitals inEngland and parts of Wales.

May 2010 heralds a new chapter in Rollits history when we willchange from a traditional law partnership to a Limited LiabilityPartnership. In doing so we can’t honestly claim to be trendsettersas many of the major City legal and accountancy partnerships haveconverted to LLP status over the last few years. We are, however,pleased to join the ranks of professional partnerships now tradingas Limited Liability Partnerships as we believe this will provide thefirm with the right corporate structure for its future developmentand make us more nimble in embracing new commercialopportunities that arise for the firm and adapting to the changesin the legal landscape arising out of the Clementi Review and theLegal Services Act 2007.

In conjunction with Hull College, the RollitsPrize is awarded to outstanding studentswho have overcome particular challengesin order to complete their studies.

Luma, who has cerebral palsy, has excelledin her studies over the past seven years atthe College, undertaking a number ofcomputing-related qualificationsculminating in her obtaining a BSc Degreein Computing with First Class Honours.

Tom Morrison, Partner at Rollits whopresented the prize to Luma at the Awards

Ceremony said: “Our congratulations goto Luma on her success. We are proud tohave been given the opportunity to awardthe prize and look forward to doing soagain next year when the next cohort ofstudents complete their studies”.

Caron Wright, Hull College’s Director ofLearning, added: “Luma’s achievementsover the past seven years, and inparticular in relation to her First ClassHonours Degree, bear testament to hercommitment to her studies and a desireto become involved in the IT industry”.

Rollits has advised on asuccessful GreenPalmcertificate trading programmedesigned to tackle theenvironmental and socialproblems created by theproduction of palm oil.

Exclusively endorsed by the Roundtableon Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), theGreenPalm programme is based on theprinciple that the best way to encouragepeople to work in a sustainable andresponsible way is to reward them fordoing so.

Rollits’ Commercial Partner Keith Bentonsaid: “We advised Book&Claim Limitedin setting up the GreenPalm programme,

which has proved to be a great successand is operating worldwide. Producers ofpalm oil are able to sell certificatesrepresenting palm oil production on theGreenPalm web-based trading platform.The proceeds of sale of the certificatesare used to increase the production ofpalm oil in an environmentally friendlyand sustainable manner.”

GreenPalm Trading programme advised by Rollits

Yorkshire Bank and Rollits are running an exclusive series of business seminars, workshops and round tablediscussions in Hull throughout 2010 and 2011 for locally owned and managed businesses.

Rollits in Run for All

The Rollits team have been training inpreparation for the event, pounding thepavements and clocking up the miles ontreadmills in their spare time.

The Corporate Challenge event, which issponsored by Yorkshire Bank, will hopefullyraise lots of cash for good causes.

Pat Coyle of Rollits said: “Many of us hereat Rollits have taken part in charity eventsbefore and also try to keep fit and thiscombines the two which is great.

The Run for All allows participants tochoose which charities they want todonate their sponsorship to and we havedecided to support the Love You 2

Appeal for Dove House Hospice which isan appeal to raise £2.5 million towardsthe re-development of the hospice siteon Chamberlain Road in Hull as thehospice desperately needs to extend itsfacilities to meet current demands.

The corporate run also has other benefitssuch as team building and networkingopportunities, race-day hospitality and pre-event networking events, which weare all looking forward to.”

The run takes place on Sunday, May 23rdin the Hull city centre. If you would like tosponsor the Rollits team, please contact01482 337318. Or visit our Just Givingpage at www.justgiving.com/rollits10k.

Twelve Rollits employees will be dusting off their running shoesto take part in the Jane Tomlinson 10k Corporate Challenge atthe end of May.

£13m buy-inat Pasta King

Luma wins Rollits prize forBusiness & EnterpriseLuma Anayi has become the winner of the inaugural Rollits Prizefor Business & Enterprise at Hull College.

Luma Anayi (Rollits prize winner, centre front) and (left to right) Tom Morrison (Rollits), Sana Matti(Luma’s mother), Sabah Anayi (Luma’s father) and Caron Wright (Hull College)