{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Stanley Jack Berwin (19 March 1926 – 2 July 1988) was an English

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

. He was the founder and name partner of two leading law firms in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, Berwin & Co (now part of Berwin Leighton Paisner) and

SJ Berwin SJ Berwin LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. SJ Berwin merged with the Hong Kong-headquartered law firm King & Wood Mallesons on 1 November 2013, becoming the fourth member of its Swiss Verein structure. S ...

(now part of

King & Wood Mallesons King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is the largest international commercial law firm based in the Asia–Pacific, Asia-Pacific. It has 26 offices and over 3,000 legal professionals across Australia, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the U ...

). He was considered to be one of the leading lawyers of the second half of the 20th century.

Early life

Berwin was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, into an Orthodox Jewish family. His brother Malcolm entered the family tailoring business, Berwin & Berwin; his nephew Paul Berwin founded Yorkshire law firm Berwins. He was educated at Roundhay School in Leeds. After serving in the Royal Navy in the Second World War, he studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, and the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. While a law student at Leeds, he contested

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in the 1950 general election, coming a distant third with 10% of the votes. At the 1951 General Election he contested Shipley for the Liberals and again finished a poor third.

Career

Berwin became a solicitor, taking his articles at a firm in the City of London and then practising as a commercial lawyer at Herbert Oppenheimer, Nathan & Vandyke. He founded Berwin & Co in the mid-1960s. The firm specialised in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and tax. Berwin & Co merged with Leighton & Co in 1970 to form Berwin Leighton, and moved to

Adelaide House Adelaide House is a Grade II listed office building in London's primary financial district, the City of London. Location Adelaide House is located on the north bank of the Thames, adjacent to London Bridge and St Magnus the Martyr church. ...

on the north bank of the River Thames beside

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

. Berwin Leighton merged with Paisner & Co in 2001 to form Berwin Leighton Paisner. In addition to his legal practice, Berwin held various positions in the City of London. He became a director at the merchant bank

N M Rothschild & Sons Rothschild & Co SCA is a multinational private and alternative assets investor, headquartered in Paris, France and London, United Kingdom. It is the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the British and French branches of the Rot ...

in 1966, was a deputy chairman at

British Land The British Land Company Public Limited Company is one of the largest property development and investment companies in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust when REITs were introduced in the UK in January 2007. It ...

, and a director of

Wickes Wickes Group plc is a British home improvement retailer. It is the second largest home improvement retailer in the United Kingdom, behind B&Q. Whilst open to the general public, its sales of supplies and materials are predominantly orientate ...

. After a period working outside the law, Berwin set up a new law firm,

, in 1982. He remained the senior partner until his death in 1988. The firm merged with

in 2013. The SJ Berwin Chair of Corporate Law at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

was endowed in his honour; the fundraising was so successful that a second innominate chair was also endowed at the same time.

References

Professor Len Sealy
Squire Law Library, University of Cambridge
The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History

William Rubinstein William D. Rubinstein (12 August 1946 – 1 July 2024) was an American-British historian and author. His best-known work, ''Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain Since the Industrial Revolution'', charts the rise of the " super rich", a ...

, Michael Jolles, Hilary Rubinstein, p. 87-88
The generation game
Law Society Gazette, 18 December 2002 English solicitors 1926 births 1988 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 20th-century English lawyers Alumni of the University of Leeds