Firm's History
The Partnership was founded in 1829 by Alexander Butler Rowley in Manchester. The Partnership was known as Rowley & Co. In the late 1800's Robert Spencer Ashworth joined the Partnership and the name Rowley Ashworth came into being.
Following the Workman’s Compensation Act in 1897 the Partnership began to provide legal assistance to members of the Electrical Trade Union. In the late 1800's the Partnership also started acting for the National Union of Vehicle Builders who went on to amalgamated with the TGWU in 1972.
In the mid 1930's Robert B Prain joined the Manchester office where he worked and Leo Gillis moved from Manchester to London to set up an office in Euston Road close to the ETU offices.
In 1945 Dennis Gordon joined the Partnership and the firm began to after receive instructions from the GMWU (now the GMB) in the southern region covering the south coast from Kent to Cornwall.
During the 1960’s the Partnership opened an office in Temple Row, Birmingham and in 1971 the firm merged with Birmingham firm Blewitt Oakley & Co and the firm became Rowleys & Blewitts. The amalgamated firms moved to Snow Hill Plaza in Birmingham. At that stage there were offices in Manchester, Birmingham and London. Then in 1981 the firm opened a new office in Exeter.
The firm of Rowleys & Blewitts was dissolved in April 1986 and split into two new separate firm's, one of which was the present Rowley Ashworth. Rowley Ashworth then began to work almost exclusively for trades unions and their members. Rowley Ashworth continued to practice out of the offices in Birmingham, London and Exeter.
The firm grew and in 1992 opened a new office in Leeds to deal with an increasing amount of work in the North. In 1995 new union instructions lead to the opening of the firms sixth office in Liverpool.
From the mid 1990’s the firm embarked on an ambitious programme to enhance its IT capability and established an IT Department in 1998. A completely new and sophisticated intranet was created which enabled the firm to develop and provide case handlers with a bespoke case management system for the personal injury departments.
In 1998 Roger Goodier, who was a founding partner of the 1986 Rowley Ashworth firm, retired and in 1999 Michael Short decided to retire as a partner and take up a prestigious position as Head of Legal Services at the AEEU which would involve him seeing through the complex amalgamation issues between AEEU and MSF which lead to the creation of Amicus (now Unite).
The early part of the 21st century saw significant changes to the type of services provided to trade union clients. A reorganisation of legal services within the Transport and General Workers Union saw an increase in the Personal Injury instructions in the Midlands coupled with a consequential increase in Employment Law support given to the union. A similar reorganisation took place within Amicus resulting in the provision of Employment Tribunal support for the union and it’s officers.
In 2003 an office was opened in Cardiff in order to establish a presence in Wales and better assist our clients.
In April 2005 David Prain, who had been a partner in the firm since 1976 retired and during the same year an eighth office was opened in Derby to establish a presence in the East Midlands.
Rowley Ashworth continues to act for a number of major trades unions including Unite (Amicus Section), GMB, Unite (TGWU Section) and USDAW. Rowley Ashworth does not act for employers and only represents the victims of injury and unfairness at work.
