FEATURE
LEGAL SERVICES FIRM RAMPARTS ACQUIRED BY INCE GORDON DADDS SERGEANT-MAJOR HENRY INCE OF THE BRITISH ARMY ACHIEVED FAME AS THE AUTHOR OF A PLAN TO TUNNEL THROUGH THE NORTH FACE OF THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR IN 1782 DURING THE GREAT SIEGE, AND GIBRALTAR HONOURS HIS NAME WITH BOTH THE INCE’S HALL THEATRE BUILDING AND INCE LANE AMONGST OTHER PLACES BEING NAMED AFTER THE MAN WHO IS ALSO REGARDED AS THE FOUNDER OF THE CHURCH IN GIBRALTAR. Now the name Ince is back in prominence in Gibraltar with the acquisition of legal services firm Ramparts by Ince Gordon Dadds, to be known in future solely as Ince Gibraltar. Chief Minister Fabian Picardo attended the launch of Ince Gibraltar on the Sunborn Yacht Hotel on the 1st June. The acquisition brings together three companies as part of a bigger group, all specialists in their fields, with more access to resources and expertise. Founder of Ramparts Peter Howitt first came to Gibraltar in 2005 to join gaming company Party Gaming, now GVC, and after working in a few different roles he decided to start Ramparts seven years ago. “We focused primarily on e-gaming which is obviously a huge part of the Gibraltar economy, and my experience in-house as a lawyer helped us grow a gaming practice,” he states. “We do a lot of work for payments companies that has led to work in cryptocurrency related activities and we also have a company administration side, so we manage companies for clients. We also undertake financial services advisory and compliance work.”
In a place not lacking in law firms, Peter comments that some people were a bit surprised at his decision to start another, but he felt that coming from an in-house background would mean he would have an advantage in persuading clients that Ramparts was solutions focused, somewhere people could go to for solving problems, whether related to the law or to practical issues. Having grown Ramparts as a one-man-band from 2012 to a team of fifteen in just seven years, Peter realised that the company had reached a point where it needed to offer something else in the local community. It was an introduction by Andrew Tait, who had spent ten years as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Gibraltar-based operator Mansion Group and had then moved to London as a Partner in Gordon Dadds, which opened negotiations between Gordon Dadds founder Adrian Biles. “It has taken about nine months or so, but we are delighted to be part of a bigger group,” Peter says. Adrian Biles founded the business in 2013 with the acquisition of Gordon Dadds, a small traditional Mayfair law firm specialising in private clients and family law matters.
WORDS BY JO WARD 12
JULY 2019
GIBRALTARINSIGHT.COM