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About Us

A Crosby firm. Since 1976.

We were started by two Liverpool solicitors who wanted to build a different kind of practice — one where clients were known by name, advice was given straight, and relationships were built over decades, not transactions. Nearly fifty years later, that’s still how we work.

Who we are

A small firm doing serious work.

Black Norman is a Crosby-based law firm acting for individuals, families and businesses across Merseyside and the rest of England and Wales. We handle the moments that matter — buying or selling a home, writing a Will, planning your estate, negotiating a commercial lease, or supporting a family through a Court of Protection application.

We’re deliberately small. Six partners, a team of solicitors and support staff, and one office. We’ve never been interested in growth for its own sake — the firm has always been more about doing good work for people we know, year after year.

A lot of our clients have been with us for decades. Some are the second or third generation of their family to instruct us. That continuity is what we’re proudest of.

  • 50 Years

    Looking after Merseyside since 1976.

  • 6 partners

    Each one hands-on with clients every day.

  • 1 office

    On Coronation Road. Where we've always been.

Our Story

From two Liverpool solicitors to where we are today.

Black Norman was founded in 1976 by Leslie Black and Howard Norman, two experienced Liverpool solicitors who decided to set up their own practice in Crosby. They wanted a firm that did things differently — partner-led from the start, with the kind of client relationships that don’t fit on a billable timesheet.

That ethos took hold quickly. Local families came to them for their conveyancing, their Wills, their estates, their businesses — and then sent their children, and their grandchildren. The practice grew steadily, picking up commercial work and a strong reputation for Court of Protection and elderly client services along the way.

Today, the firm is led by six partners — Richard Entwistle, Shoab Panwar, Sara Keenan, Bonnie Highton, Daniel McGee and Mark Gilbertson — supported by a team of solicitors, paralegals and administrators who care deeply about the work.

We’ve modernised plenty over the years. The way we communicate, the technology we use, the speed we work at — none of that looks like 1976. But the original idea — that a solicitor should be a known person who explains things properly and sticks with you for the long haul — hasn’t moved an inch.

Our Values

What's stayed the same for fifty years.

  • Partner-led, every time

    The named solicitor you meet on day one is the one who’ll see your work through. No handovers, no anonymous case handlers.

  • Plain English, always

    Legal documents are complicated. Our advice doesn’t have to be. We translate the bits you need to know and leave out the bits you don’t.

  • Built on long-term relationships

    We’ve been working with some of our clients for thirty or forty years. That’s the kind of firm we set out to be.

  • Rooted in Crosby

    We’ve been on Coronation Road since the firm began. We live here, our families live here, and we plan to be here for the next fifty years.

The Partners

Leading The Firm.

The firm is led by six partners, each heading their own area of the practice. You’ll find longer bios on the team page — but here’s who’s at the helm.