DWF has been appointed as sole debt recovery adviser to construction company Portakabin Group, with the appointment coming at the expense of Cobbetts.

The mandate will see DWF advising on all work such as debt collection, bankruptcy petitions and winding-up orders.

It follows DWF's January hire of directors Ron Lack and David Scottow from Cobbetts, where Lack held a management position in Cobbetts' debt recovery arm Incasso.

York-based Portakabin is the second client win for DWF since the northwest firm brought in Lack, following Anglian Water's decision to move all existing debt work with Incasso over to DWF earlier this year.

DWF managing partner Andrew Leaitherland said: "Due to the nature of its business, the Portakabin Group is a prolific user of the legal recoveries process. By providing a swift and efficient service, we can help it to reduce debtor days and improve cashflow."

Despite the client losses, Cobbetts said that its Incasso business is still growing.

Managing partner Michael Shaw said: "Those clients have gone; however, our practice at Incasso is engaging in a considerable level of growth and we anticipate to turn over of £3.5m in the current year, up from £2.5m last year."

He added: "We are seeing significant growth in financial services litigation and work for local authorities where we have dominant share of that market."