Hill Dickinson has launched a new office in Leeds following the hire of Capsticks corporate health partner Robert McGough.

The office which opened this month, will have a focus on the health sector and will be jointly led by McGough and health litigation partner Mike McKenna.

McGough's practice centres around commercial and contractual issues for NHS and public sector organisations, as well as independent providers, while McKenna specialises in clinical negligence claims.

Leeds will be the firm's fifth UK office alongside Liverpool, Manchester and the firm's two bases in London.

2016-17 was a challenging year for the Liverpool-based firm. Revenue fell by 1.4% to £101.7m, while average profit per equity partner fell 12.7% from £314,000 to £274,000.

Earlier this month, it was announced that the firm is in talks to sell its general insurance business to Keoghs. The group, which generates annual revenue of around £23m, comprises 16 partners and over 400 other staff members.

At the time, the firm said that it would be concentrating on "areas of future strategic growth", including health.

This followed news in March that a 24-person personal injury team was leaving Hill Dickinson to join Kennedys following the closure of the firm's Sheffield office. This came after the loss of a major client.

Earlier this year, Hill Dickinson also held an unsuccessful round of merger talks with fellow insurance and shipping firm Ince & Co. The union would have created a top 30 UK firm with combined revenue of nearly £180m based on 2015-16 figures.