A Black Country law firm has strengthened its senior management team as it aims to reach £12 million in fees by the end of 2017.

Stourbridge-based Talbots, which employs nearly 200 people across its network of seven offices, has appointed Matt Wistow as its first ever business development director.

He is charged with building on the firm's work in the fields of residential property, family law and trusts and estates and increasing engagement with small business in the region.

Mr Wistow has nearly 30 years of corporate banking and professional services experience, including senior positions at The Royal Bank of Scotland and accountancy firm Shaw Gibbs.

In this new role, he will use his experience to help secure new opportunities in business services, including corporate transactions, commercial property and employment law.

He said: "This is a very exciting time for Talbots, with the management team keen to increase turnover by £2 million over the next 12 months, an objective that will see us break £12 million for the first time in our 25-year history.

"The company has a very strong reputation and has recently invested heavily in new branding that has been a big hit with clients.

"My role will be to reinforce that brand and also look at ways where we can adopt different approaches to accelerate growth across our core legal offers."

He will lead a five-strong sales and marketing team, in addition to managing a range of external consultants who help with design, PR and e-marketing.

Talbots' chief executive Mary Mocklow added: "We are thrilled to have secured Matt's services, especially the amount of experience and knowledge he can bring to the table.

"We have wanted to strengthen the senior management team for some time and felt we had got to the stage where a specialist in business development was needed.

"A lot of our growth has come from word of mouth and referrals, which is excellent. However, to really accelerate our expansion we require a more structured and cohesive approach.

"If we can generate £12m of fees in 2017 that will mean we will have more than doubled the size of the business in just five years.

"A fantastic achievement and one that we will be immensely proud of."