It was merely the latest success story for a charismatic individual whose colourful CV suggests that he has always been something of a young man in a hurry. By his mid-twenties, the rugby-playing, motorbike-riding Mr Nulty was already a former fashion model and a former television presenter.
After qualifiying as a solicitor, he joined a Manchester law firm in 1996 and was soon made a partner and head of litigation.
He set up Avalon Solicitors in 2001, taking with him 2,000 personal injury clients from his former law firm and citing his formula for success as “a blend of common sense, hard work and a down-to-earth approach”. The plan worked, at first steadily and then spectacularly. Last autumn Avalon, based in Warrington, Cheshire — and by now specialising in industrial injury compensation claims — recorded a turnover of £5 million.
A year later the firm’s turnover had risen to £21.2 million and its profit margin was a phenomenal 73 per cent, which meant that Avalon’s two equity partners had earned between them £15.5 million in 12 months. As Avalon’s senior and founding partner, Mr Nulty’s share of the profits was an estimated £13 million.
Every year The Lawyer magazine produces a list of the top 100 British law firms, ranked by turnover. During the early summer, the publication received a telephone call from Avalon’s managing partner, Anthony Chorlton, suggesting that his firm merited consideration for this year’s list. The figures stacked up. Avalon was not only ranked 88th, by turnover, but Mr Nulty’s personal profits had earned him, for 2005-06, the title of highest-earning solicitor in the country.
