2016 was another good year for us and looking back over the last 12 months we have had plenty to be proud of including the firm celebrating the opening of a new fourth office in Southam.
The office was officially opened in April and has extended opening times every evening Monday to Friday until 6.30pm and is also open every Saturday which is proving very popular with the local community.
We also had a very successful year in terms of accreditations and recognition from within the legal profession including:
Accreditation to the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme – the mark of excellence for the home buying process for the fifth year in a row Continued Lexcel accreditation at Level 6 – the Law Society’s practice management standard Chambers UK 2017 – Tony Hall, Head of Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury has been ranked and quoted in the publication as being ‘one of the best’ solicitors out there in Clinical Negligence work.
The Legal 500 book, a prestigious publication providing independent analysis of the legal services market. Particular mention was made of the strength of our Crime, Family and Private Client Departments.
In addition, two of our Criminal lawyers were specifically mentioned in the Legal 500 2017 as they were recommended for the cases they handle including serious crime, corporate crime, criminal regulatory matters and motoring offences.
As a firm, we also had a couple of ‘firsts’ last year – we hosted our first Property Investment Event (PIE). This was held at our Nuneaton office in conjunction with Nuneaton based estate agents Smiths. We had a great turn out at the event and we are already planning more property events for 2017.
In addition, we also recruited our ‘first’ apprentices – Tehya-Leonie Kirby joined our Property department in Leamington and Natalie McQuiggan joined the Family department costings team in Coventry. Both have settled in really well and already proving to be real assets to their teams. Our third apprentice, Zac Cleary joined us in November as part of our IT team.
Externally, as part of our support for the local communities that we work, live and operate in, we provided support at a legacy event that local charity Practical Action held in Stratford upon Avon and we also sponsored the Save the Children Christmas Fair for a third year where they raised a total of over £5,000.
We again participated in the Will Aid Scheme, which raised a staggering £4,560 for local charities – we were second among participating law firms in the West Midlands for the amount we raised.
We also took part in The Myton Hospices Make a Will week in October where over £1,850 was raised.
In addition, our dedicated staff have raised thousands of pounds for a number of charities last year through a variety of activities, including a £1,537.24 donation to Castel Froma which was collected from our monthly ‘dress down’ days and we raised £410 from Macmillan coffee mornings which were held in all four of our offices.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients, professional contacts and staff for all their support and to wish you and your families a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2017.