HELEN & BART
BART
Well, for me, I think it comes down to the people that we work with. As Helen will agree, we work hard but I think it is done in a fun way. Everyone enjoys the work, they work as a team and I think that is something that is a big, big factor, particularly if you are working on quite long, big transactions. And also because you get to know people within the business and they do become friends and, you know, do become familiar with them as well.
HELEN
I think we have got quite a transparent hierarchy. So, you may be a newly qualified lawyer and you will be working with a senior partner that has real experience at that piece of work. But everybody mucks in together, I mean, one way I would describe this is unlawyerish lawyers. We all get in, roll our sleeves up, get the nitty gritty that the client wants us to deliver and we deliver it. And I think that is what makes us different. It is a great place to work for that very reason. Nobody’s word is not valued, nobody’s ideas are not taken on board, and people never feel afraid to speak up, share ideas and from that we do things better, I think. I think Eversheds of all the law firms stands out as having the most fantastic work-life balance. I am not going to go into huge detail about all the various schemes and things that we have but I can speak personally in that I have worked here for seven years, I have two young children, I have progressed to partnership and I have been able to do that by the working patterns I have been able to put in. Yes, we work hard but we also appreciate that sometimes people do need to work in a certain way. And if that suits the business, then that is the way we do it.
BART
I think the firm has been very supportive in terms of work-life balance. For me personally, I have been able to get involved in quite a lot of charity work that is not legal work. I have done a bit of work for a charitable trust and working with other young professionals within the Cardiff area. That is something that the firm has been able to do and they have been very supportive in terms of my working hours and how that fits in to my working day.
HELEN
We take a fresh approach, we are excited about things and I think that comes across, and that is why clients like working with us.
BART
Also being a large business as well, we are able to tap into quite a wide range of people, so people from different backgrounds and different genres and with different interests. And I think that is beneficial to the firm because then there is no Eversheds type of person. A lot of people have very different personalities and I think this adds to the blend of people that we have and I think that is certainly reflected in the work that we do as well.
HELEN
And people have come into the business from different backgrounds. For example, I came from in-house; you will have people from a second career, lawyers that have worked in industry. So I think that makes us a really interesting mix that when clients meet us they are often quite surprised; golly, you know, you have had another life or you have done different things and, you know, you are a bit more interesting than the crazy academic lawyer that one might expect to see. I will pick that one up if I may because I have worked in another law firm apart from Eversheds. I think the first thing that really sets us apart is the way that we have a clear-cut supervision policy, a way of coaching, developing and mentoring young lawyers. For me, in my early career, I worked in a law firm where I was very much given a large caseload and left to it. I found that very stressful; it didn’t give the best to the client or for me to develop. And that is certainly not the way we work here. We have a structured supervision policy, open door. People are assigned mentors and coaches from day one and we really understand that our clients can only get the best out of us if we develop our people properly. That is the ethos we apply.
BART
Eversheds does recognise that we are a group of different individuals with different personalities. I think that is what keeps it exciting and what keeps employees excited about being here and wanting to remain here.
HELEN
And every day is different. We have such a variety of work and clients and there is enough to stimulate you. I have never been bored in seven years, I have never ever thought, oh, you know, dread coming into work. It has always been, right, what is going to happen today. There are a lot of initiatives and people are really involved. And I know I talk a lot about the business but people help to understand how the finance works here: if you do this, this is the impact it has on the business. And I think giving people that buy-in does make a huge difference.