This week’s government-commissioned report suggesting the privileged background of most lawyers got me thinking about our own lawyer selection policy.
I think it’s fair to say I myself didn’t come from a privileged background – I certainly had a loving and supportive family but my father was a machinist in a car factory.
When I look at the team of
family lawyers we have I can’t really see any of those who would consider they were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and maybe that is down to our
lawyer selection policy.
When looking for
family lawyers we select based on their:
• Experience and knowledge in family law
• Legal expertise
• Client care abilities
• Ability to generate referrals from satisfied client
and certainly not based on their family background or ‘who they know’ in legal circles.
Unlike many firms we actively recruit both qualified
family solicitors and legal executives. In my experience all too many firms are snobbish about the two different qualification routes and give greater reward and position to solicitors over legal executives. That’s not right in my opinion. From our point of view, as long as they fit our requirements for legal knowledge, experience and expertise and can couple that with an ability to deal with clients in a way that keeps the positive testimonials and referrals pouring in we are happy to recruit legal executives or solicitors.
I empathise with anyone trying to get in to the profession – the training is tough and you do have to work long hours. But if I (an expelled grammar school lad from Coventry) can succeed in the law, anyone can.
Andrew Woolley
Solicitor and business owner