What’s more, last year the firm’s net profit soared from £2.4m to £3.7m.
And making the most of these profits, the firm has invested in hiring no less than 17 staff in the past nine months, bringing its headcount to 138 fee-earners. It has also made two important additions to its internal management team in the form of Paul Harker as the firm’s new head of IT last July and Rob Adams, the firm’s first head of risk and compliance, in January.
While things have not always been rosy at the firm - 16 members of staff had to be let go in 2010 - senior partner Romaine Thompson maintains that a confident approach has been vital in the ups and downs of recent years.
“We’ve stuck at what we think is the right thing to do and the key has been not to lose our nerve and follow the market, but to keep looking to find solutions to needs rather than sell something that is not needed,” she stresses.
The firm’s niche expertise in areas such as social housing, health and social care, local government, education and faith communities has also helped it to stand out and it was this rather unusual mix of skill sets that secured the firm’s recent mandate acting for Staffordshire County Council as it embarked on a £230m landmark NHS project - the largest integration of council and NHS services in England to date.
While Thompson insists there is no “magic formula” that has driven the firm’s success in the past 14 years, incremental changes such as the firm’s new IT strategy that will come into force later this year have helped make it a desirable working environment and consolidate its reputation.
A number of the recent hires have been lawyers returning to the firm, something Thompson finds deeply encouraging.
“People move for all kinds of reasons and it’s been such a positive thing to see people choosing to return to the firm - it must mean we’re doing something right,” she says.
Covid-19 has resulted, on the whole, in a marked co-operation between contracting authorities and their suppliers as everybody focuses on maintaining delivery as far as possible.
As we enter a recession, we have been here before, and a key question is what did we learn and how can we benefit from that learning?
It is anticipated that as lockdown restrictions ease, and particularly with children and young adults returning to education, cases of meningitis will start to rise.
As we continue to emerge from lockdown measures and deal with local measures and the short and long term economic impact of Covid-19, local authorities will need to re-assess how services will be delivered for years to come.
The Government first announced plans for a shared ownership right to buy in October 2019. At the time the sector raised concerns about the impact the plans would have on housing associations ability to borrow. An election and a pandemic later the Government announced, during the CIH Housing Festival last week, the return of the right to shared ownership as part of its Affordable Homes Programme (AHP).
Two final pieces of the possession jigsaw have been published on 15 September 2020. Mr Justice Knowles’ working group on possession proceedings has issued its guidance on the “overall arrangements” for possession proceedings.
One change proposed by the Building Safety Bill is the introduction of a duty holder regime, which will see statutory responsibility for the safety of higher risk buildings placed on key individuals
Throughout this pandemic, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been publishing various “Statements on Coronavirus” (Statements) which provide guidance on consumer rights during this time.
A recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the UK means new measures are being put in place in an effort to reduce the risk of a second wave. Whilst the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt, it is important to remain focused on the sector’s road to recovery.
Sometimes half an hour at a conference gives you the reality that has been staring you in the face all along. That was my experience watching “Change is on the Horizon”
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