Foreword
I am delighted to introduce the 2017 edition of Insight, our annual report. This marks an important milestone in my first year as the firm’s Senior Partner.
Continuing with the theme of collaboration, these case studies contain a range of stories about the benefits of working as part of a team with our clients and our local community. Collaboration is one of our core values. I hope that the way we work – collaboration in practice – is evident from these stories and will resonate with the many people and organisations we are proud to work with already, and will strike a chord with those we hope to work with in future.
Collaboration is also at the heart of the way we work internationally. We have continued to grow and deepen our relationships with our Preferred Firm Network of independent law firms for the benefit of clients in the UK and around the world. Our attendance at the International Bar Association (IBA) annual conference in Sydney was a particular highlight of the year and provided confirmation, if needed, that there are many clients and like-minded professionals in other countries who value our independence.
This year we have refocused our business strategy around our Markets, our People, our Community and our Environment; the four core elements that together comprise a Responsible Business strategy. Being a responsible business is underpinned by our values and as a firm we are committed to ensuring that our business makes a positive contribution to all stakeholders and the wider community.
This is an opportunity for me to thank all our clients for their continuing support and all our people for their commitment to making Burges Salmon the independent UK law firm which delivers the best mix of advice, service and value.
Chris Seaton
Senior Partner
Collaboration is at the heart of our approach
‘We live in interesting times’ may be an overused expression, but the past year was certainly interesting, preceded by the Brexit referendum which was followed by a General Election, creating an uncertain environment for business. Our own performance reflected this uncertainty – satisfactory in the circumstances but a pause in what had been an unbroken run of growth since 2010.
However, during the year we have continued to invest in our business and to pursue a path of continuous improvement which we are embedding through the framework of ISO standards to add to our ISO 14001 Environmental certificate. Excellent client service has always been at the core of our approach to the delivery of legal services, so demonstrating our commitment to client focus, meeting client expectations and delivering client satisfaction by attaining the ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) standard was an obvious next step. We are pleased to have received this certificate at the end of last year.
Innovation in the way legal services are delivered is much talked about in our sector. We are delivering change through our multi-disciplinary Business Solutions team, which combines the skills of lawyers, IT professionals and project managers to deliver practical solutions for clients using a range of technologies.
Finally, as a people business we continue to invest in all our people through our comprehensive learning and development programme, to ensure that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to meet all our clients’ needs and to develop their own careers.
Chris and I hope that you will enjoy reading these stories.
Peter Morris
Partner