Reflecting on 2020

This year we celebrated our 125th year, having delivered legal advice to people and businesses since 1895.

We could never have anticipated that we would celebrate our anniversary against the backdrop of a global pandemic, but even in the face of this difficult year, we have seen successes across the firm.

New year, new office

We marked our anniversary with the opening of a new office in Canterbury, to meet the demands of our growing client base and demonstrate our commitment to serving businesses and residents in East Kent.

Fortunately, against the odds, our Canterbury team has seen a steady stream of work, handling matters for new and current clients and developing collaborative relationships with the local business community. The team is already looking forward to widening our involvement in the east Kent community when circumstances allow.

Working together to embrace change

As with the majority of businesses this year, we have had to adapt to a new way of working. The firm has been working almost entirely remotely for nine months and it looks set to remain this way in the immediate future.

Our staff adapted quickly and efficiently to home working and a large part of this success is down to our support services, who worked hard to ensure that the change from office to home working was as seamless as possible; from new IT systems, clear and consistent guidance around new processes, robust wellbeing support and innovative new ways of communicating with our clients.

Together they’ve delivered a wraparound system of support which has allowed our staff to focus on continuing to deliver the high standards of service our clients expect. This included extended hours for some services and additional support for key workers in the earlier part of the year.

Our teams identified opportunities in the new way of working and capitalised on the reach of virtual communications, implementing a successful series of video briefings and webinars to ensure we continue to deliver topical information and advice to our contacts and clients. With subject matters including debt recovery, employment, charity governance, wealth protection and business continuity, we have presented to more than 1,700 people this year.

Remaining committed to excellence

Throughout the changes 2020 has brought, we have remained focused on keeping our clients at the heart of everything we do.

Achieving the right result for the people we work with has always been our core objective. We are delighted that we have been recognised by industry awards and independent UK guides to law firms. This includes:

• Winner of ‘Private Client Team of the Year’ at the British Wills and Probate Awards 2020
• Winner in the ‘Legal and Enforcement’ category at the Credit Excellence Awards 2020
• Winner of the Community Award at Kent Law Society Awards 2020
• Sixteen practice areas and 31 lawyers ranked in Legal 500
• Six practice areas and 12 lawyers ranked in Chambers and Partners

Teams from across the firm were also shortlisted in the Family Law Awards, Law Society Excellence Awards and Managing Partners’ Forum Awards.

Looking to the future

We still have celebrations to look forward to in 2021 and beyond, as COVID vaccines will hopefully begin to bring some normality back to all our lives.

This will include planting 125 trees to commemorate our anniversary and finally hosting an official opening party for our Canterbury office.

We will also continue to give back to our local communities, supporting local initiatives and events including our sponsorship of Leeds Castle Classical Concert and Elmer’s Big Heart of Kent Parade in Maidstone.

Thank you to our clients and contacts for supporting us in 2020, and congratulations to our staff for everything you have achieved.

This content is correct at time of publication