Lawyers

I joined the employment team at Harbottle & Lewis as a Partner in 2015. It was a big move for me as I had been at my previous firm since shortly after I qualified. When I told colleagues that I was going to Harbottle & Lewis it was very interesting to see that people congratulated me and told me it was ‘a fantastic move’. Some even told me how envious they were. This is testament to the Harbottle & Lewis’ reputation in the legal sector.

The strength of the firm’s brand means that Harbottle & Lewis has always been on my radar – I think I actually applied for a training contract here when I was at law school. The firm has a reputation for being a great place to work and this has proved to be well deserved. The atmosphere is friendly and genuinely collegiate and that perception played a big part in my decision to join the firm. I think Harbottle & Lewis is one of very few firms who have managed to hold onto their brand and culture through a period of great change in the London legal market. It’s a culture which is by no means the norm in law firms any longer and one which really sets Harbottle & Lewis apart.

In my role here I cover a broad spectrum of employment law including litigation, advisory, corporate transactional and immigration and partnership work. I have always wanted to keep that variety. The breadth of the client base, the quality of Harbottle & Lewis’ employment practice, and the quality of all other teams in the firm, has made this possible.

I joined the corporate and commercial team at Harbottle & Lewis as an associate, having trained and spent three years post qualification at a large City firm. I am now a partner in the same team.

Harbottle & Lewis has proven to be exactly what I was looking for. A lot of the attraction of working here is the size: you feel part of a firm that is big enough to carry out, and has the resources to challenge for, the best work for fantastic clients whilst at the same time being small enough to allow you to put a name to just about everyone’s face within a couple of months of joining.

One of the things I recognised very early on is that there is a very real sense of family at the firm, and people who work here value and appreciate that. It is a theme that runs through everything we do: in a work context colleagues are approachable and supportive, whilst subsidised social events and sports teams provide ample opportunity to get to know your colleagues outside the office.

There is a clearly identified sense of tradition and a forward-looking culture. It is a culture that gives its lawyers the freedom to initiate and innovate. This actively encourages lawyers of all levels of qualification to develop the firm’s business (and this is a more realistic prospect, even for junior lawyers, than it would be in some larger firms with a different client base).