Briefing interview with Andy Hall: “An inclusive culture needs to inform all aspects of our business”
Following his promotion as managing partner at Shepherd and Wedderburn after a prolific 30-year career at the firm, Andy Hall shares what quality is essential to be an authentic leader, and weighs in on the foundations of sustained growth for any firm
1. Shepherd and Wedderburn has had six consecutive years of revenue and profit growth. In your opinion, what is the secret to the firm’s success, and how do you plan to keep this momentum as the new managing partner?
If there was one special trick to success as a commercial law firm then I’d certainly keep it a secret! The key, though, is consistently providing high-quality and commercially focused legal advice, and there are many elements to that.
Staying close to our clients is critical. Understanding their commercial goals and challenges — seeing the world through their eyes, if you like. Our sector approach has been developed very much with that in mind: creating multi-disciplinary teams who are deeply immersed in their clients’ worlds, and who have all the legal expertise and commercial awareness required to take projects through from beginning to end. I’m very proud of the many positive client testimonials we receive — a recent one described our continuity and expertise as ‘gold dust’ — and we always aim to truly be seen as an integral part of their team.
Equally essential is making sure that our firm is made up of the best people, with the right skills and experience and, just as importantly, the right values. And there are many more things that contribute to overall success. A key part of my job as managing partner is making sure that we stay focused on moving forward in every way that will benefit our clients.
This article originally appeared on Briefing, click here to read the article in full.
