EF News
Tell me about your background in business?
I am a solicitor specialising in employment law, with more than 25 years’ experience in the legal profession. However, when I founded the firm a decade ago, I had limited knowledge of starting, running or scaling-up a business.
How was Collingwood Legal formed?
Having worked for a large law firm dealing in every aspect of commercial legal work, I wanted to create a firm specialising in employment law – allowing us to focus on our area of expertise. We offer a comprehensive range of services, from managing business reorganisations to drafting key employment contracts, creating policy documents to dealing with employment tribunals. The firm is a reasonable size, but it retains the capacity to achieve results while maintaining a high level of personal service.
What attracted you to the Scale-up Leader’s Academy and how did it help?
I fully believe in the benefits of ongoing learning. I recognised the merit in acquiring skills that would help me to grow the business, as well engaging with my peers who were facing similar challenges.
The academy has helped clarify my thinking and provided me with useful tools to run and grow a business – techniques I still use today. It also allowed me to develop supportive friendships as well as forge long-term business relationships.
Above all it allowed me to build a solid platform from which to create sustained growth.
In your own words, what is it that Collingwood Legal does?
We are a specialist employment law firm that works with business clients and senior executives to resolve issues across sectors including education, SMEs, charities and social enterprise, manufacturing, health care and sport.
What is your proudest moment with the company?
I’m immensely proud that Collingwood Legal is recognised as “Top Tier” and the best at what we do in this region by independent industry bible, Legal 500. In addition, we were named Law firm of the Year (1 – 5 partners) in the 2019 Northern Law awards. From a personal point of view, I’m most proud of the talented team that represents the business.
What is the USP of Collingwood Legal?
Small enough to care and large enough to battle
How has the firm grown and what do you attribute this to?
The firm began with just me, a desk and a laptop in a small serviced office and has since grown to a team of 12. This has been achieved by our team’s ability to forge strong client relationships and earning a reputation for excellence and delivering results.
Do you live by/do business by a certain motto?
We are a people business so developing client relationships and building trust is central to everything we do
What are the future plans of Collingwood Legal?
The COVID crisis has given me the necessary space to consider the long-term strategy of the firm. However, it is essentially about continuing to do the great things we do – focusing on clients and using our expertise to deliver the right results. This methodology allows the firm to continue to grow organically, reflected by the fact that much of our business are repeat clients or via personal recommendations.
