2008 WINNER
The Smith & Willamson team with Richard Skelley of The Royal Bank of Scotland (centre)
"Like a great meal, our success as a firm is down to our ingredients: strong management, effective processes and great people" So began the application from Smith & Williamson to be recognised as the Best Managed Firm for 2008.
Smith & Williamson is a different type of professional service firm, combining the disciplines of accounting with investment management and a private bank. UK fees for the year ending April 2008 totaled £170.7 million, with 192 fee earning directors and £8.77 billion under management.
Smith & Williamson has a very strong management team who actively support the firm's communication processes. The board is led by Gareth Pearce and the firm is managed by a 7 member senior management team that includes Marketing, Human Resources and Legal/Compliance. The Smith & Williamson application this year was clear, concise, exactly on brief, but also delivered in a creative and persuasive way. This firm is different, innovative, entrepreneurial, and a great place to work.
2ND PLACE
Since its inception in 1988, Harper Macleod has grown organically to become one of Scotland's fastest growing medium-sized law firms. For the year ending March 31 2008, totaled £14.2 million, the eighth consecutive year of double digit growth.
A non-lawyer, Martin Darroch is the firm's Chief Executive, and the leadership team clearly recognizes that employees, clients and its community enables its success. Addressing those same stakeholders, the firm operates a policy of inclusion and consultation in the development and execution of its business strategy. As and employee said in a recent survey "the management group here is very inspirational - it's a young team with innovative ideas, and the culture is a big part of it"
Another said "The firm expects us to manage ourselves, but provides excellent support and feedback to us - help is always available from any of the partners when needed"
3RD PLACE & EUROPEAN WINNER 2008
The Garrigues team with Richard Skelley of The Royal Bank of Scotland (centre)
Within the global circle of leading law firms, Garrigues is an icon with an unprecedented level of unprompted name awareness, and a 25 office network in Spain; together with international offices in Brussels, Casablanca, Lisbon, London, New York, Oporto, Shanghai and Warsaw.
3 major incidents helped to reinforce the character of this firm;
- a ground-breaking merger in 1997 with the then Andersen Legal, an initiative that was both admired and criticised in 1997
- a forced and very public de-merger with Andersen in 2002, when that firm was put out of business around the world by the US Department of Justice.
- a fire that ravaged one of Garrigues' major office buildings.
The recovery and business continuation plans implemented by the firm's leadership through these difficulties is a text book story.
The training of professionals and staff has always been a key priority for Garrigues, as was their strategic move into Latin America, with contractual alliances involving leading law firms in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Other outstanding initiatives instituted by the firm's management include: