Our Approach

We like to keep staff for a very long-term. We hang on to all those people who share our commitment to client care and who will enhance our reputation. A good and faithful member of staff can make a profound contribution to a law firm, not least through the repeat business that they help to generate through the way they handle clients.

So, keeping people long term is one of our main aims. We go out of our way to reward staff well in terms of their pay. If someone is doing well, then we do not need to be persuaded or coerced into rewarding them. We are eager to do so.

We cannot remember anyone ever asking for a pay rise here. Our practice is always to initiate pay reviews ourselves. We positively want to reward and recognise those who work hard and who are an asset to this firm. We do not simply pay everybody the same or give everybody the same pay rise. Everything depends on your attitude, faithfulness, performance and the difference you personally make within the firm.

Having said that, we do not set any annual or monthly billing targets. No pressure is placed on our legal staff to generate any particular level of billing or to keep up with monthly targets. Most other firms do operate in that way but we feel it has disadvantages and can be counter-productive.

Thus we have no heavy handed target-driven culture in this firm. What we want, above all, is for you to adopt our attitude to clients and our approach to client care. If you can do that, then the bills will follow naturally without having to put anybody under pressure.

We also put great importance on your ability to work happily alongside colleagues and to treat others respectfully. When you consider that you probably spend about 8 hours a day at work, which is half your waking life, it really matters that you can be with people who are agreeable, courteous and considerate.

Conversely, a member of staff who is divisive, devious, spiteful or manipulative can cause huge problems in a workplace, especially for the more junior staff. That is why we refuse to tolerate such behaviour. Here, the partners will stand up to and deal with unacceptable behaviour and bullying. In many companies bullies and manipulators are given a free hand to get on with it because no manager wants to confront them.

Thus, over time, the good staff leave and the bad staff stay, forming cliques and groups of their own. In the end they can have more power than legitimate managers. That is not how we work. We put great emphasis on protecting our staff to ensure that they have a peaceful working environment. We are not a jungle and refuse to operate on the basis of "dog eat dog�", where only the strong survive. We think we have a very happy firm as a result.

Another unusual feature of Advance Legal is that we go out of our way to make it possible for staff to have flexible working hours. We do not go in for long working hours in the first place. The office is generally open from 8am to 6pm. However, within those parameters, people work all sorts of different hours. Many work full-time but many staff come in late or leave early or only work three or four days a week, so as to fit in with their family or domestic commitments.

That has always been our approach, long before the law began to encourage this. Thus, if you are studying part time, or have children or elderly parents to care for or other commitments, then the chances are we will be able to accommodate your needs.