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Howes Percival invests for post-Covid future
Leading law firm Howes Percival has announced a series of new investments in IT, its people and skills development, as it positions itself for the post-Covid-19 recovery.
The firm, which has reported a good pipeline of transactions during the pandemic and has expanded its Employment Law team, is keen to build on new ways of working in recent months and further improve its service for clients.
The investments include a new client relationship management platform and client feedback programme, as well as enhancements to the firm’s learning framework and 12 senior promotions.
Howes Percival has invested in a number of major IT projects to enhance its service for clients:
- A new client feedback programme to understand client needs and improve the firm’s service.
- A new document management platform to enable more effective collaboration with clients, smarter working and improved document security.
- A new, client relationship management platform, developed specifically for law firms, to help strengthen relationships with clients and contacts and allow them to manage their own communication preferences.
- A new practice management system to further improve the level of service to clients.
Howes Percival’s Chairman, Geraint Davies, commented: “I’m incredibly proud of our response to the events of the last 12 months. We have adapted and improved our service and I want that to continue. We were in a strong position before the pandemic, having made a series of investments in our IT to enable more collaboration and different ways of working. As a result, we were able to adapt to remote working almost immediately.
“It has been said before that the pandemic has accelerated the rate change in certain sectors, and I strongly believe that the legal sector should be included in that. The way we all work has changed, relationships with clients have changed, and professional services firms can’t simply revert to how it used to be after all this.
“We need to continue to embrace new ways of working and look for further improvements and innovation. We also need to be able to develop as individuals and teams and bring new skills and ways of working smarter and closer with clients. The two things together – fantastic technology and amazing, talented people – that’s very much how I see Howes Percival.
“The technology available now is incredible. There are elements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in some of the tools we are using, and we are really excited by the opportunities this presents. I think the image of law firms being quaintly old fashioned, is long gone. Or it certainly is at Howes Percival.”
In addition to the IT investments in recent months, Howes Percival has also invested in its people and developing their skills:
- Howes Percival has appointed a new Head of HR. Dawn Bloom joins the firm from Grant Thornton.
- Despite challenging conditions this year, the firm has been able to retain most of its trainees.
- Howes Percival has made 12 senior promotions and expanded its Employment and Family Law teams.
- A new learning management system (LMS) was introduced in July to support the firm’s learning framework, share knowledge within the firm and improve awareness/accessibility to learning.
Geraint continued, “We’ve always been a firm that invests in training and looks to develop and promote from within and this year has been no different, despite everything that has been going on. We were able to retain almost all of our newly qualified trainees and five of our 12 recent senior promotions started with the firm as trainees. Our new learning framework will help reinforce our approach to personal development and take us to the next level.”
For more information on training and careers with Howes Percival, please visit: https://www.howespercival.com/careers/
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For further information please contact:
Gordon or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845
Notes to editors:
Howes Percival has offices in Cambridge, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Norwich. It has 49 partners and 169 lawyers in total.
The firm is recommended in The Legal 500 – the authoritative guide to the UK’s leading law firms. In the 2021 guide, no fewer than 11 different departments achieved the guide’s highest possible ranking (Tier 1): Corporate and Commercial; Dispute Resolution – Commercial Litigation; Dispute Resolution – Debt Recovery; Finance – Insolvency and Corporate Recovery; Human Resources – Employment Law; Private Client – Agriculture and Estates; Private Client – Tax, Trusts and Probate; Real Estate – Commercial Property; Real Estate – Property litigation; Real Estate – Environment & Planning; Intellectual Property.
