Number One Ranking For Overall Client Service Across Top 25 Law Firms

Irwin Mitchell is putting clients’ needs at the heart of its business as it aims to accelerate growth over the next four years.

The firm, which provides broad legal and financial services to both individuals and businesses, will be set up to focus on clients’ needs rather than being organised by service lines or divisions.

Previously organised into three divisions – Personal Injury, Business Legal Services and Private Wealth – the firm has now established Client Services and Commercial Growth Teams.

The two teams will work closely together with one focusing on bringing in new clients and meeting more needs of existing clients, while the other will focus on ensuring the clients, whether business or personal, receive an excellent level of service that meets their evolving needs.

Irwin Mitchell has recently been ranked number one for overall client service out of the top 25 firms across all areas of law by the independent Legal 500 guide.

The Client Services Team will be headed up by Craig Marshall in a newly created role of Chief Operating Officer and brings all of Irwin Mitchell’s legal teams closer together as well as client and business operations.

The Commercial Growth Team, which will be led by Vicky Brackett in another newly created role of Chief Commercial Officer, includes the marketing and business development teams as well as a mix of sector experts and specialist lawyers. This will be boosted by a new sales capability and growth director roles to assist with targeting clients.

Irwin Mitchell’s strategy is to focus on building an excellent client and colleague experience with its full service offering. The firm has already seen a huge increase in clients using more than one service, whether legal or financial advice, and is aiming to increase this even further by  bringing its personal and business legal teams closer together.

As well as legal teams the Irwin Mitchell group also includes Irwin Mitchell Asset Management; a fast-growing financial planning and wealth management service with more than £900m assets under managements; and Ascent, a debt recovery subsidiary which works with major financial institutions and organisations.

All of these functions will be supported by People, IT, General Counsel and Finance services.

Expert Opinion

“We believe we have more to offer clients by putting their needs first and then building a bespoke team around them to deliver what they want rather than taking a more service line focused approach. Our clients are increasingly using more services with us and value our advice across their lifetime and it makes sense to better align our structure with their needs.” Andrew Tucker - CEO

Irwin Mitchell grew in FY21 despite the pandemic impacting significantly on parts of the legal market. The firm’s breadth of legal and financial services provided financial resilience with its business and private client teams increasing their enquiries year-on-year despite the pandemic. The vast majority of Irwin Mitchell’s personal injury work is at the more complex multi-track end too which was less impacted by COVID.

The group plans to invest heavily in technology and people in the next few years to help us realise our financial growth – all colleagues are fully mobile and Irwin Mitchell recently announced its intention to follow a fully Flexible by Choice approach to working post-pandemic.

Irwin Mitchell also repaid its LLP furlough costs and paid all colleagues an additional 3% COVID thank-you bonus in April.