NEWS
LAWCARE AND ACADEMICS LAUNCH ‘FIT FOR LAW’ TO COMBAT STRESS IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION said: “We know from our work in supporting lawyers for over 20 years how difficult it is for lawyers to admit they are struggling with the pressures of work - which often leads them to seek help when they are nearing crisis. We want to change this. Providing legal professionals with resources to enable them to understand and develop key emotional competencies such as emotional self-awareness, self-reflection and better strategies for emotional self-regulation will equip them more effectively for practice, enhance their wellbeing and potentially reduce levels of stress, anxiety and depression.”
Legal mental health and wellbeing charity LawCare and academics at the University of Sheffield and The Open University have launched a new free online resource on emotional competency and professional resilience for the legal community. The interactive resource, called Fit for Law, is part of an on-going project to promote psychologically and emotionally
healthier ways of working within law and was developed based on evidence from focus groups with legal professionals across the UK and Ireland. The course takes 2-4 hours in total to complete but is broken down into smaller sections, and includes videos from legal professionals discussing wellbeing issues as well as a range of interactive activities. Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare,
Dr Emma Jones, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield said: “The course being launched focuses on ‘Managing and Understanding Yourself’ and offers legal professionals practical tips, based on sound evidence, to assist them in developing healthier working practices to enhance their wellbeing. We are also developing a further course on ‘Working with Others’ and a tool kit for employers, to encourage positive organisational and cultural change in the legal workplace.” The resources are available to everyone studying law or working in the legal profession in the UK and Ireland and could be used as CPD in some jurisdictions. For more information visit www.fitforlaw.org.uk
FLINT BISHOP ENTERS BIRMINGHAM LEGAL MARKET Following its most successful year to date, Derby-based law firm Flint Bishop, which employs 187 lawyers and support staff, opened its new Birmingham office on the 15 January. This comes after a period of expansion across the full-service law firm with the new office to offer a broad range of commercial services.
Last year, Flint Bishop posted a record turnover of £14.4 m, up nearly 10% on the previous year with profits also rising over the same period. With a substantial number of new recruits, including two partners in the insurance litigation and employment teams over the last 12 months, the firm has received a lot of interest from lawyers working within Birmingham to join the new office. The new West Midlands operation will be based in the heart of the city’s business district at Grosvenor House on Bennetts Hill, just off Temple
Row and Colmore Row. Flint Bishop will have an immediate presence of lawyers working in insurance litigation, commercial litigation and debt recovery followed by further teams in other practice areas. Insurance litigation is the firm’s largest practice area for headcount and revenue, which has significantly grown over the past three years. The team represents clients across government agencies, insurers and companies handling claims such as motor claims, fraud, credit hire, large loss, catastrophic loss and recoveries. The firm has already attracted candidates from BLM, DAC Beachcroft, Keoghs, Browne Jacobson and DWF. With 36 staff, this makes it one of the largest defendant litigation teams across the region and it is also continuing to expand the portfolio of high quality, complex cases it undertakes. Flint Bishop’s chief executive
6 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk
Qamer Ghafoor said: “This is a very exciting time for us and the move into Birmingham reflects a period of sustained and significant growth for the firm. The new Birmingham office represents a huge investment for Flint Bishop and forms part of a wider strategy to meet the requirements of our national client base, raise our profile and attract more legal talent from the city. It provides an opportunity for lawyers to work within a gold standard Investors in People accredited law firm where staff are really valued, recognised and rewarded, whilst maintaining the quality of clients and legal work associated with the Birmingham market.”
Flint Bishop is recognised as one of the UK’s premier national firms for commercial litigation and debt recovery representing leading brands such as Royal Mail, Autoglass, Sixt, Costcutter and the Food Standards Agency. Ranked in the ‘Top Tier’ for The Legal 500 for both debt recovery and commercial litigation, the firm has also won all three major national debt recovery awards. “Litigation and recoveries are major growth areas for us - over the past 12 months, we’ve handled almost 50,000 cases at the combined value over £100m. Our Birmingham operation will give us greater scope to build on this strength,” added Qamer.
