Our year in strength

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Our year 2014/15 | Contents page | 3
Contents
Our year in brief 4
A position of strength
Our key financials
Sector focus
Quality in our people
Caring about our communities
Re-defining client service
6
10
12
24
26
30

2014/15 was a fantastic year for us – one in which we
made some key decisions and completed some major
investments.
The end of the financial year saw us announcing record
turnover of £58.9m. This equated to 17% year-on-
year growth - a remarkable achievement and one that
exceeded the targets we set ourselves 12 months earlier.
This growth was organic, with all of our sectors and
offices contributing to our performance, representing
a resounding ‘tick in the box’ for our strategy.
This success has its foundation in three core values –
investing in our people, building strategically important
relationships with clients that allow us to understand
their businesses and help us to design and deliver
the services they both want and need and, above all,
delivering exceptional client service (ECS). If there is
one word that defines all these it is quality, and we
embody this in the quality of our people, our work and
our client service.
Our drive for continued quality is best illustrated by the
opening of our new iconic London office at 6 Bevis Marks.
Located in the heart of the city, it provides us with the
ideal space to continue to deliver exceptional client
service, as well as offering considerable capacity for our
ambitious growth plans for both London and our wider
office network.
Our opening party, held across our 15th floor client suite
and roof terrace, saw us launch our ‘view from the top’
thought leadership series, which we will be developing
with our clients in the coming months.
At the same time we completed a major refurbishment
of our Birmingham office, which will promote our
flexible ways of working for the benefit of our clients
and our people. This upgrade also gives us additional
capacity to grow in the Midlands.
Our year
in brief
Our year 20414/15 | Our year in brief page | 4
Welcome to our second annual review which provides an update on our achievements over the last
year and looks forward to what the future holds for the firm.
we embody quality in our people, our
work and our client service

page | 5Our year 2014/15 | Our year in brief...
We continued to invest in our people and, as a result, our team grew by 8%, with all offices seeing additional
headcount to support their increase in turnover and some key recruits being brought into our sector teams. Our
inclusion in this year’s Guardian UK 300 as one of the country’s leading graduate employers is testament to our
appeal as an employer of choice for those wishing to enter the legal profession after leaving university, and our
apprenticeship scheme continues to go from strength to strength, providing an alternative route into the law.
Whilst it has been an exceptional year for so many reasons, we will also remember it for the sad loss of a dear
colleague and friend, Iain Patterson. Iain, an employment partner in our Birmingham and Manchester office and
head of the employment health team nationally, passed away suddenly at home. He epitomised the qualities we all
aspire to at Browne Jacobson including his ability to deliver the highest level of service to his clients. We felt it was
a fitting tribute to dedicate our annual exceptional client service award to his memory.
Iain Blatherwick
Managing Partner
+ 44 (0)115 976 6183
iain.blatherwick@brownejacobson.com
“We have had one of our strongest years ever,
comfortably exceeding the targets we set
ourselves. There have been many highlights during
the year but unveiling our new London office,
investment in Birmingham and receiving the Law
Society award for ‘excellence in client service’
following our 3-star Investor in Customers rating
particularly stand out. Our commitment to invest
across all our offices means we are in a very
strong position to continue to drive the business
forward.”
Our refurbished Birmingham office

page | 6Our year 2014/15 | A position of strength
A position
of strength
After six years at Gracechurch Street, we moved our
London office to 6 Bevis Marks in January 2015. The
move goes to the very heart of our strategy, designed
to benefit our clients and our people. Investing in this
iconic building has given us the space to grow and
deliver on our ambition for the future. This is reflected
in the key recruitments we have made recently in
London – bringing in Anthony Nagle, Alex Watt and
Stephen Matthew to our partner team in the past 12-
24 months and relocating Tim Claremont from our
Nottingham office. These appointments are to drive
our technology, brands, construction, international and
public sector practices for clients such as the trustees of
Bernard Madoff, a number of the world’s leading luxury
retailers and renowned brand names and central and
local government organisations.
Our new, state-of-the-art office provides us with a
dedicated client suite on our penthouse floor – including
a business centre for clients to use. The new location
and enhanced working environment will undoubtedly
help us to continue to attract and retain the very best
talent to work with us as we continue to grow.
In 2014, our Birmingham office underwent a major
refurbishment, allowing us to accommodate further
growth across all of our sector specialisms. Our new-look
offices and client suite have been designed to benefit
our clients and our people by improving our flexible
working approach. This is being achieved through
dedicated hot desks and private working pods and
increasing the number of available desks is enabling our
local team, and those visiting from our other offices,
to deliver a joined up service for our clients. Our client
suite facilities have been upgraded and these will be
further enhanced in 2015 with the introduction of
interactive technology, such as Mondo Boards to enable
information sharing in meetings and improved video
conferencing facilities.
Following record results in 2013/14, we were in a strong position at the start of 2014/15 to make the
investments we needed to – in terms of property, people and other infrastructure projects.
The firm’s reputation speaks for itself and the
calibre of its clients and the work it advises on
means it’s an exciting time to have joined the
team in Exeter and to be a part of the wider
Browne Jacobson family.”
Lynne Rathbone, Partner, Browne Jacobson
Stephen Matthew
Lynne Rathbone
Anthony Nagle

page | 7Our year 2014/15 | A position of strength
Our Exeter and Manchester offices also saw growth – in terms of turnover and people numbers – in the year. In
Exeter, we have added three new partners in the last 12-18 months in Nigel Lyons, Lynne Rathbone and Dale Collins,
along with a split role for Mark Barnett from our health team across Exeter and Birmingham. The office now provides
a broader range of services than when we undertook our merger in 2012 – having added education, public sector
commercial and regulatory work and healthcare advice to the existing personal injury team – leading to us securing
some high profile new clients in the South West.
We continue to go from strength to strength in Manchester. Originally set up to cover work for our education team,
it is now a key area of growth for our health practice – and our team will be further strengthened by continued
recruitment during 2015. We have also brought in a new employment partner, Kerren Daly, to work with our
education, health and mid-market teams in the region. Our growth in Manchester is set to continue apace and, in
the latter half of the 2015 calendar year, we will start the search for new office space as we expect to outgrow our
serviced office accommodation by the summer of 2016.
We also appointed a new finance director and promoted four of our team to ‘heads of’ roles within our professional
team, including heads of business development, marketing, human resources and our project management office
(PMO). These promotions, alongside our existing heads of finance, risk compliance, information technology and
business operations, have strengthened our Operations Board, ensuring we are making and embedding the decisions
needed to continue to grow our business.
Our 2015 Elderly Care Conference, held in Manchester

Our year 2014/15 | A position of strength page | 8
In 2015, to coincide with the official launch of our London office at 6 Bevis Marks, we officially launched ‘view from
the top’ – a thought leadership driven series of campaigns focusing on the issues most likely to be at the heart of the
sectors we specialise in. By engaging with senior decision makers and combining our specialist legal knowledge with
the experience and know-how of key individuals within each sector we will deliver original ideas, unique points of
view and new insights. With John Pienaar, senior political correspondent for the BBC, attending our launch event to
focus on the political landscape post-election, our ambition to provide unique and valuable insight to our clients got
off to a great start.
John Pienaar delivering his address at our London opening event

Our year 2014/15 | A position of strength
“All of the investments we make are to enable
us to deliver exceptional client service at a cost
that reflects what our clients value from their
law firm. This, when combined with our strong
values and service ethos, makes us a firm that
people really want to do business with.”
Sarah Walker-Smith
Chief Operating Officer
+44 (0)115 976 6500
sarah.walker-smith@brownejacobson.com
Over the coming year, our focus will also be on making
sure our systems can help us to drive efficiency across
all areas of the business and build capacity as we
continue to grow. We will, above all, retain our focus
on delivering innovative and affordable solutions for our
clients whilst maintaining our ECS levels.
There is no denying that technology is critical if we
want to deliver our vision of a forward thinking and
efficient business. Excellent progress is being made
on implementing a new practice management system,
which we expect will be in place by the end of the
financial year. The new system, along with a host of
other process improvements, will ensure we deliver the
transparency and value that our clients demand through
integrated, yet individual dashboard reporting, which
focuses on relevant KPI’s and management information.
Behind the scenes we are also piloting a new flexible
working initiative to meet the changing needs of our
clients and people, as well as helping to make the best
use of the space we have available. All of these projects
are being run by our newly-formed PMO which will be
key to helping us deliver and embed the changes we
need to make.
Our website is our shop window and we have been
working hard to ensure it delivers the information both
our existing and prospective clients and employees
want and expect. This includes a new hosting platform
to draw all of our website and video training content
together, making it easier to access and search as it
is focussed on the client experience. We will also be
launching new web portals with tailored content for the
technology sector, public sector and our in-house lawyer
forum.
Enhancing the
client offer
People
strategy
New ways
of working
Driving
efficiency
delivering our
strategy...
page | 9

Our key
financials
2014/15 proved to be an exceptional year with revenue reaching £58.9m, representing 17.2% growth
on the prior year and bringing our growth over the last five years to £23.7m (67.3%).
This was driven by an aggregation of marginal gains,
including an increase in productivity across our legal
teams in terms of hours, higher workflows from many of
our largest clients and a focus on improving efficiency.
This enabled us to reduce our write-offs in the year and
highlights the ever improving quality of the work we are
undertaking.
Lock up, our investment in WIP and debt, has improved
by 10 days and this is reflected in our cash position at
the end of the year. We were also able to reduce gross
debt by £0.7m, despite funding many of our projects and
investments out of cashflow. Lock up remains an area
where we can make further improvements and we will
continue to focus on this as part of our working capital
project in 2015/16.
Profit for the year was £15.9m - which was up almost
23.3% on the prior year; this is a tremendous result,
especially considering the level of investment made
during the year, and it generated a performance award
for our people which equated to 5.5% of salary.
There are also numerous planned projects in 2015/16
which require continued, significant levels of investment
including the implementation of our new PMS, which is
scheduled for a phased roll out in the year.
Our year 2014/15 | Our key financials page | 10
Kit Doleman
Finance Director
+44 (0)115 948 5621
kit.doleman@brownejacobson.com
“As the firm continues to grow, it is important
for us to maintain strong financial management
and control. The introduction of our new
Practice Management System (PMS) will provide
us with a platform to support the more detailed
management reporting needs of our diverse and
expanding business.”

Our year 2014/15 | Our key financials page | 11
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
at a glance
.................................................
.................................................
.................................................
Direct
costs
£0.4m
below
forecast
17.2%
growth
Profit
£15.9m
+23.3%
Revenue
=
£58.9m
................................................
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
.................................................
lock up days
130
overhead efficiency
32.7%
total debt
£5m
net
debt
£1.8m

Sector
focus
Our year 2014/15 | Sector focus page | 12
We have established a genuine reputation as experts in our chosen sectors. This proved to be a
resilient business model during the recession and is now providing us with an excellent foundation
and platform for the next stage of our growth. Clients value this expertise, which brings a quality of
advice and service to their business, and we have attracted and secured strategic recruits as a result
of this focus. Dedicated BD professionals work directly with our sector heads on their business and BD
plans which drive activity based on our clients’ requirements.
technology
retail brands
mid-market
international
in-house
lawyers
education
public sector
commercial
insurance
local
authority
insurance
health
financial
services
independent
health

We have established a genuine
reputation as expertsa genuine reputation
as experts
Drinks reception at our Exeter office

page | 14Our year 2014/15 | Sector focus
The practice is becoming increasingly known for advising on large scale, business critical IT projects, international
patent litigation cases and complex data protection and privacy issues.
Major IT projects have included advising on strategic IT services contracts for the National Trust, the DPD Group and
the Crown Prosecution Service amongst others.
We continue to attract some of the world’s leading brands to our patent litigation practice. This year we have been
to the Court of Appeal, acting for the largest manufacturer of speciality metal cutting products, Kennametal Inc.
We also continue to act for OSI Systems Inc and its UK subsidiary, Rapiscan Systems Limited, on a significant patent
infringement dispute.
Other new clients include Malvern Instruments, Biozone Inc, Exhaust Catalyst Technologies and JDA Software Group.
We are advising these clients on a range of matters including global licensing arrangements, initiating patent
enforcement proceedings against a UK infringer, complex dispute resolution matters and conducting strategic
reviews of global licensing structures.
Our focus on delivering ECS, and commitment to client
secondments, has enabled us to provide secondees to
Experian and the National Trust.
Within our data protection practice we have been appointed to the privacy panel of Lloyds Banking Group and
continue to work with national and international clients on multi-jurisdictional privacy projects.
technology
This year we have seen our technology practice grow in terms of the number of clients, people and
breadth of work, with particular growth being achieved in London following the recruitment of
Anthony Nagle.
“Responsive, committed, ambitious and
always available to deal with our issues. They
also have an impressive and extremely well-
connected international network of associate
law firms, which has been key when we have
had multi-jurisdictional matters.”
Chambers UK

brands
We continue to build and invest in our well established brands and IP team - which is now one of the
largest in the country - working with clients on their brand strategy, brand portfolios, experiential
advertising, brand enforcement and high end regulatory compliance work.
This year, the strength of our practice has allowed us
to attract international clients such as Claas, American
International Industries and Minimum A/S, and we have
been appointed to client panels alongside top tier IP law
firms.
We continue to work with some of the world’s leading
brand names including the LVMH group and PZ Cussons, a
multinational consumer goods conglomerate, who owns
brands such as Carex, Imperial Leather, Original Source,
Charles Worthington, Sanctuary Spa and St Tropez. In
addition, we advise blue chip clients such as Alliance
Boots, Mace and Camelot Group.
Under the stewardship of Alex Watt and Bonita Trimmer,
our highly acclaimed brands event continues to gather
praise from the industry for providing high quality
insights into brands, advertising and marketing issues
and it is one of the longest running dedicated legal
advertising and marketing events in the UK.
The latest World Trademark Review 1000 guide has
ranked our team as one of the leaders in the country. We
were also included in Managing Intellectual Property’s
National Trademark ranking for trademark contentious
work in 2015, alongside the pre-eminent firms in the
sector.
Declan Cushley
Partner, IP
+44 (0)20 7337 1042
declan.cushley@brownejacobson.com
“Browne Jacobson has gathered a host of
illustrious multinationals under its wing, won
over by its city-quality service at regional
prices; meanwhile Pangea, its established
international network of referral firms, gives it
a persuasive presence on the global stage. Their
advice is always clear and commercial, and
the team’s in-house and industry experience is
readily apparent.”
World Trademark Review 1000
INTA 2015 conference delegates at our rooftop networking event in San Diego

Our webinar programme of MCA/
DoLS case law updates had over 300
delegates participating in the most
recent live broadcast. These webinars
are a useful free resource for people
working within safeguarding and
assurance. The recordings are uploaded
on to www.bjhealthlawyers.com and
have been accessed by over 8,000
unique viewers in the last year.
2014/15 was another exceptional year for our health and social care
practice, with revenue rising by over 25% across the board (representing
38% of our overall growth).
Within this, our leading claims litigation practice grew by 34% and our mental
health practice has seen a ten-fold increase in instructions on mental health and
mental capacity over the last two years. We have also seen an eight-fold increase
in Court of Protection cases in the last two years, justifying our tier 1 national
ranking for our deprivation of liberty expertise in Chambers UK.
We continued to act on leading projects in 2014/15, both regionally and nationally
for the NHS and independent healthcare providers. The year also saw the team
deliver its second successful annual elderly care conference, bringing together
senior managers from local authorities and the health economy to hear the latest
on new models of care, hospital care of the elderly, criminal and regulatory
liabilities and the impact of Cheshire West. We also set up new MCA/DoLS networks
in the North West and the South West, which meet quarterly and provide clients
and contacts with the opportunity to share best practice and receive updates on
key developments.
health
“Browne Jacobson LLP is ‘exceptional’, ‘efficient’ and
‘good value for money’ for its healthcare service. It
handles both contentious and non-contentious work for
a large public and private client base, including
NHS England and a multitude of CCGs.”
Legal 500
Simon Tait
Partner, Health
+44 (0)115 976 6559
simon.tait@brownejacobson.com

mid-market
Browne Jacobson continues to have a strong focus on the private sector in the Midlands region –
maintaining and consolidating our position as market leaders. We work with clients in the retail,
manufacturing, financial services, food drink, technology and sports sectors, advising owner
managed businesses and high net worth individuals through to FTSE 100 companies.
This year we have acted for a range of new clients from
development capital providers such as the Business Growth
Fund to international major corporates like Meridian Bioscience
International.
Our two Midlands offices offer real strength in depth for our
corporate and private clients and both have been at the centre
of the firm’s rapid expansion in recent years. They are an integral
part of our national footprint and we continue to attract an
impressive and loyal private sector client base. Our commitment
to this market is endorsed by our 2015 legal directory rankings;
we have maintained our dominant position as the only regional
heavyweight in the East Midlands, where we were ranked 1st or
joint 1st in 23 practice areas in the region, more than any other
law firm.
We are also committed to working with our local business
communities through a range of memberships and sponsorships.
These have included sponsoring the ‘Company of the Year’
award at the Nottingham Post Business Awards and, in the West
Midlands, we have taken up an arts sponsorship with the Town
Hall/Symphony Hall, the leading concert halls in the region.
We are also key sponsors of Birmingham Future, part of BPS
Birmingham, which aims to build business leaders of the future.
In Exeter, we sponsor the Northcott Theatre and our team in
Manchester are active members of Pro Manchester and the local
Chamber of Commerce.
Mark Aldrich
Partner, Property Litigation
+44 (0)115 976 6129
mark.aldrich@brownejacobson.com
Gavin Cummings
Partner, Corporate
+44 (0)115 976 6157
gavin.cummings@brownejacobson.com
“Widely regarded as one of the leading firms in the
region... the firm is strong across the board and is
particularly noted for its strength on the corporate side.”
Legal 500

We saw a rapid expansion in this area in 2014/15 with over 21% of our overall growth coming from our work on
international fraud, asset recovery and complex cross border litigation matters. We are also working for more clients
who require advice to deal with multi-jurisdiction MA transactions, international commercial agreements and
contractual law matters.
As a result of our work in these areas, we now have a deserved
reputation as an alternative to the magic circle and city firms. For
example, we act as counsel in the UK, Commonwealth and Europe
to the trustees of Bernard Madoff in relation to investors’ funds
following the collapse of the $40bn-plus Ponzi fraud scheme. And
we have recently been invited to speak at the New York State Bar
Association’s International annual meeting in Brazil in October 2015
on international asset tracing.
As a founder member, we are integral to the continued development
of Pangea Net, a network of member firms around the world who
share the same aim of providing the highest levels of client service.
The network has provided us with some excellent opportunities,
including advising Bruno Iksil, the former J.P Morgan trader. We have
also hosted meetings for the Pangea IP group and, in September this
year, will be welcoming the corporate group into our London office
for a two day conference.
We have advised and assisted French inward investment companies
for many years now and this service continues to grow and develop,
generating additional opportunities in cross-border MA, property
and employment work. Led by Dominique Tai, this team has been
instrumental in our London office development and has brought in
major clients for our retail and brands sectors over the years.
Derek Bambury
Partner, Professional Negligence
+44 (0)20 7337 1006
derek.bambury@brownejacobson.com
international
Our new London office will act as a springboard for our international practice and we will continue to
drive growth in this area of our business through targeted investment and BD activity in the coming
year.
Declan Cushley
Partner, IP
+44 (0)20 7337 1042
declan.cushley@brownejacobson.com

We were delighted to win new clients including
Assouline, a luxury international bookseller and
publisher, assisting them with their first UK flagship
store, The Cash Shop, Castle Rock and Floris Estates.
We also advised a premier cash management specialist
on a £20m+ contract to service 3,700 ATMs for a large
supermarket across the UK. We have seen a substantial
increase in the quantity and scope of work – especially
for one of the world’s largest conglomerates - many
of which are high profile, strategically important
transactions. These included advising a high value
retailer on the opening of its first European Airport
store.
Other high profile instructions included advising
Donington Park Racing Circuit on arrangements for the
construction of global headquarters and team testing
facilities of the new electric race car championship, FIA
Formula E, as well as on the construction of the new
stand at Welford Road for Leicester Tigers Rugby Club.
For the second year in a row we hosted the Property
Managers Association’s annual legal seminar, attended by
over 50 leading retail estates managers and key decision
makers. We were also the only UK law firm to be invited
to speak at the Shopping Centre Forum in Warsaw on the
effect of omni-channel retailing on lease agreements.
Caroline Green
Partner, Property
+44 (0)20 7337 1026
caroline.green@brownejacobson.com
Sarah Parkinson
Partner, Property
+44 (0)115 976 6575
sarah.parkinson@brownejacobson.com
“The retail team has ‘extensive and specific
knowledge of the retail fashion industry.”
Legal 500
retail
We have seen many new instructions from our long and successful relationships with our high end
luxury and fashion clients and high street retailers such as Alliance Boots, Cash Generator, 99p Stores
and Paperchase as well as advising leisure organisations such as Donington Park.

Our in-house lawyers group continues to build on their reputation of offering valued support to general
counsel and in-house legal teams in both the private and public sector through monthly updates,
tailored products and a dedicated forum to exchange thoughts, ideas, and experience with their peers.
in-house lawyers
Each forum meeting centres on a series of legal updates
in areas such as employment, IT, corporate, public,
consumer and competition law. Last year, our eight
in-house lawyer forums in London, Nottingham,
Manchester and Birmingham attracted over 450 in-house
counsel, leading to a spate of new instructions.
Our extensive product portfolio sits alongside the
in-house lawyers forum. These products are tailored to
meet the specific needs of our clients, for example, our
‘checker’ product is designed to help in-house lawyers
get a fast and practical second opinion when timing is a
critical factor. It is the equivalent of going to the desk of
a specialist in private practice and seeking a view and, in
the last 12 months, around a third of our in-house forum
attendees have utilised this product.
In 2014/15 we also developed a strategic partnership
with BCL Legal, one of the UK’s leading in-house
recruitment agencies, to assist us in promoting our
forums to their extensive client base.
Richard Nicholas
Partner, IP IT Law
+44 (0)121 237 3992
richard.nicholas@brownejacobson.com

Against this backdrop, 2014/15 saw our team achieve
their best financial results to date – with revenue of
£4.6m, equating to growth of almost 15%. The team
have now completed over 700 academy conversions, a
market share of 16% of the total to date. The year saw
a number of further client wins to add to our already
impressive list, including being appointed as one of
three approved legal suppliers to Churchmarketplace, a
purchasing consortium created by the Catholic Church
in England and Wales to support Catholic education
establishments with their purchasing and procurement
needs.
Working in partnership with the Association of School
and College Leaders (ASCL), we unveiled the findings
of our second annual school leaders survey in November
2014. This proved an invaluable barometer of opinion
from over 400 school leaders nationally on a variety of
topical issues, ranging from the coalition government’s
education policy and special education needs provision
to forthcoming priorities and levels of confidence in the
future for their learners and schools.
As technology becomes increasingly important in
schools, accessing free support quickly and online is
a priority for school leaders. This is reflected in the
number of visitors to our specialist education portal,
which increased by over 35,000 compared to the same
period last year.
Among the 135 events that the team organised, spoke or
exhibited at last year, our HR conference (October) and
education law conferences (March) are fast becoming
‘must attend’ events within the sector, giving senior
leadership teams the chance to benefit from high quality
training and networking.
Mark Blois
Partner, Education
+44 (0)115 976 6087
mark.blois@brownejacobson.com
Browne Jacobson manage to blend professionalism, pragmatism and service with a genuine
commitment to improving communication and trust that sets them apart. They are people first
and lawyers second and that makes them a joy to work with.
Hugh Greenway, Managing Director, The Elliot Foundation
”
“
education
Schools are under increasing budget pressures against a backdrop of rising costs. They need expert
legal and HR advice and strategic support; our full service offer means our clients can rely on getting
the advice they need, at a cost that provides genuine value for money.

This has continued throughout 2014/15 with a number
of strategic recruits alongside key panel appointments
including Cornwall Council, City of Lincoln Council,
Marine Management Organisation, the Surrey
Framework and Worcestershire County Council, as
well as reappointments to the likes of the Homes
Communities Agency panel and servicing existing panels
such as the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) and the
Welsh Government.
The team have attended, spoken or exhibited at over 60
seminars, conferences and exhibitions throughout the
year, where they have been updating people on areas
such as procurement, planning, commercial contracts,
criminal law and state aid to name a few.
Devolution of greater powers to the regions is likely to
be one of the most important issues for local authorities
in the near future as they struggle to provide services in
a landscape of continuing austerity. With this in mind,
we held a roundtable discussion attended by local and
central government leaders, policy influencers and
stakeholders and chaired by Sir Paul Jenkins, former
Treasury Solicitor, where the path to greater regional
devolution was discussed.
Based on our research, experience and the discussion
at our roundtable meeting, a report was produced
which outlined the key questions, themes and
recommendations which could assist both local
and central government in achieving a sustainable
settlement for devolution in England.
public sector
Richard Barlow
Partner, Environmental Admin Law
+44 (0)115 976 6208
richard.barlow@brownejacobson.com
Despite the fiscal reduction measures affecting our clients, our public sector practice grew by over
25% year-on-year. Acting for over 150 local authorities and more than 15 central government bodies,
we have built a strong reputation for advising local and central government.
We have worked with Browne Jacobson for over a year now and we
have found their service and personal attention extraordinary. The
quick turnaround and high quality legal advice has always met our
expectations.
Kuljit Sandhu, Managing Director, RISE Mutual
”
“

While the move to our new London office signalled the firm’s overall
ambition and growth plans, the fact that it is a mere stone’s throw from
Lloyds of London means our insurance clients will enjoy ease of access
to our teams, enabling us to capitalise on our strong reputation.
Our team achieved growth of 6.6% in 2014/15 in an ever-tightening market due
to the pressures on costs brought about by legislative changes. This continued
the upward trend of recent years and was achieved organically, reflecting the
strength of our client relationships and our continued tier 1 ranking in Legal 500
for professional negligence and personal injury. We are seen as the ‘go to’ firm for
abuse claims; regarded as leaders in new, emerging issues and highly rated by our
clients for policy coverage, drafting wordings, catastrophic injury and regulatory
claims.
Our expertise runs far deeper than specialist claims defence and policy coverage.
In the last year we have delivered a range of bespoke services to add real value to
our clients. These include advising on the impact of the FCA’s thematic review into
insurers’ delegation of authority; providing an outsourced policy wordings solution
for underwriters; advising clients on their contractual terms with third parties;
and supporting the president of the Chartered Insurance Institute in discussions
with the Law Commissioner on the insurance law reforms.
insurance
Derek Bambury
Partner, Professional Negligence
+44 (0)20 7337 1006
derek.bambury@brownejacobson.com
We have further developed our online insurance law portal – www.bjinsurancelaw.com,
regularly updating it with key developments, including a dedicated area for the
Insurance Act 2015.
We also hold several external positions on committees and bodies; in November
2014, Nick Parsons took up his role as President of FOIL and we have representatives
on various FOIL committees including their local authority, DO and clinical
negligence groups.

Re-defining
client service
Our year 2014/15 | Re-defining client service page | 24
Achieving a 3-star exceptional rating for our client service from Investor in Customers in May 2014
was a significant milestone for our ECS programme and this was quickly followed by the Law Society’s
‘Excellence in Client Service’ award in October 2014.
Building on the success of an idea which was started by our business and professional risk teams in relation to ECS,
we introduced our monthly reward scheme in August 2014 and we had 93 submissions across the nine months to April
2015. The monthly winners, across legal and professional support categories, are selected by our ECS champions
team and receive £250 of vouchers of their choice. A shortlist of three was drawn up in each category and a firmwide
vote selected Joshua Gregory, Martin Tighe and Andy Williams as our annual ECS award winners for their outstanding
contributions to making our external and internal clients’ lives easier.
Our ‘little book of wow’ was compiled from these monthly ECS submissions and also from unsolicited feedback from
clients who regularly contact us to express their gratitude. There is nothing more heart-warming than to receive
such feedback, which is consistent across all of our offices, teams and sectors.
In the coming year we will be building on our ECS programme by introducing monthly net promoter surveys with our
clients, continuing with our ECS reward scheme and preparing for our re-accreditation with Investor in Customers.
The implementation of the key IT projects we have underway and the new ways of working we will be introducing
will enhance our client service delivery and further strengthen our client relationships. ECS will continue to be
central to team away day agendas, with our annual partner and senior manager conference in September 2015
focusing exclusively on this.
“Exceptional client service is all about a mindset,
requiring us to put ourselves in our clients’ shoes
and regularly exceed their expectations. The
nominations we have had for our monthly award
are testament to the way our truly exceptional
team have delivered ECS to our clients over and
over again during the past year.”
Jackie Carter
Head of BD Client Care
+ 44 (0)115 908 4879
jackie.carter@brownejacobson.com

page | 25Our year 2014/15 | Re-defining client service
“For us, ECS is all about providing everyone in the firm with
a seamless IT experience, all day and every day. We spend
quite a bit of time fixing things that people don’t know
have been broken – flying under the radar so to speak – so to
be recognised so transparently for something that we just
regarded as ‘doing our job’ was fantastic for us and the wider
IT team. It really makes you feel valued and appreciated.”
ECS winners - Martin Tighe, IT Technical Manager and
Andy Williams, IT Technical Services Engineer
“I was fortunate to be offered the opportunity
to go and work directly with a client as part of
their insurance claims team and the experience
I gained from that, so early in my career, is
invaluable. Being voted as one of the winners
of our ECS annual award by the rest of the
firm and knowing that this was based on the
feedback from the client for the work I did with
them is a real honour for me.”
ECS winner - Joshua Gregory,
Legal Assistant
Our annual ECS award winners Martin Tighe, Joshua Gregory and Andy Williams

Quality in
our people
The legal market has changed dramatically with salaries on the increase and even greater
competition for talent now being the norm. Over the course of 2014/15 we set ourselves the
objective of recruiting and retaining quality people, who feel part of the business and who are, in
turn, motivated to play their part to their full potential. At the end of the financial year the firm’s
headcount was 807, representing growth of just under 8% - double that of the previous year.
Our year 2014/15 | Quality in our people page | 26
To help the firm attract the best talent available we
have developed our social media footprint with a
dedicated LinkedIn careers page, a Browne Jacobson
alumni group and an online recruitment portal to engage
a wider audience.
In total, our new starters underwent almost 458 days’
worth of induction training in total, covering firmwide
information as well as specific training to welcome
them into their particular role and department. New
partner hires in the past 18 months are Anthony Nagle
and Stephen Matthew (London), Jonathan Fuggle
(Birmingham), Tom Armstrong (Nottingham), Nigel Lyons,
Lynne Rathbone and Dale Collins (Exeter) and, since
the year end, we have recruited Kerren Daly into our
Manchester office. We also appointed a new finance
director, Kit Doleman.
As well as recruiting into strategically important
areas, we firmly believe in rewarding the efforts and
achievements of our existing people. We announced a
record number of internal promotions, with seven new
partners being made up alongside 14 new associates and
four of our professional team were promoted to the role
of ‘head of’.
Kerren Daly
Dale Collins

page | 27Our year 2014/15 | Quality in our people
ranked in The Guardian UK’s
top 300 graduate employers300
4
new central
‘heads of’
7 partner promotions
7.8%headcount growth
14 associate promotions
103partners
400+lawyers
458 induction days
807people

Our year 2014/15 | Quality in our people page | 28
2014/15 also marked the third successful year of our apprentice programme and it has been a busy year for our 12
apprentices in terms of their development. In January 2015 they sat their first exam with CILEx with many achieving
merits and distinctions. Following on from his national award last year, George Denton was invited to speak at the
Education Funding Agency Conference about his apprenticeship journey so far and took the opportunity to deliver a
powerful message to government about the value of apprenticeships. Browne Jacobson also remains very committed
to the ongoing development of the ‘apprenticeship Trailblazers’ initiative and we continue to work with the
Department for Business, Innovation Skills in creating the new legal apprentice framework for 2017. These new
routes will allow progression from school leaver to qualified solicitor and will open up opportunities into the legal
sector that did not previously exist.
The high regard that our lawyers are held in also resulted in a number of accolades. Derek Bambury, our senior
partner, was presented with the Solicitor of the Year Award by Nottinghamshire Law Society. Mark Fowles, a partner
in our Exeter office, was appointed president of the Insurance Institute of Exeter whilst Nick Parsons, head of
insurance, was elected chair of FOIL - the Forum of Insurance Lawyers.
2014/15 marked the third
successful year of our
apprentice programme
Mark Fowles
George Denton
Nick Parsons

Our year 2014/15 | Quality in our people
Our annual wellbeing fairs across our five offices are
an important way for people to learn about what
benefits are available to them and have recently
included presentations by childcare voucher provider
Kiddivouchers and emotional resilience workshops in
partnership with Aviva. The firm has also worked with
local organisations to deliver cycle maintenance sessions
and provide advice on green routes. We have broadened
our flexible benefits scheme to include an online healthy
eating programme called Body Chef, as well as life
assurance and critical illness insurance for employees’
partners.
Our sports and social committees run a variety of
workplace activities across the offices and all of our
people are entitled to take up to two days out of work
to take part in community projects or volunteering
activities. This is supported by our community action
committees and generally includes working with local
schools, hospitals and community centres.
In March 2015 we carried out our annual wellbeing
survey. The results show that our efforts are making a
difference, with seven out of 10 respondents believing
they have a good work/life balance at Browne Jacobson
and 66% feeling that their wellbeing was considered
important by the firm.
workplace wellbeing
As a caring employer we are also conscious of our responsibility towards our people and work hard
each year to promote the importance of workplace wellbeing.
“We are operating in a fast-paced legal
environment - we have targets to meet
and clients to support through exceptional
client service; having well-engaged people
here is critical to our business.”
Eileen Henry
Director of Human Resources
+44 (0)115 976 6267
eileen.henry@brownejacobson.com
page | 29

Caring about
our communities
Giving back to the communities we work in remains an important part of our ethos as a business.
Over the years we have raised thousands of pounds for a number of good causes and our teams have
spent hundreds of hours on volunteering and pro-bono activities.
Over the past year we have been working alongside a host of local and national charities from Children’s Hospice
South West and Exeter based Hospiscare to St Josephs and Bede House in London, Nottingham Hospitals Charity,
Compton Hospice in Wolverhampton and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity in Manchester to name just a
few.
We were delighted when Browne Jacobson
chose Bede to be its charity of the year. As a
small local charity, helping people overcome
hardships due to very low incomes, disability
or difficult situations at home, we can do a lot
with a little! The team at Browne Jacobson
have some great fundraising ideas, and we
also hope their experience will enable us to
improve the chances of some unemployed local
people of getting jobs. We’re looking forward
to having a great partnership with Browne
Jacobson over the coming year!
”
“
Nick Dunne, Director, Bede
page | 30Our year 2014/15 | Caring about our communities
We are so grateful to Browne Jacobson for all of their brilliant
fundraising efforts over the last year. The money raised will
support important lymphoma research which helps to assist
early diagnosis of leukaemia and lymphatic cancer and improves
treatment for patients.
Nick Lawford, Nottingham Hospitals Charity
“
”

In 2014/15 we have also had a particular focus on
supporting the British Heart Foundation (BHF). This is
of particular poignancy as our support is in memory of
our colleague Iain Patterson who sadly passed away very
suddenly at the end of 2014.
One of the big events we have done to support the BHF
involved 19 of our people who took part in the Great
Birmingham 10k run. That wasn’t the only gruelling
event on our radar though... a team of seven took on
the Igloo Cyclo-Sportive Challenge, cycling an 80 mile
journey over steep terrain through the heart of the Peak
District. Colleagues will also be running a half marathon
later in the year to continue to support the cause.
Rather more sedately, the whole firm participated in
the BHF’s ‘wear it red’ day, raising further much needed
funds for this charity.
Whether it is jumping 13,000 feet out of an aeroplane
as part of the Oompa-Loompa Skydive for the 50th
anniversary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
persuading our managing partner to take the ice
bucket challenge, raising over £5,000 for Nottingham
Hospitals Charity Leukaemia Research Fund or simply
a few hundred pounds from a cake baking event, we
believe that every little counts and our charity partners
are always extremely thankful for the part we play in
ensuring they are able to carry on with the invaluable
work they do in the community.
But it is not just fundraising that keeps us busy. From
taking part in the reading in schools scheme and
donating over 170 selection boxes to children in hospice
care at Chrsitmas, to supporting the Anthony Nolan bone
marrow register and collecting vouchers for schools, our
people are passionate about working with their local
communities to make a positive difference.
Our year 2014/15 | Caring about our communities page | 31
community action
Our team who took part in the BHF Great Birmingham 10k run
Iain Patterson
wear it red day, London

Our North West Schools Arts Competition has been running for three years and has seen over 90
schools taking part and submitting more than 2,700 pieces of art in that time.
The competition has been supported by the Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity and the Sale Sharks, alongside
a series of distinguished judges including Manchester illustrator Stanley Chow, co-founder of the book ‘The Good
Old Drawing’, Philip Hodgkinson and well-known children’s illustrator, Martin Impey. This year’s theme was focused
on the environment and, as in previous years, the shortlisted entries on display in the Museum of Science Industry
were of the highest quality.
for the sake of art...
I really enjoyed the art competition. When
I heard that I had won first place my mouth
dropped to the floor.
”
“
Katie Holt, Helmshore Primary School,
winner of the 4 - 7 age category
Helmshore Primary School views creativity
as the heart of excellent learning. The
Browne Jacobson Art Competition is an
exciting way to showcase children’s talents
and promote creativity across the school.
”
“
Mr Walker, Year 2 Teacher,
Helmshore Primary School
competition winners
winning artwork

We believe in not just talking about the importance of being green but acting on our convictions. For
example, our new grade A London office has a BREEAM Excellent rating over all floors and we have an
established national network of ‘greene champions’ who are tasked with driving our environmental
and sustainability strategy across all our offices.
‘greene’ is the new ‘browne’
We also work in partnership with our suppliers to make
further energy savings and efficiencies. A number of our
key suppliers are ISO14001 accredited, ensuring they
meet stringent environmental procurement standards.
We also work with these companies to recycle products
such as batteries, toner cartridges and UPS units.
But for us, it is more than making sure we meet exacting
environmental standards. It is about encouraging our
people to embrace a positive lifestyle change, so
we actively promote a cycle to work scheme as well
as having annual work place challenges encouraging
employees to leave their car at home. Each year sees
more participants taking part and, in turn, encourages
people to think about the energy they use.
No44, our catering facility on site in our Nottingham
office, is committed to sourcing locally produced fresh
products alongside using biodegradable and reusable
supplies. Going forward, there are proposals to
introduce re-cycling of food waste, the development
of a herb garden and a ‘grow your own’ campaign to
encourage colleagues to share their home grown excess
produce for use in No44.
Other initiatives across our office network have
included:
• using zip taps instead of kettles for hot water
• replacing individual waste bins with communal bins
• separating recyclable and non-recyclable waste
• installing extensive VC equipment connecting each
office and externally to reduce the amount of travel
required.
Over the coming months we will be taking part in the
government’s Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme,
designed to find ways to reduce our carbon footprint
and, in the process, become less ‘Browne’, and more
‘Greene’ Jacobson.
The roof terrace at 6 Bevis Marks

our greene champions are driving
our environmental sustainability
strategy across all our offices
The garden at Mowbray House

© Browne Jacobson LLP 2015 – The information contained within this report is and shall remain the property of
Browne Jacobson. This document may not be reproduced without the prior consent of Browne Jacobson.

www.brownejacobson.com
0370 270 6000
Birmingham | Exeter | London | Manchester | Nottingham

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