Strong leadership, a devolved HR management structure and good communications are how a leading Manchester law firm has become an employer of choice, delegates at the Solicitors 2004 conference heard last week.


Pannone & Partners came sixth in this year’s Sunday Times list of the 100 top companies to work for, the highest ever placing for a law firm.



Kingsley: inspirational leader

Partner and head of human resources Rachel Dobson, who was in HR at Marks & Spencer before qualifying as a solicitor at Pannones, praised the firm’s managing partner, Joy Kingsley, for being an inspirational leader – some 84% of staff surveyed as part of the Sunday Times’ evaluation said they had great faith in her.


Ms Dobson said Pannones has devolved HR management to the ten heads of department, with just her and one other in the central HR department.


She explained that the partners are expected to be firm on rules and discipline. ‘The people who stick to the rules and work hard need to know this,’ she said. To ensure consistency, the rules are spelt out in detail, such as the funerals of which relatives staff can have time off for.



At the same time, the firm has a generous reward and recognition programme – staff were given three-and-a-half days off last year to mark various achievements, including a half-day for the Sunday Times ranking – and has made a genuine statement against the long-hours culture.



Ms Dobson said Pannones is specific about what hours it expects from its staff – such as assistants having to work an hour longer than the usual nine to five in normal circumstances, doubling to two hours for salaried partners. As a result, the firm came tenth out in the Sunday Times list for work/life balance, which she described as ‘amazing’ for a law firm.



She added that being a single-site firm was a great help – ‘it’s all about very open communication. We tell them pretty much everything, good or bad’. Partners are also able ‘to wander round’ to her office to ask questions.



Ms Dobson claimed that as a result of its approach – and crucially not dividing management from HR, she said – the firm has a staff turnover of just 8%, has reduced its expenditure on recruitment, has contented partners, better-off clients and generated a lot of positive coverage through its success in the Sunday Times survey.