Well known Leicester family lawyer Glynis Wright MBE talks BusinessLive through the complexities of selling her business Glynis Wright & Co to Nelsons law firm at the height of the pandemic:
“It was November 2019 when I first met with the Nelsons’ chief executive Stewart Vandermark and chairman Tim Hastings to look at the possibility of a sale of my law firm.
By February 2020, it was clear to Nelsons and to me that this was a perfect opportunity; Nelsons is a vibrant, dynamic and innovative company that wants to continue raising the profile of its services within the Leicester market and beyond, to become the strongest regional firm.
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Glynis Wright & Co were exceptionally well known and established in the local area as leaders in the provision of family law services, so our ambitions completely aligned.
Then the pandemic hit, meaning it was necessary to step back and halt those discussions immediately as we had no idea what Covid-19 would mean for the legal sector and for our clients.
It was a frightening time for all, where many sectors hit a wall of uncertainty and had no idea what the impact of the pandemic would be.
However, fast forward six months to September 2020 and both firms had experienced strong performance in the pandemic, which meant that negotiations were able to resume with confidence and vigour to take the next positive step in the union between our businesses.
The key to any successful acquisition is strong leadership – there has to be absolute trust and faith in those leading the organisation – and that applies to both the leader bringing their team across and the new leadership at the acquiring company.
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However, this was no normal acquisition, as it was happening in the middle of a global pandemic when team members had been working remotely for months and weren’t going to have the opportunity to integrate with their new colleagues in the way we have grown accustomed to over the years.
Due to non-disclosure agreements during the process, my team only had 14 days to digest the news that Nelsons had acquired Glynis Wright & Co before we transferred over to Nelsons – and just to add even more pressure, those 14 days happened to be in the lead-up to the Christmas period.
We work in a people industry, and after all those months of separation and isolation I was, undeniably, concerned about the impact the sudden acquisition would have on my staff.
That’s why, when the time came to announce the acquisition to my team by virtual means, something I’d much rather have done in person but could not because of the lockdown, it was crucial for me to be authentic and transparent and to explain why I had made the decision to sell and what I thought the benefits would be to them.
I was also honest with my team about the fact I understood my decision would have been a surprise to them and that the integration would be different because of having to manage everything in a pandemic.
I encouraged my team to talk to me about their feelings and to express any anxieties they had so that we could work through them together.
I am immensely proud of my team for the way they responded during those two weeks.
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I strongly believe the gold thread that kept the team together and maintained their focus was holding on to our purpose – to be there for the client, which is central to the core values of Nelsons too, and in family law is crucial given the distress most of our clients suffer during a divorce.
Now nearly five months on, the team have settled in are looking forward to embracing the opportunities that Nelsons can provide – which shows that the integration is working.
Nelsons is a very open organisation and, as soon as the acquisition was complete, it really helped that each team member was buddied up with existing colleagues who organised one to one’s to help with integration, and welcome them to Nelsons.
In addition, virtual coffee catch-ups, lunchtime socials and a virtual cocktail night were organised for the team to get to know their Leicester and regional colleagues and bond with each other.
It’s now been five months since Glynis Wright and Co. was acquired and we’ve enjoyed an unbelievably strong first quarter with Nelsons, proving that a team can successfully integrate, even in the heart of a global pandemic.
What I think is key to bear in mind is that it would have been easy for this acquisition to remain on the backburner in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic.
When we resumed conversations in September the country was on the brink of being plunged into a second national lockdown, but we had the confidence in the performance of both of our firms to take the plunge and proceed at rocket speed to get the acquisition completed.
We share the same vision, which is to come together to create something even greater – the biggest and strongest family law department in the East Midlands.
And, looking at the past five months, there is no doubt in my mind that we made the right decision, and personally cannot wait to see what the future holds as we continue to take the family market by storm.”