East Midlands law firm Nelsons has pledged to complete 40 positive deeds to mark its 40 th year in business. The team at Nelsons, which has offices in Nottingham, Leicester and Derby, have made the pledges to give something back to their clients, colleagues, communities and the wider environment.
The pledges will focus on enhancing environmental awareness and action, supporting charitable causes, strengthening staff wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, and improving client accessibility.
Nelsons began as a small start-up firm with one office above a shop in Nottingham. It grew from three partners to three offices and is now a recognised regional heavyweight with 150 staff offering services to the SME and private client sector. The firm, which now has a £20 million turnover, was acquired by national law firm Lawfront on May 4, the day after the anniversary.
Chief executive Stewart Vandermark said: “With such a major milestone, it seemed only right to celebrate where we’ve come from, as well as where we’re headed, by furthering our goal of helping people to feel empowered.
“These pledges will not only create memorable moments for our employees but will help us make meaningful changes to our team, our working environment and local communities.”
Activities will include making sustainable swaps across the business and helping to reduce waste as well as encouraging young people into legal careers by offering more work experience opportunities and linking up with education providers.
Employees at the firm will benefit from wellbeing pledges such as massages, mental health support and menopause awareness, as well as having access to talks to understand diversity and unconscious bias.
Clients will also benefit from the positive impact the firm will make during its anniversary year, with the team dedicating time to promoting accessibility through deaf awareness sessions and dementia friends training.
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Nelsons chairman Tim Hastings said: “We are all extremely proud to have reached 40 years and to now be looking back at what has been a real journey for anyone that has either worked for or with the firm.
“For the first few years, Nelsons relied on its own momentum but steadily, we expanded our reach and adapted to new challenges.
“We replicated what we had created in Nottingham with Leicester and Derby and then continued to grow through mergers and acquisitions – completing more than 20 since 2000.
“Appointing Stewart as CEO signified a new era for Nelsons back in 2017, bringing fresh energy and ideas – being able to work alongside each other since then has worked incredibly well.
“The acquisition by Lawfront will rapidly accelerate Nelsons’ growth strategy making acquisitions possible, expanding services and increasing recruitment.
“Our new three-year vision is also now finalised giving the business a clear focus. This combined with everything we have learned along the way makes the future look very exciting.”
Nelsons was recently shortlisted in The Lawyer awards for Law Firm of the Year: The Independents category, and was recognised in The Times’ top 250 law firms 2022.