focus on oxfordshire 15 Record year for Henmans


Freeth signals a bright future Sixteen months on from the merger that gave birth to top Oxford law firm Henmans Freeth, The Business Magazine went back to talk to the managing partner, Sarah Foster, to find out if its formative year had lived up to expectations


With a “really positive” first 12 months tipping the legal practice over the £9 million turnover point and a strong recruitment drive bringing 12 new lawyers on board, managing partner Sarah Foster is in no doubt that the merger has been a major success.


“It was the best thing that could have happened for us, there is a huge amount of positivity and enthusiasm for the merger. We exceeded expectations financially and everyone has done really well across the firm,” she said.


It was on February 1, 2013, that the former Henmans LLP joined forces with Freeth Cartwright to create a Top 70 law firm. Foster was determined that the Oxford office would retain its autonomy and today she talks warmly of the way the firm has kept its identity in Oxford, while benefiting from being part of a larger group.


“We continue to work with many of the same clients but the difference now is that we can offer them a much greater range of legal services and expertise by calling on the wider resources available to us,” she said.


“For example, Freeth Cartwright has excellent corporation tax, pension, construction and insolvency specialists. At the same time, we have been able to offer our specialist experience and resource in areas such as agricultural property, private client, insurance and planning to their clients, so we have both gained from our combined skills.


“In addition, as the economy takes off, good quality lawyers are in high demand and there’s no doubt that being part of a bigger group is helping us to recruit at a level which may not have been possible before.”


Among those recent recruits has been Leon Arnold, partner and the firm’s new head of corporate. Arnold previously headed up the corporate team at Thomas Eggar.


Foster says the growth of the corporate client base is due in no small part to his arrival and his expertise recently proved invaluable in an AIM listing for a client, which also drew on the wider skills and resources within the Freeth Cartwright group.


In response to growing demand, the corporate team is set to expand further with the arrival of another lawyer; while elsewhere the dispute resolution team has taken on two more lawyers; the agricultural property team has increased by two, as has the residential


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JUNE 2014


property practice group; and both the clinical negligence and personal injury teams have expanded.


Foster explains that the firm has also adopted the Freeth Cartwright policy of taking on legal assistants – graduates who are not necessarily law students, but are keen to experience life in a law firm – in addition to offering places to law graduates.


The past 12 months has also seen Foster elected in her own right to the Freeth Cartwright board, giving her a much closer


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involvement in the strategy of the £50m group.


She is adamant however that this doesn’t deflect from her Oxford responsibilities, adding: “It was a really positive move for me to be elected after just a year, but Henmans Freeth is very much my priority.


“We see being under the Freeth Cartwright umbrella as a real advantage because it brings the strengths of all the different offices together for the greater good of the group.


“In Oxford, we have a team of 18 partners, and we are very clear about what we want to do with the business. Our vision is to grow and invest in order to build the Oxford office to a £10m turnover in the next financial year.


“Over the next few months we’ll see the launch of a new brand and corporate identity – although we will retain the Henmans Freeth name – and we’re also involved in many of the building projects that we’re now seeing in and around Oxford, so it’s a very exciting time.”


Among the other key growth areas is the charity sector, where the firm has a very strong reputation, with clients including Cancer Research UK, RSPCA and Macmillan.


As well as acting for charities, the firm and its employees regularly undertake a wide range of fundraising and other activities, among them this year’s OxClean initiative to help keep the city tidy.


This month will see Foster taking on the Milton Keynes to Birmingham leg of the first Tour de Freeths, a three-day bicycle ride taking in all 11 of the group’s offices in support of Cancer Research UK, which it has adopted as its charity of the year.


Closer to home, Henmans Freeth is a big supporter of London Welsh rugby club, which plays at the Kassam Stadium, allowing the club’s management team to work out of its offices.


Foster says the relationship has proved a real bonus in terms of boosting community ties and giving clients the opportunity to enjoy some excellent rugby hospitality.


Details: Sarah Foster sarah.foster@henmansfreeth.co.uk 01865-781055 www.henmansfreeth.co.uk


It’s a move which has worked well, and


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