INTERVIEW
“We did that, which led to a massive growth spurt for
the company and through that, I was able to transition to become a pure employment law specialist. “So, I started out not really thinking I'd become a lawyer
to, within five years, specialising in employment law, representing all of these fantastic clients and travelling around the country having a whale of a time.” While on paper, criminal law and employment law look
like two very different beasts, was it a difficult transition to make between the two? “They are different, but the skills are quite transferable,”
said Andrew. “You have to know the law, but also be able to apply it in a practical way. “With criminal law, you're always on your mettle, you're
always ready for the phone to ring at any time with an urgent issue. It's the same with employment law, it can still be a very reactive service.
‘You have to keep pace with technology, but also you have to consider how you can use those technologies to deliver an ever more efficient service to clients’
“And both involve advocacy. You might be standing on
your feet in the Magistrate's Court for an individual, or you might be doing the same job in an employment tribunal. “I think the main difference is that with employment law,
if you're an employer, you have an opportunity to learn from those reactive issues, to take a more strategic approach and plan ahead. “And in the employment space, you're working for
employers of all sizes. That might be a local SME, or it might be in the boardroom of a household name, Blue Chip company.” In 2005, Andrew took the opportunity to leave
Anderson’s and join Gateley Legal, which was then an up- and-coming, fast-growing and ambitious legal business with three offices and an annual turnover of around £15m. Today, the Gateley group sits just outside of the UK’s top 40 law firms, employs more than 1,000 staff including around 650 lawyers, and has a turnover in excess of £100m. It was the first UK legal business, and one of the first in
the world, to float on the Stock Market, in 2015, and the seven companies which the group comprises operate from ten offices across the UK, as well as an office in Dubai.
Andrew joined the business to head up its new dedicated
employment law team. He has since become senior partner and head of Gateley
Legal’s Nottingham office and in addition to his work as an employment lawyer, he leads the national employment team, which encompasses specialists in employment law, pensions, immigration and global mobility. He also works closely with some of the businesses that
Gateley has acquired, including specialists in leadership assessment and development consultancy Kiddy & Partners as well as people and leadership development and behavioural change specialists t-three, which enable it to offer a blend of legal and non-legal services to its corporate clients. “First and foremost, I'm an employment lawyer and work
primarily for employers to help navigate tricky employment issues,” Andrew continued. “More often than not, it’s about helping our clients to identify a pragmatic solution to whatever problem they are facing. “The exciting thing for me is that since our flotation,
we've started acquiring businesses which crossover into the human capital space enabling us to offer a more complete solution to clients. “Part of our strategy is to be a law-led professional
services company. We think of that as being 80% legal, 20% non-legal, which enables us to provide a more rounded service for clients, where we can see the bigger picture and distinguish ourselves from other law firms which look at things from a purely legal perspective. “In practice, what this does is enables us to go into a
client and not only help to fix their immediate legal issue, but also identify and change the behaviours that led to it, to drive cultural change and prevent it from happening again. “Clients will always assume that you know the law and
can take care of things from this perspective, so it’s how you provide pragmatic solutions that deliver the client’s objective that is key.” While diversification and an increasing demand for more
niche legal services have opened a host of opportunities for legal professionals, the sector has also seen some big changes over the past 25 years. “When I was doing my law degree, in the late 80s, my
university ran an optional course called Computers and the Law,” said Andrew. “I remember thinking at the time, why would lawyers ever
need computers? “Of course, we’ve seen what’s happened since, so I would say that the rise of technology is massive.
business network March 2020 65
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