Each month TSR Legal will be talking to professionals across the legal industry. We interview people who work in different areas of law; gauging their experience and insight into the legal sector.
TSR Legal Meets Andrew Barrowclough, Director at HCB Solicitors |
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| This month we are interviewing Andrew Barrowclough, Director at HCB Solicitors. Andrew is an accomplished specialist solicitor with 10 years of experience working as a litigator in tribunals, county courts, criminal courts and the Royal Courts of Justice. He has worked within the specialist field of Education Law since 2006 representing clients throughout England and Wales. |
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| What have been your recent highlights? |
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| We have continued to grow at an amazing pace. At the start of 2018 for example we had 10 people working here for HCB in Cardiff but we are about to hire our 25th employee. We relocated to a new specially designed office in Cardiff Gate Business Park in December 2018. We needed this space due to our continued growth but the offices themselves are great to service our clients in Wales and beyond. Also since January 2019 we have been able to offer a Commercial Property service here in Cardiff thanks to Janine Edwards joining us as an Assistant Director from Watkins and Gunn.
Personally I was able to enjoy the new office for 1 day before my wife went into labour with our third child- so it’s been a busy period professionally and personally! |
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| How does HCB Solicitors stand out from other firms? |
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| We have a corporate shell, premises and infrastructure but we have retained the personality and feel of a local firm. We offer a bespoke and specialist service in Education Law but also in Conveyancing and commercial property work. For example our emphasis is on client care rather than profit. We are not a volume firm so we work with clients closely to assist with building their cases and helping their transnational work. For example we don’t have a switchboard to screen our calls. Any of out clients can just pick up the phone to call us direct at any time.
In terms of working environment we are an ambitious hardworking practice but family should always come first. We offer above market salaries, better holidays and a discretionary bonus day scheme for hitting target. Our targets are realistic and we don’t expect people to be here at 9pm at night- we prefer people to have got their work done in their contractual hours or something isn’t working properly. |
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| What do you enjoy most about working at HCB Solicitors? |
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| I love helping my clients to get the right support in place for their children. My job is incredibly rewarding every day. In terms of managing the firm I enjoy seeing young lawyers come in who we help to grow and learn and then move on to become formidable lawyers in their own right. |
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| What advice would you give to aspiring lawyers? |
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| You work to live, you don’t live to work. The law can be tough and it requires dedication but not at the expense of your family and private life. It’s important to love what you do as you will do it better and work harder. I would also advise that it’s never too early to learn about business development and marketing as every lawyer needs to learn those essential skills. |
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| What can we expect to see from HCB Solicitors in the future? |
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| Continued growth and prosperity whilst still delivering a high quality service. We have recently recruited new key staff to assist us in pushing the company forwards in a number of areas. It is always important to work with specialist recruiters like TSR because it’s so hard to find talented lawyers these days. It’s always about finding the right person in the wrong law firm and we hope to keep expanding by doing just that.
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