“What struck me is how supportive and forward-thinking CooperBurnett is as a firm,” she explained. “This came across in my initial interview with Joseph [Oates] and Victoria [Sampson], as they were just so open and friendly.”
Paralegal, Imogen Fleur, who also joined us at the beginning of the year, was impressed by how long many of our team members have been with the firm. For example, Head of Residential Property, Jennifer Irving, has been with us nearly 20 years, while Head of Accounts, Gareth Warner, joined CooperBurnett nearly 25 years ago.
“I believe that shows a lot about how the firm treats their employees,” she said.
When we talk to newer members of the team, they are united in telling us what a friendly and welcoming team we are. The atmosphere is supportive and an open-door policy and absence of hierarchy define the working environment. The firm’s management is communicative and welcomes feedback with fee earners and this encourages trust.
The fact that people have been here for a number of years suggests, correctly, that they have built their career with us. There is no barrier to progression at CooperBurnett, and training and development is a high priority. This doesn’t just apply to trainees and newly-qualified lawyers, the development of our fee earners is a priority too. We encourage them to continue building their knowledge, as well as passing on their experience and skills to the next generation.
We’ve recently put in place a mentoring programme. Currently Senior Paralegal Carla Loveday is mentoring Paralegal Imogen Fleur, as she embarks on her career in law with us.
“It’s much more than just making sure Imogen has the correct legal skills, it’s about helping her to discover what sort of lawyer she can become,” Carla explained.
From a practical point of view, we are based in the centre of Tunbridge Wells, with a large car park which makes commuting by car straightforward. If a team member is using public transport, we’re a five-minute walk from the station, with direct trains to London and the coast. In fact, while Tunbridge Wells is often considered a commuter town for the city, we have people here who live in London and do the ‘reverse commute’.
Tunbridge Wells is a great place to work – with green spaces, gyms and excellent shops, as well as myriad independent coffee shops! The town boasts fantastic hotels and restaurants for client lunches or a bite to eat after work.
Another reason that people are drawn to work here is the fact that we’ve been in Tunbridge Wells for a long time, more than 40 years, and have strong links with our local community.
“One of the reasons I was interested in joining CooperBurnett is all the good things the firm does for charity, which I liked and wanted to get involved with,” said Natasha Smith from our employment team.
Finally, as a firm, we are not standing still. We are proud of our long history but are also looking to the future. In a very visible way, we are implementing plans to refurbish certain of our workspace areas, to make our building an even better place to work and even more welcoming for our clients. We are committed to investing in the future of the firm and are rolling our ‘3P Plan'...
