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Client Testimonials

When invited to acquire the Practice from the former Partners, we approached Richard Gibson and his Glasgow legal sector/Corporate Finance team to assist us with the purchase.

Richard and his team quickly demonstrated an excellent knowledge of the taxation and regulatory issues surrounding the purchase, and helped structure the transaction to ensure the acquiring business was structured appropriately, and benefited from the most tax advantageous structure when completing the purchase.

Richard built an excellent working relationship with our corporate legal advisor, our funders and the in house finance team to make the purchase and takeover as seamless as possible, and his ongoing involvement has allowed us to focus on the development of our own Practice.

Graham Craik, Managing Partner, Levy & McRae

We engaged the Armstrong Watson legal sector team to provide outsourced FD services and to assist us through a period of transition following the departure of our previous in-house FD.  Their knowledge of the issues and bespoke recommendations have helped to refocus our management thought process and implementation of our strategy.  Armstrong Watson has refreshed the output of our accounting function and that has allowed our management team to focus attention where necessary. We use their user friendly KPI focused management information and this allows for a joined up approach with our strategy and informed management decisions.  All in all, we are delighted with our decision to outsource our FD function and wish that we had done it long before.

Peter Stafford, Managing Director & Head of Business Services, Cartmell Shepherd

Following a recommendation made to us, we have engaged the specialist Legal Sector team at Armstrong Watson for our accounts, audit and SRA Accounts Rules compliance requirement.  We have been impressed by the breadth of their specific knowledge of the sector and how that helps them to proactively advise us.  We greatly appreciate the consistent use of staff, and their interaction with our accounts team works very well indeed.  Their advance planning makes everything work seamlessly and they have already spotted and enacted improvements that have helped to simplify our accounts and save us money.

Philip Browell, Director, Browells Smith & Co Solicitors Ltd

We recognised that we could benefit from a more effective rewards programme for our staff and fee earners in order to reward and further encourage high performance. However, we were unsure about how to structure such a rewards programme in a way which would not have an adverse affect on morale within the firm or the culture of the firm.  

We were impressed by the knowledge, experience and awareness of Andy Poole and the specialist legal sector team at Armstrong Watson.  They really understood the likely impacts of potential rewards programmes and were able to provide a comprehensive report, suggesting a bonus scheme that was bespoke to our business, helping us to drive performance in our key areas.  The presentation of the scheme, suggested rules and financial awareness training delivered to our fee earners has had a positive impact on our business.

Ian Kennerley, Partner, Silk Family Law

In 2016 we engaged the services of Armstrong Watson’s specialist Legal Sector as we sought to change our business structure to reflect our modern approach to Law at our dynamic and growing law firm. Andy Poole and the team were able to guide us through the various structure options to find the structure which met our business needs. The checklist approach used allowed us to delegate tasks to the appropriate people and track what needed to be done and when. 

As part of this process we were introduced to one of Armstrong Watson’s Financial Planning team who advised us on ensuring the business and its key stakeholders are adequately protected in the event of death or critical illness and continues to guide us through our pension planning including the use of commercial property. I actually enjoy talking with him and the rest of the Armstrong team!

We were delighted by the forward thinking joined up approach and look forward to our working relationship with the Armstrong Watson team continuing to develop.

Ben Pepperell CEO, Pepperells Solicitors

We used Armstrong Watson for the first time this year to conduct our SRA Audit.  I was impressed; not only with their thoroughness and professionalism, but also with the efficiency of the whole process.  The audit is an essential element of our compliance processes, but it also has the potential to be a major distraction for the business.  The Armstrong Watson team gave us very clear guidance from the outset and used technology well to deliver a highly effective audit with no unnecessary work for us.  We will be returning to them next year.

Nick Benson, Managing Director, Ortolan Legal Limited

Despite being the largest independent claims management company in Ireland, when we made the decision to move into legal services in England, we knew the process of applying to become an ABS could well be a time consuming and daunting task.

We wanted to make the ABS application process as smooth and efficient as possible from our point of view, and so decided to instruct the specialist legal sector team at Armstrong Watson to assist us with our application.

From our initial enquiry, and right throughout the process, I was impressed with the level of professional input and advice from Rosy Rourke and the team working with us.

The result was that our ABS application was approved very quickly, and we were very happy with the service that we received. I would recommend the team at Armstrong Watson to anyone else considering applying to become an ABS.

Alan Bailie, Director, MIS Legal Services Limited

We moved to Armstrong Watson due to their specific legal sector expertise and knowledge.  We have been very pleased with the quality and efficiency of the accountancy, tax and financial advisory services provided by Andy Poole, Graham Poles and the rest of the AW team.  We value the fact they truly understand our business and the legal sector as this enables them to provide us with pro-active valued added advice and suggestions to make our business and strategic business planning even better.

Carl Newton, Managing Partner, Myerson

The specialist legal sector team at Armstrong Watson has been instructed by Burnetts Solicitors to prepare the firm’s financial statements, tax returns and SRA Accounts Rules reports as well as the partners’ personal tax returns since 2011.  I have been in a joint managing partner position since 1 January 2014 and have worked particularly closely with them since becoming sole managing partner on 1 January 2015. In that time, I have been impressed with their speed of response.  When we need something actioned, it is always done within the agreed timetable.  That is in part due to their attention to ensure that we provide them with everything that they need in order to help us.  Initiatives have been established to ensure that timetables are adhered to and all costs are agreed in advance.

We benefit from their pro-active advice and suggestions; particularly recently regarding our trading structure, law firm alliances and ways to reduce our costs.  In addition, they have presented to our people on cross-selling initiatives and improving their understanding of their impact on the success of the firm.  They have also offered one to one tax surgeries with each of our partners in order for them to plan their personal affairs, which we will benefit from this year.  Their benchmarking analysis of the firm allows us to have strategic conversations with them, and also with my partners internally.

All in all, they help us to improve our business.

Nick Gutteridge, Managing Partner, Burnetts

Having faced a number of approaches from law firms and companies over the years to acquire Pryers, it was important for us to wait patiently for the right opportunity with the right company to forge ahead with. Pure Legal undoubtedly presents that opportunity and I am delighted to get this deal over the line and I look forward to working with Phil and his team.

Thanks to our Accountant, Andy Poole and his team from Armstrong Watson, for their diligent work. We were genuinely impressed with their advice and representation.

Ian Pryer, Managing Partner, Pryers LLP

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