Wearing: Culture of investment for growth
The managing partner of a fast-growing, employee-owned Yorkshire law firm says it is ready to expand outside the county after opening a 24th office.
Jonathan Wearing said the more offices Ison Harrison opened, “the better we get at it” and “the better the economies of scale”. It was “inevitable that opportunities will arise outside the county”.
Mr Wearing said the vast majority of the firm’s offices in Yorkshire were opened because someone within the firm mentioned a town or city where they wanted this to happen, and the same approach could apply outside Yorkshire. “If someone makes a good business case, why would I say no to them?”
He was equally open to proposals for new offices from people outside the law firm, for example from those “looking for an exit” for their firm. “I’m happy to have conversations with good, happy firms”.
The firm became 100% employee-owned [1] in January 2022. At that time, it had 17 offices and a turnover of over £16m. It now has 24 offices, the latest being in Middlesbrough, and a turnover of over £35m.
Mr Wearing said Ison Harrison was “absolutely flying” as a business because it already had “a culture of investment for growth”.
Private equity “might work” for some firms while employee ownership worked for others, but however it happened, private equity was about ownership and involved people “putting in money on a bet that they will get it out in a certain period of time”.
At a time when many law firms are reducing their footprints and focusing on online, Mr Wearing said having a local office helped when people were searching for lawyers online because “clients still want local professional services”.
Even if services were provided online and clients did not actually walk in, “they like the fact they are able to”. A local law firm was part of the community, was “talked about at school gates and in church halls”, and could give money to local organisations and charities.
Having a local office was also good for recruitment, because “not everyone wants to go into Leeds every day”, where Ison Harrison’s HQ is based, and with local offices “people who work there, live there”.
Mr Wearing said the firm was unusual in that more than 80% of its 400 staff worked full-time in the office, rather than at home. Asked whether it was difficult to manage 24 offices, he said he sometimes replied that it was “easier than managing 100 bedrooms”.
The firm’s strategy was to be “broad in the specialisms we offer” and offer it locally. “The structure of the firm is hub and spoke and the philosophy is community-based.”
Accounts, HR, new business opportunities and IT are centralised at the firm’s HQ in Leeds, which also provides a full range of legal services.
Each branch office offers conveyancing, family and wills and probate services, and some offer commercial or legal aid work, while services such as employment and immigration have to be accessed from Leeds, though lawyers based there can travel to see clients.
“The network feeds work into Leeds and Leeds feeds out support. It’s a constant breathing in and out. The most important thing is that people are connected. It’s a very big community with small communities.”
Mr Wearing said the way his firm had brought together its business model with the employee ownership model had “turbo-charged things forward”.
He added that after becoming employee-owned, the firm had paid a bonus of £3,600 to staff in the first year, and £4,000 in both the second and third years.
An announcement on the latest bonus would be made next week, and although the amount could not be released before then, it would be “more than £4,000”.