From an 18th-century Booth to 21st-century open plan offices

ALTHOUGH legal services can be a beast that is slow to change, the way legal services are conducted has moved at a fast pace in recent years.

Wind back the clock 17 and a half years – to the early months of Tony Blair’s premiership and a country that had just been affected by the death of Princess Diana – and Leeds-based Booth & Co had just merged with Manchester’s Addleshaw Sons & Latham.

This was followed, in 2003, by the next step in its evolution, with the addition of Theodore Goddard creating Addleshaw Goddard.

Last week the firm announced it was committing itself to Leeds for another 17 and a half years after signing a lease on a new build property at 3 Sovereign Square. This should mean, among other things, that in 10 years’ time the firm will be able to celebrate its 250th anniversary in the city, tracing its roots all the way back to the formation of Booth & Co in 1775.

But Tim Wheldon, who heads Addleshaw Goddard’s Leeds office, is focused on what moving 400 staff to their new offices across the street at the end of next year will mean for the business.

Sat in a meeting room on the firm’s fourth floor – a floor of meeting rooms and kitchens – Mr Wheldon said: “We moved here in 1997. It was designed in the nineties for taking into account what was best practice at the time.

“20 years on the building feels tired and we need something that is more 21st century.”

It will be slightly smaller than the existing building to reflect how working practices have changed. The entire floor being used for meetings is soon to be consigned to history, the corridors-and-offices set-up is to be replaced by open plan, and the on-site servers will be going to an off-site data centre.

There is also no longer the same requirement for administrative support that there was back in 1997, with the ratio of PAs to fee-earners having shifted from 1:2 to 1:5.

“After all that we will occupy about the same square footage, and will have room for expansion in the new building,” said Mr Wheldon of the 51,000 sq ft, spread over three floors.

“There will be lots of efficiencies in the new building – it’s more modern, that reflects today’s approach to energy savings and efficient buildings – and it will reflect the requirements that the business needs and we think will need projecting forward.”

Addleshaw Goddard has joined KPMG in choosing to stay in the same location – the business advisory firm is moving this autumn – and it hopes to gain some benefits from the goodwill and association it has with that part of the city.

“It is a reinforcement of the importance of Leeds as a professional services centre that there is a continuing commitment from substantial businesses to new real estate and freeing up real estate to be improved and made available to other occupiers,” he said.

“It is great for Leeds that Sovereign Square is now being built out. This is not just about redeveloping Sovereign Square but linking the south part of the city through to the railway station. We are really chuffed with the location.

“From Leeds City Region’s point of view, it’s all good news.”

The move will come at a good time for the firm, which is facing the future with renewed optimism and momentum.

Mr Wheldon added: “Our year-end is the end of April. We finished the first half of the year 11% ahead. We have had a really good year.

“The business is much more settled under the new leadership of John Joyce and there’s a much higher degree of confidence.

“I was talking to one of our senior staff earlier today and he said it’s just a great place to work at the moment.

“A great place to work, a fantastic culture, a bit of fun at work, we work with really good clients doing good work – and we are making some money.”