Major shake-up sees law firm name new East Midlands head

Law firm Shakespeare Martineau has announced a major shake-up of its top team – including a new East Midlands boss.

The changes include the introduction of business unit managing directors and “super team” leaders as well as introducing regional heads across West Midlands, East Midlands and South.

Sitting on the main board alongside chief executive Sarah Walker-Smith and business unit managing directors, will be the newly appointed chief transformational officer (CTO) Karen Walker and recently promoted Ben Buckton as chief marketing and people officer (CMPO).

Heading up the East Midlands region for the firm will be Duncan James, supported by Roy Botterill and Roger Harcourt who will be taking on the roles of office head for Leicester and Nottingham, respectively.

Duncan James told TheBusinessDesk.com: “I’m personally very invested in the East Midlands; this is not just where I work, it’s my home – and where I grew up – and I take great pride in supporting clients and businesses to thrive here. The region is exciting on so many levels, one of which is the brilliant people we work with, whether clients, contacts, or people within the firm. I am very proud to be appointed to this role.

“We have a strong presence and excellent client base in the area, but always strive to do more, be our best-selves for our clients and exceed expectations – uniting our teams in this new structure enables us to do just that.

“I take huge pride in my new position as East Midlands regional head for Shakespeare Martineau.”

Sarah Walker-Smith said: “We remain focussed on long-term growth and keeping clients at the heart of everything that we do.

“We recognise that the best way to do this is through collaboration and taking a market-led approach to our service areas. So we’re introducing three business unit managing director positions to the main board, who will be supported by super team leaders. By uniting teams, rather than segmenting them, we are able to provide a more holistic service to clients.”

The new structure was launched internally in February and comes into full effect from the new financial year. It will see the multi-disciplinary firm launch three business units: life and business – led by Victoria Tester; litigation services and dispute resolution – led by Mark Beesley; and infrastructure and specialist markets – led by Alex Smith. Each business unit encompasses a number of super teams, with super team leaders responsible for the growth of each service area.

The firm’s eight offices across the UK will collaborate as three specific regions; East Midlands, West Midlands and South; with regional heads responsible for raising the profile of the firm in those areas and aligning growth plans with the overarching business strategy of bringing services together to benefit the needs of clients.

Walker joins Shakespeare Martineau from Browne Jacobson, where she was change and infrastructure director.

Meanwhile Buckton steps up from his previous role as marketing director.

He said: “Our people are our brand – and it’s our clients who benefit from our investments in them. With our people and clients so intertwined, we knew it made sense to strategically unite them.”

Shakespeare Martineau says there have been no redundancies made as a result of the organisational restructure.