After becoming the first law firm in England to achieve the latest version of the Law Society’s practice management standard ‘Lexcel’ in 2008, Fairweathers has undergone its first full reassessment and passed with flying colours. Whilst maintenance assessments have been conducted each year since 2008 by independent auditors, full reassessments reviewing all of a firm’s policies, procedures and results take place every 3 years.
The Lexcel standard covers all aspects of a law firm’s operations but with a particular emphasis on excellence in client care and quality standards generally. The accreditation is only awarded to solicitors who meet the highest standards of customer care and who can demonstrate robust systems to ensure a consistency of quality service.
The auditor this year recognised and praised the firm’s management and financial controls, strong business planning and the “high levels of client satisfaction” as evidenced by client questionnaires. There were no non-conformities whatsoever against the entire quality standard and excellence of supervision throughout the firm was praised.
Darren Tamplin, Partner, said “Only a small minority of solicitors firms, around 10 per cent in the country, have achieved the Lexcel standard and Fairweathers is very proud to be one of this elite band. It was particularly pleasing this year that the external auditor was unable to suggest any areas for improvement in our management of the practice. There is however no complacency here and we are committed to continue to find new ways of providing high quality legal services to all of our clients across all practice areas. Our success in this audit is a tribute to that commitment and the hard work of all members of the firm to whom I give my sincere thanks.”