Last year we reached the 25th anniversary of Sherrards Employment Law Solicitors. In late 1999, after leaving the firm where I had been a partner, I travelled up to Emirates’ office in London and started Sherrards in their ground floor foyer. I made the necessary calls to the Law Society and arranged insurance; it was so much easier to start a firm back then than it is today. Having received my first piece of work from Nelun Barrow, then and still today Head of HR at Emirates, we were up and running.
I always remembered that “foyer moment” and so, 25 years later, I travelled back to Emirates’ office and we took photographs with Nelun in the actual spot where I had started the firm 25 years previously. It certainly was a poignant moment.
We put a post on LinkedIn, with several photographs that we took on the 25th anniversary, and related the foyer story. I was thrilled and, to be honest, quite moved by the response. To date, the post has made 3894 impressions with 153 “likes” and 87 comments. So many people that I am connected with and have worked with over the years made the effort to post congratulatory remarks, including several people that I have not been in contact with for a few years. It was nice to be remembered and the good wishes were very well received.
Of course none of this would be possible without the dedication, commitment and hard work of the many staff who have worked with us over the last 25 years. We have generally had a policy of recruiting relatively inexperienced or indeed newly qualified solicitors and training them. Several moved on to other positions, but I take satisfaction in having helped them embark on their legal careers and it is gratifying that we are still in contact; several “old hands” attended our 25th anniversary celebration. And of course there is Dan Soanes, who joined us as a newly qualified solicitor in our early years and is still delivering a first class service to our clients.
Going back to the LinkedIn post, several people made comments along the lines of “Here’s to the next 25 years!” but I’m not sure that I am planning a career that long. For news of the next installment of the Sherrards story, watch this space.
