PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 2018 or event and donate a percentage of our turnover to local causes through the Stone King Foundation, which supported 16 local charities in 2017. It is fundamentally important for any organisation to contribute to their local community, and we feel it also gives our people opportunities to get involved and feel proud to be part of this firm. This year our Private Client Team is also running a series of free community coffee mornings with expert speakers. The aim of these is to help residents defend themselves against growing problems like online fraud and nuisance callers.
ROYDS WITHY KING
Lead partner for the Bath offices, Stuart Brazington
Tell us a little about your business… Royds Withy King is Bath’s largest law firm with offices on Midland Bridge and just off Queen Square. We are committed to building long-lasting relationships with businesses, individuals and families, really thinking ahead for our clients and offering practical and pragmatic solutions. Whatever the challenges, we have dedicated teams of lawyers with commercial, private client and personal injury/clinical negligence expertise, who are based here in Bath and across our network of offices in Wiltshire, Oxford and London.
Work/life balance – how do you get it right for you and your staff? We strive to create a culture of trust and respect throughout the firm at all levels, and this ethos is extremely important to us. In 2017 we started to roll out our smart working programme across our office network. A key aspect of this is increased levels of hot desking and remote working, which helps to give our people greater control over their work-life balance and reduce stress. Another benefit of fewer people travelling to work and reduced office space is a positive contribution to the environment.
GDPR is the topic of many a businessperson’s conversations – but what do people need to know? GDPR will bring one of the biggest changes to data protection, and a risk of costly penalties, when it comes into effect on 25 May. All businesses will need to comply with the new regulation when gathering and processing personal data – but the way they do this is still open to a degree of interpretation. We’ve set up a dedicated GDPR team to advise clients on the implications for their business, how to develop practical, commerciallysensible solutions, and how to implement best practice. Our website also has GDPR guides, and a short quiz to help people test their knowledge. Let’s talk work/life balance – how do you get it right for you and your staff? We’re proud to have been ranked for the last five years as a Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For. The feedback we get from our people through the independent Best Companies survey is used to inform and improve the way we communicate and collaborate with each other, develop our culture and make this a great place to work. We invest heavily in our people, as we know that a happy and engaged workforce is essential to delivering a top quality client experience.
www.stoneking.co.uk
THRINGS
Tax planning and trusts partner Michael Westbrook
Tell us a little about your business… Now a national law firm, Thrings has been in Bath, in various incarnations, for over 300 years. With over 350 staff (62 partners and 166 lawyers) we advise a wide selection of clients from entrepreneurs to multinationals, from individuals to large corporates, providing each of them with bespoke advice on commercial and personal legal matters. Top: Stuart Brazington; middle: Steven Greenwood; bottom: Michael Westbook
www.roydswithyking.com
STONE KING LLP
Managing partner Steven Greenwood
Tell us a little about your business… We are a very well established law firm in Bath, having opened our doors here in 1785, and we have had offices at 13 Queen Square since 1832. We provide specialist legal advice to the four sectors of education; charity and social enterprise; business; and private client. Tell us about your community/charity involvement – and why this is so important. Because a large proportion of our work is concentrated on the charity and education sectors, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is something we take very seriously at Stone King. We give everyone a day each year to support a local charity 174 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
BATH IS A VERY
CLOSE-KNIT COMMUNITY
What is it like to run a business in Bath? Bath is a very close-knit community and, as such, is a rewarding place to run a business. For us, this closeness brings a real sense of involvement with our clients. On the other hand, it also means that your competitors are never far away – this drives us as a business to ensure we are always delivering the best advice, service and value for money. GDPR is the topic of many a businessperson’s conversations – what do people need to know? First and foremost, I would advise appointing a data protection administrator to be accountable for identifying all the data (and dataflows) in your business, ensuring the new rules are a) understood by anyone managing personal data and b) reflected in systems, processes and policies – including contracts with suppliers. Legal and IT experts can help you get GDPR-ready, but keep in mind that they will most likely be very busy just ahead of the deadline so you might want to get in there sooner rather than later. www.thrings.com