Q&A with Andrew Wright

Andrew Wright is the Managing Director of Cullimore Dutton. Here, he talks about the thinking behind the company’s rebrand and what this will mean to clients, colleagues and the wider community.

Q: What was the reason for the rebrand and the new website?

A: Over the last 18 months, we have looked closely at our business. A concern that the directors had was that we were still trying to provide too broad a range of services rather than focussing on our core areas where we make a real difference to the lives of our clients. We are one of only a small number of law firms in the North West which also have an in-house financial services offering, meaning we can provide clients with a one-stop shop for their private client requirements.

The starting point was about deciding the kind of business we wanted to be. The rebrand and new website were a natural follow-on from that decision, enabling us to sharpen our identity and differentiate ourselves more clearly from other firms in Chester and the wider region.

Q: Tell us a little more about the business you want to be?

A: We are now very clear about the services we offer our clients, namely wills and probate, family and matrimonial, property and financial advice. Underpinning all the services is the desire to every day change the lives of our clients, colleagues and community.

We know from the volume of flowers, chocolates and thank you cards that we receive at the office the difference we make to our clients’ lives. It could be helping someone move home, put the right legal protection in place for a loved one, supporting you through a divorce or advising you on the best way to invest for the retirement you want.

We also want to make a difference to the lives of everyone who works at Cullimore Dutton, enabling them to enjoy high levels of job satisfaction and future career progression.

And for the wider community, we want to make a difference by getting behind charities which are doing great work or by supporting local projects and initiatives that will make a difference to everyone who lives and works in Cheshire.

Q: How will you ensure that you deliver on these ambitions?

A: We have involved our colleagues in many of the decisions that we have taken, one example of this being the creation of a set of standards and service guarantee that our clients can hold us accountable to and that we will hold ourselves accountable to. We worked tirelessly on developing these through workshops, surveys and engaging with existing clients and partners.

The guiding principles we settled on include having open and transparent communications, being approachable and friendly and treating each client like a VIP, keeping things simple by avoiding legal jargon and delivering the highest level of technical excellence in each of our core areas.

We want our clients to be with us for the long term, to know that they can turn to us at different stages in their lives. We want them to see us as a trusted partner, someone who is in their corner and who we have built a long-term relationship with.

Having the blend of private client legal services, property and financial advice all under one roof gives us the ability to do this in the way that others can’t.

We are so passionate about service delivery, as part of the rebrand we created our own stamp of approval which we want colleagues to feel proud using when they have completed a client matter.

Q: Can you give an example of how the blended services makes a difference to the lives of clients?

A: Yes, one good example of this in action, would be when someone comes in to see our fantastic Head of Family Brenda Spain to discuss their divorce. Obviously, there will be lots of financial matters that will need to be considered and having a dedicated in-house financial services team means that, should the client want, we can introduce them at the outset or bring them into a subsequent meeting. One of the big advantages of this approach is that there will only be a need to talk through the circumstances of your divorce once during what is inevitably an emotionally charged time. We’ll look to cover as much ground as possible in one meeting and make the whole process as painless as possible.

Even if a client decides to use a different financial adviser, we hope they will still appreciate the added value that we have provided because of our unique joined up approach to the delivery of legal and financial services of the highest quality.

Q: Tell us about your ambitions to continue growing Cullimore Dutton?

A: This is something that is incredibly important to us. While we are rightly proud of our history – the firm in one form or another has been in Chester since 1792 – we are not beholden to it.

The changes we have made to our business and the accompanying rebrand are about future growth.

We already employ over 50 people in the city and expect to increase the number of colleagues to over 70 in the next two to three years.

This recruitment has already begun. We have two new solicitors starting in our Wills & Probate team, a new colleague in Residential Property and further recruitment underway for our Family and Financial Services teams.

Recruitment in the legal profession is notoriously hard, but we have found that we are getting applications from high quality candidates not just from Chester but also from North Wales, Wirral and Liverpool.

We currently have the one office in Chester, but our growth plan may include opening a second office elsewhere in Cheshire or identifying the right strategic acquisitions which would complement and build on the quality of services we are already providing to clients.

Our growth will also be supported by having the best possible training and development structures in place. This is also helped by the sharper focus on the services we offer where the requirement is for nurturing long-lasting relationships rather than the more transactional approach of other, more generalist firms.

We want to give colleagues the opportunity to achieve the best for themselves and for Cullimore Dutton. This does include hybrid working, but we need to strike the right balance around areas such as learning and development.

We invest in our people to help them achieve their career goals and this investment is not just in them as lawyers but in them as business people. Yes, we are a law firm, but first and foremost we are a business. We want people who can deliver a great service in their specialist area, but also people who can help us grow as a business.

Q: Tell us about Cullimore Dutton’s commitment to the local Community?

A: Rolling our sleeves up and getting involved in supporting good causes and campaigns in Chester and the wider Cheshire community is embedded in our DNA, a key part of our culture.

It’s also something our colleagues tell us is important to them too and something we talk about when recruiting new people to Cullimore Dutton.

One example of this is our ongoing support for KidsBank, a Chester charity that does so much to help the families of children living in poverty. For the last two years we have got behind their Christmas ‘One More Gift Appeal’ organising events and collecting toys, clothing and other essentials at our office.

A second example would be our long-term support for Chester Rugby Club, which does so much to promote the sport and wider health and wellbeing in our community from the senior teams down to the hundreds of youngsters who turn up for mini rugby each weekend. This season we have become the club’s premier sponsor to coincide with their centenary year.