Katherine Wilde, Partner, and Knowledge, Learning & Development Director, spoke to Cara Flood of Modern Law about her time at the firm, what’s changed and what has stayed constant.
Could you start by telling me about the culture of Farrer & Co and how has it changed since you have been there?
Yes, of course. I think our culture – the way we do things here – is high on the list of why I have worked here for almost 25 years! And, over that time, I honestly think the culture has stayed fundamentally the same. We allow people to be themselves at work. We support and nurture talent and encourage people to develop their careers with us. It sounds rather clichéd, but we genuinely are and always have been, a very friendly firm from top to bottom, and I think our people would describe us as having an approachable and collaborative environment. Many things at the firm have, of course, shifted over the course of the last 25 years – the diversity of our workforce for one – but I think culture remains a constant.
And is that diversity something that has changed across levels of seniority too, for example, diversity in senior leaders?
It’s fair to say that, lawyers-wise, we have seen most change at junior levels and it’s a work in progress at more senior levels. That’s the same across the legal sector as we all know. But because our talent pipeline is now more diverse, in many different ways, we will see change as those people progress up through the firm.
How do you think leadership within law firms can have an impact when making changes or maintaining a firm’s culture?
If we want to make cultural shifts, having support from leadership is crucial. These kind of changes are about mindset and behaviours and don’t just come through tweaks to policies or procedures (although we need those too!). We are very lucky to have a Management Board who are open to new ideas and initiatives, very supportive of our plans and great role models for the rest of the firm. Our whole partnership is interested and invested in our work, right up to our senior partner, Jeremy Gordon.
Do you think employee expectations around culture have changed since you started in the legal profession?
Yes, undoubtedly. What immediately comes to mind is the expectations around work/life balance and flexibility in how, when and where we work. I gave neither of those things any thought 25 years ago! But thankfully, I think our firm has always been really good at meeting both of those expectations where possible – another reason why I have been here so long. Of course, what hasn’t changed is that the legal profession is very demanding (if anything it has become more so) and so I think that our expectations on work/life balance and flexibility do need to be based in that reality. What I think we do really well here is helping people manage such a demanding career. We provide access to an in-house counsellor, run an annual well-being week, have mental health first aiders, and ongoing sessions around wellbeing, among other things.
What challenges are there for law firms in general when trying to improve or maintain their culture?
Resistance to change from people who don’t see the need for culture to shift. If those people are in senior roles, you need your powers of persuasion to hand! I think technology is also a challenge (as well as an opportunity). I believe culture is all about the people, their behaviours and mindset, so we need to monitor the role that technology is playing.
I think firms are also still dealing with the impact of the pandemic on their culture. So much culture is built on the connections between people at all levels and across the business.
Why do you think it’s so important to have a strong culture in a professional services firm? What are the risks if you don’t?
This goes back to employee expectations. While, of course, people have other considerations – such as salary and the type of work they will do – I think it’s the culture of the firm, its personality, that can swing it for people. People will join firms and stay at those firms, if they are happy with the culture. People want to be treated well, be supported and be encouraged to thrive.
Quite simply, if firms don’t have a strong culture or portray an image of firm culture that doesn’t actually exist, you are going to lose your talented people.
It is super satisfying when people join us and tell me that the culture of the firm is just like I told them it would be!
Thinking about employee engagement now, what, in your experience makes people feel most engaged beyond culture?
I think the quality of work is a massive factor. That’s something we have always been able to offer our people, both in terms of the wide spectrum of our clients and the breadth of law that we practise. For early talent, it’s also about the level of work that you are involved with here – you’re not considered backroom and will have contact with clients or other professionals from the get-go. That’s true of fee-earning and business services.
Another thing which is important to people, is their workplace environment. We’ve recently invested in a new restaurant and cafe, which have given us a place to meet our colleagues which we were lacking before. They are bright, light, airy spaces, and have made a big difference. We are also very lucky to be in central London but have access to green space right outside our offices in Lincoln’s Inn Fields – we have walking meetings, can go out in lunch breaks and even just look out of the window to trees and greenery.
How do you measure employee engagement?
We ask, we listen, we respond! We have a new programme called “We are listening” which brings together all the different ways in which people can give feedback in the firm. They include using Peakon, a tool which sends out regular employee engagement surveys. The feedback, whether good, bad or indifferent is important and responded to. That might be anything from the cost of a coffee in the café to transparency around salary decisions. Our Management Board also hosts regular drop-in sessions in our cafe where anyone can go and speak to them about anything they want. I think that really demonstrates how open we are as a firm.
In terms of investing in your people, how do you ensure you offer rewarding career progression or pathways?
We set out to provide our people with fulfilling careers. We have career development frameworks for everyone in the business and the pathway up through the levels is clear. To help people along that pathway, we offer a range of learning and development opportunities.
We have developed a syllabus called Learn Know Grow which encompasses a wide range of courses and resources for everyone at the firm. One of the learning programmes is called FarrersEd – it’s our core skills programme, bespoke to different levels within the business and has been mapped to both the SPA competencies and our own frameworks. We also offer coaching and mentoring which are both very useful tools in development.
Law firms have faced substantial criticism in the past for being overly selective and exclusive. How do you attract and support a range of talent at entry level?
Our strategic aim is to attract the highest calibre of candidates from the broadest pool of talent. I’m confident we’ve always attracted super high calibre people but we had work to do to broaden the pool of talent. So over the last decade, we have tweaked our recruitment techniques as regards graduate talent to make this happen. This has meant raising awareness of Farrers and our offering to all universities that meet our academic requirements. In terms of work experience, we offer a number of opportunities, some of which are open to all and others which are open to certain groups of people, such as the 10,000 Black Interns scheme. We take six interns each summer and have had some amazing people take part – one talented intern has been offered a training contract here which is a fantastic result for them and us.
We introduced a Solicitor Apprenticeships scheme three years ago which has provided a completely new way into the firm and the profession for those who don’t go to University, for whatever reason. I think our scheme is pretty unique in that we place our apprentices in business services rather than legal teams for their first two years. To date, our apprentices have been straight out of school, aged 18, and this route allows them to learn their trade in a safe space, with a different pace to legal teams. This has worked really well and proved so useful for the apprentices in getting an understanding of how a law firm works as a business before starting to fee-earn.
What do you feel proudest of, when you think about the various initiatives and programmes you’ve put in place at the firm?
Without a doubt it is our Solicitor Apprenticeship programme. There has been recent news that the government is re-thinking the funding for these, and depending on how firms collectively respond to that, it remains to be seen what the apprenticeship offering will need to be. My strong preference would be to retain them as they are. We have made massive progress in opening up the legal sector to amazingly talented individuals who, without the apprenticeship, would not have considered a career in law an option.
It’s been incredibly satisfying both personally and professionally, to see the scheme brought to life and very fulfilling to see our apprentices doing so well and achieving so much in their roles. They have very bright futures for sure!
This interview was originally published by Modern Law.
This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
© Farrer & Co LLP, March 2025
