Lexcel Assessors

Experience:
Qualified as a solicitor in 1991 and spent over 25 years in private practice including at equity partnership level in a medium sized firm in London where she was a member of the Risk & Compliance Committee and involved in applying for Lexcel accreditation and subsequent reaccreditation. Christine specialised in claimant catastrophic personal injury work whilst in private practice.

Specialisms:
Risk & Compliance Consultancy, client care, file reviews, gap analysis, AML, complaints handling. Having had extensive involvement in private practice, Christine understands the issues which arise in practice and is able to provide a practical and pragmatic approach. She also has experience of assessing various in house local authority legal departments and firms offering a wide range of services including volume conveyancing and publicly funded criminal and family work.
Based:
South Wales also covering Mid Wales, South West England, London, Midlands, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire.

Experience:
Qualified as a solicitor in 1990 and spent several years in private practice before joining the Law Society and thereafter the SRA. In over ten years as a senior adviser in the SRA’s Practice Standards Unit Dawn visited hundreds of firms of solicitors of all sizes and types to assess regulatory compliance and help improve their compliance and risk management systems. Since 2011 she has run her own compliance consultancy.
Specialisms:
Lexcel, SQM, SRA compliance consultancy, file reviews and COLP/COFA support
Based:
Midlands but will travel

Experience:
• Generalist HR background.
• Investors in People assessor/consultant from 2000 to 2021.
• Lexcel assessor since 2006.
• Legal sector consultant including provision of independent file review service.

Specialisms:
• Assessment of client organisations to Lexcel and SQM standards.
• Legal practice management consultancy.
• People and Performance management.
• Risk management.

Relevant Qualifications:
• MCIPD
• Level 7 Diploma in Management Consultancy
• Registered Lexcel Assessor and SQM Auditor
• Level A in Psychometric Assessment

Based:
South East and London

Eric qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 1979 and pursued a career in both private practice and local government service as a fee earner and then as a senior legal services manager and head of service until his retirement from practice in 2007.

Since then, Eric has worked as a LEXCEL Assessor and Consultant, and as an ISO 9001 Lead Auditor. He also worked as a Lead Auditor for BARMARK (the Bar Council’s quality assurance standard) until the scheme’s discontinuance in 2013.

Eric now focuses solely on Lexcel. He is based in London and works mainly in London and the South East. Since 2012, he has also conducted annual overseas Lexcel assessments, mainly in West Africa and the Middle East.

As a former practitioner, and as an experienced Lexcel assessor and consultant, Eric brings to bear, in both his consultancy and assessment work, his wide experience of the legal profession together with his detailed practical knowledge of how to achieve and maintain the Lexcel Standard.

Based:
London

Experience:

As a former top British tennis player and elite performance coach Gayle knows what it means to be the best and now brings her sporting pedigree into the business arena. After studying law she went onto work in a commercial capacity with a number of top UK businesses.

Specialisms:

Gayle works with around 50 law firms each year ranging from sole practitioners to multi-nationals and has conducted over 500 Lexcel assessments to date on behalf of The Law Society. Following the pandemic there may never be a better time to bring together people, innovation, technology and opportunity and she looks forward to working with you and being a part of your success story.

Based:

Northern base, national presence

Experience:

Non-practising solicitor with over 12 years’ experience working with the Legal Profession and the Lexcel Standard. Extensive Lexcel experience working with a significant number, and variety of firms from sole practitioners to multi nationals and local authorities.

As a consultant, assists law firms helping them to implement effective processes and procedures to achieve the Law Society’s Lexcel standard and regulatory compliance. Frequently supports firms through complex structure change projects, helping them to navigate through the process quickly and efficiently. Excellent communication skills and a pragmatic and intuitive approach allows for working well with all personnel within firms, from senior management through to support staff, to achieve the best results possible.

Based:

North East. Operates nationally.

Experience:

Martin leads a team of consultants, coaches and trainers at Next Level Impact (www.nextlevelimpact.com) who have an extensive range of management consultancy and executive coaching experience gained across public, private and non-for-profit sector organisations and spanning manufacturing and service functions.

His experience of Lexcel, ISO, IiP and related standards has been gained as a Lead Assessor and Senior Adviser over the past twenty years. He has worked with in excess of 200 Law firms ranging from provincial practices to ‘Golden Circle’ firms.

Specialisms:

– Quality and compliance standards implementation and assessment
– Organizational change initiatives
– Improving productivity
– Leadership and management development
– Unleashing the potential of people

Based:

UK and International

Accumulated Experience:

• Former Solicitor, came off the Roll in 2023. Practised 1986 to 2007, including as an Equity Partner in private practice, and as COO and Head of Legal for an International Title Insurance Group.
• Law Firm Management consultant.
• SRA authorised Trainer.
• SQM Standard Auditor (auditing Legal Aid Practices).
• GQM/AQS (auditing University Advice Centres and Charities).

Specialisms:

Whilst independently assessing and auditing, seeing compliance through the eyes of the Practice, all staff and those who have the responsibility to introduce, maintain and monitor it.

Base and Reach:

• Based in Cirencester.
• Carrying out Assessments/Audits in England, Wales and Scotland.

Approach:

• Empathy.
• Pragmatic application of Lexcel, ISO 9001 and LQS, so that they work effectively for the Practice/Organisation, and as a focused and useful management tool.
• Attuned to identifying Areas of Good Practice and making pertinent suggestions

Hobbies and Interests:

• Running.
• Reading, particularly History.
• Listening to Music.
• Toiling industriously under Mrs. J’s direction on a modest but hopefully productive allotment.

Experience:

Lexcel assessor/consultant since 1998, working with a variety of legal firms from sole practitioners to multi nationals and in-house legal departments of local authorities. Significant experience of working with and providing consultancy support to businesses across all sectors including, legal, education, charities, and international blue-chip organisations. Established and sold a number of small businesses.

Specialisms:

Customer focused approach. Practical experience as an owner of numerous small businesses and therefore empathy with business leaders. Leadership and management trainer and mentor. Talent management and succession planning. Performance Management, IT and Business Continuity.

Based:

North East England but operate nationally

Experience:

Neil has conducted more than 700 assessment, training and consultancy visits to legal organisations.
Author and contributor to Thomson Reuters Practical Law.
Speaker at Law Society national conferences, and author/presenter of numerous webinars for the Law Society.
Co-Founder of the legal Best Practice Group https://pda-legal.co.uk/legal-best-practice-group
Neil trained all Lexcel assessors, on behalf of the Law Society, and more than 250 legal practices, on the changes for Lexcel v6.1.

Sector Experience:

Ranging from international firms of more than 1000 employees to sole practitioners.
High volume practices (including conveyancing and litigation)
Niche and specialist practices (including large scale commercial property, costs drafting, maritime and transport).
Rapid growth practices, with programmes of expansion and acquisition.
Single and multi-office ‘High Street’ practices.

Specialisms:

AML, GDPR/data protection, cyber security, Lexcel, SQM, SRA compliance, risk management.

Based:

Countrywide, from offices in the Southeast and the Northeast.

Experience:
With over 30 years financial services experience and former UK Head of Professional Practices at Lloyds Bank, Paul helps law firms to improve their approach to banking, finance and risk management. As an independent FCA registered finance broker, Paul enables legal practices to source and implement a broad range of banking and finance solutions that are fully tailored to their business needs. Paul speaks and writes regularly on issues that impact the legal sector.

Specialism:

Lexcel, SRA compliance, SRA Accounts Rules, risk management including independent AML risk reviews, law firm financial management, generating income from client monies and sourcing business finance.

Based:
East Anglia & London. Operates nationally and internationally

Experience:

40 years’ experience in the legal profession and over 25 years in legal practice management intimately involved in Lexcel, SQM and regulatory compliance. Consultancy clients have included large multi-national law firms, sole practitioners and everything in-between.

Over 10 years’ experience delivering Lexcel assessments for law firms of all sizes and in-house legal departments, including for local authorities, nationally and internationally.

Specialisms:

Practical applications and solutions. Policy/procedure development. COLP/MLRO support. Data Protection Act. Hands on assistance where required.

Independent audits of anti-money laundering policies, controls and procedures under Regulation 21 of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.

Based:

Midlands and South West, operates nationally and internationally

Experience:

Risk and Compliance Consultant with a background in conveyancing and regulatory compliance. Worked in private practice for a number of years before joining the Law Society and then the SRA. Spent over 10 years undertaking regulatory inspections for the SRA’s Practice Standards Unit and assisting firms to meet their regulatory obligations.

Now as an independent consultant supports legal practices with meeting their SRA obligations and the requirements of relevant legislation and accreditations. Also offers tailored compliance solutions to help businesses develop and embed effective quality and risk management processes. These solutions include drafting policies and procedures, developing and implementing file review processes and internal audit functions.

Specialisms:

Lexcel, regulatory compliance, risk management including file reviews/audits, CQS and SQM.

Based:

Midlands but also covering East Anglia and London

Caroline Harris

Christine Tallon

Claire Ludbrook

Dafydd Thorne

Dawn Lindop

Debbie Fowler

Emily Mayes

Eric Xuereb

Fiona du Feu

Gayle Audley

Gemma Shanks

Ian Fuller

Jane Blackstock

Jeff Williams-Jones

Kathy Leahy

Martin Rice

Michael Johnson

Former Practitioner Retired, Full Time Auditor and Assessor

Meltem Kanli

Neil Huxtable

Malcolm Lawson

Neil Partridge

Paul McCluskey

Rob Macleod MBE

Roger Young

Stuart Blake

Samantha Gallagher