Grace Walton, the new people and culture director at Cheltenham-based law firm, Lodders, has joined the team during a landmark year, with milestone 10th anniversary celebrations, lots of new staff appointments and a strong focus on future growth.
SoGlos sat down for a chat with her on how she's settling in to her role with the new people team and what it's like to work at one of Gloucestershire's top law firms.
Can you give us an overview of what you do at Lodders?
At Lodders, I lead and coordinate the delivery of the firm’s strategic and operational HR function, people initiatives and talent management activities, as well as developing the people team.
Integral to my role is fostering a strong company culture and ensuring this is consistent across all our offices, providing an environment where our people can develop and thrive.
What is the workplace culture like at Lodders?
We strive to maintain a positive, collaborative and educational workplace. Culture plays a key role in driving growth and success in a law firm — it’s the fundamental underpinning of a business and the reason people come to work and do what they do.
Our newly expanded people team is dedicated to bringing in the very best talent to the firm whilst conserving our culture.
Lodders has strength in the personal connections our people have fostered. Whether you’ve been here for your whole career or just a few months, the personal relationships built across the matrix are invaluable. The understanding people have of each other, the way they work and the things they want to achieve is hugely impressive.
What makes you stand out as a top employer for new talent?
Talent attraction and retention is a key area of focus for the people team. Our trainee recruitment and pipeline are hugely important and are currently undergoing a reshape.
We want to ensure we attract top-tier talent and provide these individuals with the best experience. For a firm like Lodders, it is vital that we ‘grow our own’ and retain that talent.
As part of this, the people team will be focusing on developing staff across the firm to their full potential. This includes ensuring everyone has access to clear career progression routes, soft skills training and ongoing upskilling opportunities.
We are keen to ensure Lodders offers an excellent workplace experience for both new recruits and the existing workforce, with opportunities for greater collaboration and supervision.
To support the health and wellbeing of our staff, we currently have a programme of sessions underway covering topics such as sleep, stress management, posture and breathwork.
We also run a learning and development initiative called Lodders Live where internal and external speakers deliver sessions on a variety of topics including leadership skills, time management and continuous improvement. Initiatives like these play a crucial role in enhancing professional standards and the skillsets of individuals.
What role does technology play in your recruitment efforts, especially in reaching top-tier talent?
Whilst technology has a role to play in the screening of candidates, recruitment at Lodders very much remains a human process. It is important that the knowledge and experience of trained professionals is applied when making recruitment decisions.
To help us target top-tier talent and demonstrate what Lodders has to offer, we have been developing our online presence and utilising digital marketing strategies.
Can you share any innovative approaches you've used to attract new talent to Lodders?
Since the pandemic, there has been a noticeable shift in the value placed on additional benefits in the workplace. Benefits are no longer just peripheral — they can often be the deciding reason why people choose to join and stay at a firm.
We are launching a new benefits offering in the new year. In a competitive, candidate-led market, it is important our benefits package adds real value to our team members.
The type of clients we serve also plays a role in attracting new talent to the firm. Lodders works with excellent clients doing interesting work, meaning our lawyers’ roles are often technically demanding and highly skilled. In addition, we are proud to be a regional law firm, and this is something that appeals to legal professionals who want to make a positive impact on their local communities.
How do you support trainee solicitors through their early careers and beyond?
Trainees want to know that they’re going to do high-quality work for great clients and that they’re going to be mentored, developed and supported. Lodders offers a comprehensive training programme that allows trainees to try out different seats to understand where their interests lie.
Each trainee has a buddy and a supervisor in each seat who serve as a sounding board, and they also have the pastoral support of the learning and development team.
We also invite and encourage our trainees to attend events in the region and across the firm to grow their confidence and familiarity with the people and businesses we work with.
The two years of qualifying work experience is essentially an interview for both parties and helps to ensure those offered roles as newly qualified solicitors are well-acquainted with the firm and embedded in their chosen practice area.
What type of people are you looking for and what job roles do you have to fill at the moment?
As a result of increased client instructions, we currently have vacancies in our private client, town & country homes, dispute resolution and real estate teams. We are always on the lookout for talented individuals and we strongly encourage anyone interested in working at Lodders to get in touch for a friendly chat.
For more information on starting or continuing your career at Lodders, visit lodders.co.uk/careers.
