It was a double celebration last night, when Gotelee & Goldsmith announced, not only a new identity for the law firm, but also launched a service charter that identifies a number of commitments the practice pledges to deliver. Under the new name Gotelee Solicitors, the practice has taken a bold step in unveiling its brand new ‘Client Promise’ which covers all aspects of service, from the cost to how quickly the firm will respond to an enquiry.
The firm announced its plans at a launch party held last night at its Elm Street office in Ipswich. Over 100 Suffolk business people were treated to an audio visual extravaganza by local lighting and sound specialists, Laser Lighting Ltd, which provided a historical snapshot of the law firm over the 130 years since Gotelee was first established.
Senior Partner Brian Morron, who gave a presentation at the launch explained: “To enable us to continue to grow and meet the challenges of the 21st century, we need to build on our well established reputation as a friendly, full service law firm that has several partners who are identified as ‘Leading Individuals’ in the Legal 500.
“We know that people see us as approachable and recognise our expertise, but that isn’t always enough. We have given this a lot of thought and developed our ideas with the enthusiastic cooperation of our staff. The ‘Client Promise’ clearly defines what can be expected from us from now on. We want to offer this enhanced commitment to our existing clients and also to encourage new clients to give us a try. We strongly believe that whether we’re dealing with an individual or a business, our clients need to know the level of service they’re going to receive and how much they’re going to have to pay for it”.
Gotelee’s ‘Client Promise’ includes a commitment to discuss new business enquiries within five minutes of an individual entering its town centre offices in Ipswich or Hadleigh, as well as promising personal contact with lawyers and regular updates to save clients having to chase for information. Full details of the Client Promise are available on the firm’s new web-site.
Commenting on the future of the business, Martin Whitworth, Managing Partner said: “Both the environment in which we work and the needs of our clients are constantly changing. For instance, we understand that pricing certainty is very important. So, we have taken the initiative and stated that we will give a fixed price in advance, wherever it is possible to do so, and once given, we will keep to this price.
“This is just the start however, and over the next few months, we will continue to put measures in place that will encourage our clients to remain loyal to us. We want to ensure that when prospective clients are looking for a legal firm that puts their needs first, they’ll automatically think; it’s got to be Gotelee.”