Client Testimonials

Andy Poole was instrumental in facilitating our board strategy day that enabled us to retain focus and agree on a clear vision for our business that is centred around delivering for our people and our clients.  The format of the day allowed a clear thought process that not only meant we focused on the important matters, but also that our decisions had an appropriate basis.  We now have a plan for how to deliver our vision and we could not have achieved that on the day without Andy’s facilitation and guidance.

Steven Petrie, Ward Hadaway

We have worked with Andy over a number of years and recently he has presented a half day on financial training for partners and new partners.  This has been very well received.  We find Andy extremely easy to work with, very accommodating of any particular needs we may have, and his knowledge of this topic is outstanding.  One quote from a delegate having attended this training was “Very good course - highly recommend to those wanting to have a better understanding of a law firm's financial performance and potential ways to improve it.

Sara Palmer, Learning and Development Manager, Law South Group Limited

Andy Poole and two Armstrong Watson colleagues led a day of Law South’s May 2021 conference, “Humanising the Business of Law”. This was online due to Covid but the delivery and the pace of the day engaged everyone successfully. Andy’s presentation was titled “Boosting profits and cash” and delivered to predominantly law firm partner audience of 60 delegates. Allowing for the usual range of perspectives in such a group, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive with 94% giving good or excellent for expectations being met. A typical comment was “Very clear, things we can see we do, as well as things we don't do quite so well!” The day gave a greater understanding of law firm finances, comfort in discussing financial matters with clients, improving client service and satisfaction and a bespoke set of actions to take away. We have subsequently used Andy for training courses for member firms and are happy to recommend him to others.

Mark Day, Chief Executive Officer, Law South Group Limited

The training from Andy Poole is always engaging, informative and practical.  He's an expert who really understands and relates to lawyers.

Mike Parker, Wilsons Solicitors LLP

We engaged Andy Poole of Armstrong Watson to facilitate a series of three strategy days for our senior leadership team and the wider partner group.  This has helped us to formulate clear objectives and defined short, medium and long-term steps to achieve our ambitions.

It has helped us to become closer as a leadership team, improve communication channels across the firm and focus us on the actions we need to continue taking our business forwards.  Andy was flexible enough to allow all attendees to have their input, whilst keeping us on track and challenging us as required.  One of the attendees commented that it was “the most impactful day they had ever spent”.

Chris Welch, Managing Partner, Sintons LLP

Andy and his team structured this deal to enable me to transition my duties to others in a move towards my retirement. Andy found the perfect partner for us in MAPD who are clearly committed to supporting the firm in its existing structure, and providing expertise to help the firm grow, while maintaining its own identity and brand, which is very well known within Tameside and Greater Manchester.

Andy had taken the time to really get under the skin of our firm and understand how we operate, which proved enormously helpful in getting the deal over the line. Throughout the process, he displayed a real in-depth understanding of how law firms operate. Thanks to Andy for all of his help, effort and assistance.

Mark Hirst, Bromleys

I started and have developed my career at Bromleys and make no secret of the fact that it plays a massive part in my life. That’s why it was so important to choose the right partner to help us unleash the potential that Bromleys has.  That partner is MAPD. We are now part of a group that shares our values and ambitions for the future. This is an exciting time for our staff and offers us the opportunity to grow together whilst supporting our existing and new clients. Armstrong Watson's professionalism and determination really made a difference. We were very pleased that we had you on our side of the transaction as your approach, knowledge and organisation was exemplary.

Paul Westwell, Managing Director, Bromleys

Any merger process can be stressful, however, the support and efforts provided by the team at Armstrong Watson helped make the process as smooth as possible. The team were quick to respond to our queries and worked well with MAPD’s advisors to achieve a positive result for all parties.

John Cooke, Director at Thomson Hayton Winkley

"The discussions regarding benchmarks and indicators of financial instability were really useful but I was particularly enthused as well as assisted by the KPI's and Benchmarks and the impact assessment - especially impact and getting my brain working with what differences could be applied.  What was of particular use to me was understanding the KPI's and not needing to be awash with information to understand the direction and profitability of the business.  The Key Indicators and suggestions were a reassuring endorsement of the direction our firm has been taking coming out of Covid and helped me understand the impact as well as reasoning behind our 3 monthly cashflow projections and our use of the pipeline procedure."

Claire Barnes, Partner Dispute Resolution of Taylors Solicitors

We engaged with Armstrong Watson in 2019 to assist with our conversion from a traditional partnership to an LLP.

We’re based in Buckinghamshire and the Armstrong Watson Legal Sector team that were assisting us with the LLP conversion are based in the far North of England, but this did not affect the support we received with all meetings being carried out over teleconference (way back in mid-2019).

As part of the LLP conversion, we also engaged with AW’s Legal Sector team for our SRA Accounts Rules work. Although the intention was always to carry this out remotely, given recent circumstances, there would have been no choice in any case!

The process was simple and easy with very little disruption. The AW team let us know in advance what we were required to deliver for them to undertake their work and when, and they facilitated this through the use of a share file. Requests for additional evidence and information were done via email allowing us to collate what they required at times convenient to us rather than disrupting the working day, and the final meeting to discuss their findings was held again via teleconference.

Finally given that this work was being undertaken in March 2020 mid-pandemic there was no interruption to the service provided.

Paul Gardener, Partner, JGA Legal LLP (trading as J Garrard & Allen)