Retaining an ‘Outstanding’ 2-Star Accreditation from Best Companies is a major accomplishment for any organisation. For Express Solicitors, achieving this while nearly doubling its headcount in recent years makes it all the more impressive. As the law firm sets its sights on an ambitious 2030 Vision - targeting a turnover of £200m to £250m - its leadership team remains clear that commercial expansion and people engagement must progress together.
Scaling Culture Through Structured Support
Rapid headcount growth, driven by both organic hiring and strategic acquisitions, often places immense pressure on workplace culture. Express Solicitors has tackled this challenge head-on by standardising early-career development and expanding its internal support structures.
A major engine of the firm's growth is its structured graduate intake, which brings in cohorts of 35 to 50 graduates four times a year. New starters complete a five-week bespoke training academy covering practical client communication, technical litigation skills, and resilience training.
As Chief Human Resources Officer, Carole Jones, explains, the firm takes its commitments to new talent seriously, emphasising that, "We don't over-promise and under-deliver. We absolutely make sure we walk the walk and talk the talk", when it comes to internal progression. To back up that commitment, Express Solicitors maintains a frequent appraisal cycle beyond onboarding. While standard employees receive annual reviews, junior lawyers undergo three appraisals per year to keep career progression on track.
Seamless Integration Across Expanding Sites
With 14 acquisitions completed - including an expansion into Liverpool - integrating new teams smoothly without disrupting culture has been vital.
Rather than imposing abrupt changes, dedicated integration teams work closely on-site during the initial weeks to establish personal connections, align operational standards and reassure incoming staff. Satellite offices are kept connected to the central headquarters using physical screens, joint EDI networks and shared social committees.
Senior HR Manager, Kate Ellis highlights how seamlessly cultural alignment has worked across new locations: "It does work well from a culture perspective and they're very enthusiastic and get involved in the project... we've now got our social committee member over there so they can take lead and they're very excited to take lead on the different projects that we do over here, the different events, social events and even create some of their own if they wish to."
Carole notes that while the firm excels at career progression, rapid growth highlighted areas needing extra support: "Where we found disconnects as we grow is in managers becoming more junior, so we’ve invested a lot in external training and building toolkits for managers to develop hearts, minds and leadership skills."
Multichannel Communication & Hybrid Connection
With a workforce of over 800 operating on a 50/50 hybrid work model, maintaining transparent communication requires a varied approach:
- Weekly "Friday Good News": Highlights client wins, individual work anniversaries and personal milestones.
- Monthly Newsletters & Intranet: Features video updates, client case studies and corporate announcements. This also features staff member’s charity fundraisers, highlighting the commitment to the wider community through staff initiatives and causes.
- Bi-Monthly Leadership All-Hands: Virtual MS Teams sessions connecting staff directly with department heads and training principals to discuss performance, case law and business updates.
- Town Hall Panel Events: Hybrid broadcasts equipped with dedicated chat moderation so remote and multi-site employees can engage directly.
- Staff Suggestion Loop: Open feedback channels where employee suggestions and questions are addressed transparently in internal communications.
- Charity Contributions: Since January 2026, Express has donated almost £40,000 to charities and local organisations, ranging from youth football sponsorships all the way to the large national charities.
- Social Media: In its commitment to creating a sense of community amongst staff the firm announces achievements across its multiple social media channels including admittance to the Roll of Solicitors, legal article publications, award nominations and charity partnerships and events just to name a few.
- Showcasing Cases: The firm also highlights the hard work of its staff through publishing case studies via public channels and through work with organisations such as the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and the Consumer Legal Association (CLA).
Hayley Park, HR Data Analyst & Systems Advisor at Express Solicitors, notes how virtual tools keep remote and multi-site employees deeply connected to everyday work: "The power of MS Teams is so important... even if you work remotely or across different sites, those daily interactions make a massive difference in making sure everyone feels like part of the team."
Strategic Vision 2030: Raising the Engagement Bar
While holding a 2-star rating places Express Solicitors among top law firms nationwide, the board views this as a baseline rather than a final destination. Chief Executive Officer (Legal), Daniel Slade, reinforces this stance, stating that "there is nothing more important" than the firm's employees, and that "Excelling at how we attract, retain and develop people is absolutely pivotal and foundational to all that we want to do".
One way the firm attracts employees is by investing around £25 million in employee salaries and by paying £2,100 more than the regional average for the north west, providing not only more to the employees but more to the region as a whole.
To support its financial target of £200m to £250m in turnover, the board is making engagement a core performance metric through several key initiatives:
- Cascading Leadership Accountability: Employee engagement metrics will move beyond central HR and be integrated directly into the performance evaluations of department heads.
- Granular Data Analysis: The firm is conducting deeper departmental reviews to target specific operational areas, including wellbeing initiatives and ESG commitments.
Daniel stresses that as the firm expands, "We have to put the infrastructure in place that allows us to accommodate more people, do all the things we're doing now, but to a higher level". For the firm's growth to remain sustainable, he emphasises that this people-first focus "has to be really authentically, deeply understood and promoted at every level in the business".
Leveraging Best Companies Survey Data to Drive People Strategy
To ensure that cultural investment leads to tangible organisational improvements, Express Solicitors uses the Best Companies survey as a strategic diagnostic tool rather than a mere benchmarking exercise. As Carole emphasises, maintaining engagement through rapid scale requires that leadership priorities and the people-first focus are "authentically, deeply understood and promoted at every level in the business".
HR Officer, Bożena Tonge explains how employee feedback directly translates into targeted internal initiatives: "We do analyse the results and look at heat maps for the departments... where there were areas where scores dropped, like our charity commitment, we worked hard to promote the great events we have and the following year the score for that factor went right back up."
The survey framework helps leadership translate direct employee feedback into targeted operational strategies across the firm:
- Identifying Hidden Friction Points: The firm uses granular survey metrics to spot early operational disconnects - such as leadership capability gaps among newly promoted junior managers - allowing HR to deploy targeted management toolkits and coaching before issues escalate.
- Targeting Focused Interventions: Rather than relying solely on high-level engagement scores, leadership analyses sub-domain data to direct resources toward specific areas needing attention, such as mental health support, workplace wellbeing and ESG initiatives.
- Informing Board-Level Decision Making: Best Companies feedback directly shapes executive policy, prompting concrete cultural responses such as cost-of-living adjustments, expanded social committees and multi-site communication investments.
Looking Ahead
By pairing rapid organic and acquisition-driven expansion with clear career pathways, robust communication and board-level engagement targets, Express Solicitors demonstrates how scaling a business does not have to come at the expense of workplace culture. As the firm executes its roadmap toward 2030, keeping its people at the centre remains its primary strategy for sustained success.
Daniel Slade, Chief Executive Officer (Legal)
As Chief Executive Officer (Legal) of Express Solicitors, responsible for steering the group to further success. Daniel Slade has been instrumental to the firm's growth and success since joining in 2003 and is pivotal in the future success of the business. Daniel is driven by a commitment to secure vital early support, accommodation, and multi-million-pound settlements for seriously injured individuals, Daniel’s work is widely recognised across the sector. He has regularly appeared in the North West Legal 500 rankings and was shortlisted as a finalist for Claimant Lawyer of the Year at the Personal Injury Awards 2022. Outside of his legal practice, Daniel is a keen cyclist who frequently competes in long-distance races to raise funds for local charities.
Carole Jones, Chief Human Resources Officer
Carole is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Express Solicitors, leading the firm’s Human Resources department and overseeing the full employee lifecycle. A Chartered CIPD member with a Master’s in Human Resource Management and a BSc in Business, Carole brings extensive experience in HR, including navigating complex mergers, acquisitions and organisational restructures.
Driven by the belief that people are a business's most valuable asset, Carole works closely with the management team to raise performance standards while fostering a forward-looking, "can-do" culture focused on internal progression.
Outside of work, Carole enjoys walking near the Peak District, traveling to South West France and North Wales with her family, and exploring books on personal development and leadership.
Kate Ellis, Senior HR Manager
Kate is a Chartered CIPD professional with over seven years of HR experience across multiple sectors, specialising in fostering productive, supportive workplace environments. Prior to her current focus, she spent years managing services for adults with Autism in the care sector, demonstrating a deep commitment to person-centred advocacy and employee well-being. At Express Solicitors, Kate brings this same compassionate, hands-on approach to managing people initiatives, supporting dynamic growth across the firm’s expanding office network.
Outside of work, Kate maintains an active, goal-driven lifestyle. She captains the workplace netball team, and is studying for the global MBA.
Bożena Tonge, HR Officer
Bożena (affectionately known as "B") brings 12 years of legal sector experience to Express Solicitors, contributing to its standing as one of the UK’s top law firms. After moving from Poland to the UK, she earned a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from Manchester Metropolitan University and achieved her Level 7 CIPD Advanced Diploma, making her a Chartered CIPD member. Working in HR since 2017, including 5 and a half years in legal sector HR, Bożena serves as an HR Advisor, leveraging her deep analytical expertise to translate staff survey metrics and departmental feedback into concrete workplace initiatives.
Hayley Park, HR Data Analyst & Systems Advisor
Having been with Express Solicitors for nearly 12 years, Hayley has experienced the firm's growth firsthand throughout her career. Starting her journey on the Reception and Administration team, where she completed an NVQ in Customer Service, she subsequently transitioned into the HR department and progressed from Administrator to her current role as HR Data Analyst & Systems Advisor. Today, she leverages internal systems, digital tools and data analytics to support communication, keep hybrid teams connected and optimise the employee experience across the business.