Goals for growth

Shulmans LLP is an established commercial legal practice in Leeds. By April 2010, it had ridden out the worst of the recession and was looking to buck the trend by returning to significant growth. Given the economic conditions, a goal of 50% growth in 5 years was very ambitious. This is the story of how new branding helped change perceptions that Shulmans was an old-fashioned firm, dominated by its founder, Jeremy Shulman, and enabled the firm to differentiate itself in an extremely competitive marketplace.

Hand-in-hand

The insights gathered from researching clients and colleagues included an exceptionally high level of service and the firm being more modern than it looked. The new branding personified all that was great about Shulmans. It reflected a modern approach, a great team of people and illustrated how the firm works. The brand was based on a new logo, comprised of 2 interlocking halves of a letter S, illustrating how Shulmans’ people work hand-in-hand with clients and each other. The supporting colours, typography and image style all combine to form a fresh, distinctive identity.

Out-performing the competition

Fee income increased 23% in 18 months, achieving nearly half the 5 year target in less than a third of the time. The annual increase of 15.3% out-performed the direct competitor's which managed average growth of only 6%. It also attracted key new recruits and managed to significantly change internal perceptions, as confirmed by a member of the Colleague Forum:

“Our values are the same but the new branding much better reflects them and we now have a much better proposition to clients and potential employees.”