Shoosmiths is excited to announce Kirsten Hewson as its new Chair.

Kirsten will take over from longstanding Chair Peter Duff on 1 April 2024.

Peter has held the role since 2014, in which time the firm’s revenue has doubled largely from organic growth and has seen the firm appointed to 135 panels and achieving widespread recognition in the market as the law firm that clients come to for what matters.

Peter, who did not stand for re-election, hands the baton over to Kirsten as the firm continues to drive its dynamic client-led growth strategy to lead the upper mid-market law firms by 2030, focusing on three core pillars of Real Estate, Corporate and Litigation and five sectors of Energy and Infrastructure, Mobility, Financial Services, Living and Technology.

Kirsten joined Shoosmiths in 2003 and became a Board member in 2019 following her appointment as Head of the Real Estate Division. During her tenure, Kirsten led significant revenue and headcount growth and helped cement the firm’s preeminent position in the Real Estate market.

She has played a pivotal role in key client relationships including Grainger and IKEA, and provided strategic planning advice for Welborne Garden Village, as well as ground-breaking work in relation to the government’s nitrate neutrality regulations.  Kirsten has also overseen the hires of market-leading talent including Barry McKeown and Lyndsey O’connor in Glasgow, Choisanne Man in London, Patrick Duffy in Manchester and Phil Gregory in Leeds.

Real estate partner, Joe Mazzucca, will be assuming the role of Head of Real Estate, replacing Kirsten as she transitions to her new role in April.  Joe joined Shoosmiths in 2014 as Head of the firm’s London office, playing a key part in the firm’s Real Estate growth over that period and expansion of our London office to No.1 Bow Churchyard in 2021.

On her new appointment, Kirsten Hewson said, “I’m absolutely delighted to have been elected as Chair of Shoosmiths. It’s an exciting time for our firm as we focus on delivering our ambitious 2030 strategy. As an experienced Board member with responsibility for our ‘People and Culture’ initiatives, I will continue to focus on ensuring we foster the very best environment for our people to excel in our delivery for our amazing clients.”

Peter Duff, said: “It’s been an honour to hold the position of Chair at Shoosmiths for the last nine years. We have achieved great things because of the relationships and trust we enjoy with our clients. I am delighted to be able to hand the firm to someone who cares about it as much as I do. Kirsten is a leader – she will do a fantastic job. We are an incredibly ambitious firm with a clear strategy, and I’m excited to see Shoosmiths continue to go from strength to strength.”

David Jackson, CEO at Shoosmiths, said: “I am thrilled to be working alongside Kirsten. Her client and people focus as demonstrated in the superb growth of our award-winning Real Estate practice is energising and inspiring.

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Peter for everything he has achieved during his impressive tenure as Chair.”

When Pinsent Masons launched Vario 10 years ago it was very much seen as “new law” – an Alternative Legal Service Provider which would serve the growing number of clients keen to source a different way of procuring top quality lawyers to work on a short-term basis. It also gave lawyers who wanted to work on a flexible basis another way to sell their skills.

Much has changed over the last decade and as the alternative legal market has matured, Vario has grown rapidly and expanded into several international jurisdictions. In addition to freelance lawyer provision it encompasses other complimentary professional services including legal project management, legal technology consultancy, company secretarial services and managed legal services.

As a mature provider in this space, Vario has evolved from just a handful of trail-blazing lawyers in 2013 to a global community of more than 2,000 lawyers and other legal professionals, and now boasts the largest bench of freelance legal talent in Scotland.

Initially, Vario had an uphill battle convincing lawyers that legal contracting was a viable career route, and in its infancy it may have been perceived as a backward step from a career perspective. Fast forward to 2024 and being a flexible lawyer is now very much established as a sustainable and rewarding career option. Indeed, we are delighted to have worked with the Law Society of Scotland and a number of Scottish universities to help promote the benefits of legal freelancing, including opportunities for paralegals.

In Scotland, opportunities for lawyers to create careers beyond the traditional models were very limited a decade ago, but today there are plenty of Scottish-based legal professionals who have chosen to develop interesting non-traditional careers through flexible resource providers such as Vario.

Variety and quality of work, together with work life balance, remain the driving factors behind lawyers choosing this path and it appeals to many legal professionals who just want to concentrate on the law, and avoid the management and business development responsibilities that typically attach to more traditional roles. It can facilitate an ability to move into other sectors and apply highly transferable skills in different ways.

And the model appeals to a wider range of experienced flexible lawyers – from those at the start of their career all the way through to experts with 20-plus years’ experience – with skills covering finance, construction, real estate, co sec, corporate, commercial/IP/IT, employment and HR, litigation, energy, regulatory, financial crime and competition.

Another strength of our law firm offering is that Vario is completed integrated within the wider Pinsent Masons business, it is not a stand-alone enterprise, and that is reflected in the access that freelance lawyers and paralegals have to our knowledge systems, libraries, research teams, Partners and Professional Support Lawyers for support.

We take the pain of recruiting and selecting individuals away from clients who can be assured of getting a Pinsent Masons-quality lawyer who has been assessed to fit the culture and challenges of their business, and who has the ability to add value to their business from day one.

Clients’ business needs are evolving too. With constant and mounting pressure on budgets and crunched in-house legal teams, we are increasingly seeing clients taking a more strategic approach towards their legal resourcing requirements – demand for people-based solutions remains a constant, with process efficiencies and technology enhancing speed and scalability.

What will the next decade bring? Certainly more change, but responding to clients’ resourcing pressures, while providing our flexible lawyers with the rewarding, flexible lifestyles that they desire on their terms, will remain key.

• Over three quarters (76%) of firms attempting to recruit faced difficulties
• Firms in the hospitality sector remain the most likely to report challenges in hiring staff (82%)
• 68% of companies say labour costs are a financial pressure
• 59% of companies attempted to recruit in the quarter

The latest Quarterly Recruitment Outlook (QRO), a survey of nearly 5,000 UK firms of all sectors and sizes, by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Insights Unit, reveals that the labour market remains tight for most firms. 

The fourth quarter results for 2023, show a slight rise in the percentage of companies facing hiring difficulties, from 73% in Q3 to 76% in Q4. This figure is 6 percentage points down from the historical high of 82% in Q4 2022, but it has remained at or above 70% since the economy reopened post-pandemic (Q2 2021).

Attempted recruitment in Q4 was virtually unchanged from the previous quarter, with 59% of responding firms looking to find staff (61% in Q3).

The hospitality sector continues to suffer disproportionately from the recruitment difficulties in the economy, with 82% of firms reporting hiring challenges in Q4 (compared with 79% in Q3). This is closely followed by the transport and logistics sector where 81% of businesses attempting to recruit, reported difficulties in finding staff. Meanwhile 79% of construction firms, 77% of manufacturing companies and 66% of retailers, said they had experienced recruitment issues.

Of the hospitality firms reporting problems, 62% faced difficulties in finding semi/unskilled workers, 41% skilled manual/technical staff.

As firms continue to navigate a series of economic pressures, many are struggling to increase investment in workplace training. For the second quarter in succession, just over a quarter of firms reported an increase in investment plans for staff training (26% compared to 27% in Q3) with 14% reporting a drop (13% in Q3).

Labour costs are cited by most firms as a source of cost pressure, with 68% citing this (compared to 66% in Q3). 55% of firms say they’re concerned about energy costs.

Responding to the findings, Jane Gratton, Deputy Director Public Policy at the BCC said: 

“Our data shows the recruitment crisis continues to loom large for many businesses across the UK.

“Too many firms are still struggling to hire and retain staff. The situation in the hospitality sector is especially concerning.  At the start of an election year, and with a budget just weeks away, it’s vital that politicians start outlining how we can plug these gaps and support more people into work.

“The Chancellor announced several welcome measures on apprenticeships in the Autumn Statement, but more action is needed.  For example, increasing flexibility in the apprenticeship levy would help more people get the workplace training they need.

“And we need to ensure that local training provision meets the needs of employers and learners. Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), many of them led by local Chambers, are now shifting the dial on this by planning for skills needs, now and in the years ahead. But this transformation won’t happen overnight, and LSIPs need long-term funding and commitment from politicians.

“We’ll be looking closely at tomorrow’s labour market statistics from the ONS. While the number of vacancies has continued to decline in recent months, the prospects going forward remain challenging. Our latest Quarterly Economic Forecast predicts unemployment is expected to stay higher for longer, hitting 4.8% by the end of

“Businesses urgently need to see a long-term strategy on skills and training from politicians. One that can properly resolve the ongoing recruitment crisis and ultimately boost economic growth.”

There’s still time to try something new this new year as places are available on a wide range of January-start courses at Scotland’s Capital College.

Edinburgh College’s January courses start later this month – meaning potential applicants still have time to book their place and take the next step in their education and career journey.

Places are available in subject areas including: Music; Computing; Cookery and Hospitality; Travel and Tourism; Business; Science; Health and Care; and Sport and Fitness.

In addition to full-time courses, a variety of flexible study options – including evening and part-time – are available to suit the needs of those with family commitments or those in employment.

Courses are delivered by expert lecturers across the College’s four campuses: Granton; Midlothian; Milton Road; and Sighthill – all of which house state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.

As well as high-quality learning, students also have access to extensive support services including: funding, learning support and wellbeing during their time at the College.

Audrey Cumberford, Edinburgh College Principal, said: “We’re looking forward to launching our January-start courses for 2024. It is always an exciting time for us to welcome new students to our Edinburgh College community.

“Our courses are delivered by expert teaching staff and are designed to provide students with the skills they need to either continue their learner journey or achieve their chosen career. We look forward to supporting our next wave of students to take their next step.”

Downturn in private sector output eases in December

 

• Softest fall in private sector output in four months
• Fresh expansion in service sector output
• Strongest rise in employment in UK

The latest Royal Bank of Scotland PMI^® indicated a further deterioration across the Scottish private sector at the end of 2023. That said, at 49.4 in December, up from 47.1 in November, the Output Index signalled that private sector activity fell at the slowest pace in the current four-month downturn. The latest decline was centred on the manufacturing sector, while services firms reported a fresh, albeit marginal, rise in activity.

Moreover, companies raised their staff intakes, with employment rising for the eleventh consecutive month in December. Successful replacement of leavers and expectations of growth allowed firms to increase their hiring activity. Moreover, the rate of job creation across Scotland was the strongest of all the 12 monitored UK regions and nations.

The year ended with another monthly contraction in new business across Scotland, with new orders falling continuously since July. However, the downturn eased and was centred on the manufacturing sector, with respondents citing deteriorating market conditions and higher prices deterring customers. In contrast, a fresh rise in new work was noted at services providers.

In contrast to Scotland, new business rose across the UK as a whole for the first time in six months.

Expectations strengthened in December, with private sector companies across Scotland anticipating a rise in output in 2024. The degree of confidence was the strongest in seven months and broadly in line with the historical average since 2012. Optimism largely stemmed from hopes that improvements in markets, as well as increased advertising, new contracts and products would bolster growth in activity.

That said, the level of positive sentiment across Scotland was again weaker than the UK-wide average.

December data revealed a rise in employment across Scotland, thereby stretching the current run of growth to 11 months. Scottish businesses were keen to fill vacant positions and replace leavers. Moreover, hopes of improved demand conditions encouraged some firms to raise their current staffing levels.

Though the rate of increase eased slightly from November and was modest overall, it was the strongest of all 12 UK nations and regions. London and Northern Ireland were the only other UK areas to record higher employment in December.

Reduced levels of work and sustained growth in employment meant that outstanding business declined for an eighth consecutive month across Scotland’s private sector in December. The downturn was the most marked since January 2023 and sharp overall. Some firms also noted that improved availability of materials helped companies to work through backlogs.

The rate of depletion across Scotland outpaced the UK-wide average.

Average cost burdens faced by private sector companies in Scotland rose sharply in December. Surveyed businesses often attributed this to higher labour, shipping and fuel costs. That said, the rate of input price inflation eased to the slowest since February 2021, with both monitored sectors recording softer rates of inflation than in November.

Cost burdens also rose at the UK level, and at a quicker pace than in Scotland.

Adjusted for seasonal variance, the Output Prices Index registered above the neutral 50.0 threshold in December to indicate an increase in selling prices. The rate of growth ticked up to a three-month high and was historically strong. Firms attributed higher charges to rising cost burdens, with some firms also looking to increase their margins.

Charges levied by firms across Scotland rose at a broadly similar rate to that seen for the UK as a whole.

Source: Royal Bank of Scotland, S&P Global PMl.

COMMENT

Judith Cruickshank, Chair, Scotland Board, Royal Bank of Scotland, commented:

“Firms in Scotland recorded a contraction in private sector output during December, with the manufacturing sector weighing heavily on overall performance. However, the latest downturn was modest overall and the weakest in four months, in part reflecting a fresh, albeit marginal, expansion in business activity across services firms.

“Employment levels continued to rise, indicating that companies anticipate higher business volumes in the coming months. Job creation was also the strongest in the UK. In terms of inflation, input prices rose at the slowest rate in nearly three years and one below the long-run average, although charge inflation remained historically high.”

EXPERIENCEit, the new initiative designed to support the growing market for experiential events in Scotland and beyond, has announced exhibitors including Vue Cinemas, Social Jungle, Topgolf Glasgow, Iventis, Kimpton Hotels and Newsquest at the EXPERIENCEit debut.

Organised by EVENTIT, this unique event will take place on Thursday 8 February 2024 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC).

EXPERIENCEit was created to celebrate the growing desire for experiential events and aims to foster partnerships through interactive engagement, education and collaboration.

Other exhibitors will include the Daniel Thwaites Group, Nook Event Pods, Create and Calm, Power of Events, and EventWell.

Judith Wilson, Events Director of EVENTIT said: “EXPERIENCEit will celebrate the best of the best that the events industry has to offer here in Scotland and across the UK and we are pleased to announce some of our fantastic exhibitors.

“Spots are still available for exhibitors who want to join us at the EICC for a true showcase of creating and delivering events with greater impact– you won’t regret it!”

Exhibitors are encouraged to create immersive and experiential activities, offering delegates a glimpse into the future of event experiences.

Esme Walsh, Head of Marketing, Saltire Hospitality said: “Saltire Hospitality are thrilled to be part of this dynamic new initiative! We can’t wait to showcase our award-winning hospitality services in this unique environment so our future clients can immerse themselves in our offerings.”

The event will bring together professionals from diverse industries to offer a platform to share, learn and collaborate on the future of experiential events.

EXPERIENCEit will also welcome a group of agents and corporates joining from across the UK as part of a VIP Experience.

Attendees can expect keynote sessions, a networking lunch, and exclusive tour groups led by industry experts, providing valuable insights into all exhibitors.

EXPERIENCEit will be held on Tuesday 8 February 2024 from 8.30am – 4pm at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) in Edinburgh with tickets costing £75 plus VAT.  For more information visit eventit.org.uk

Connectivity, cyber security and IT Service provider IFB, has partnered with leading Cloud, IT, and network services provider EXPO.e – to provide large scale and comprehensive Cyber Security Operations Centre services (CSOC) for its current and future customers.

IFB CEO Graeme Gordon said: “We are delighted to extend our working relationship and partnership with EXPO.e to now include the critical cyber security operations space. This means that alongside IFB’s own Security services, we can now offer the depth, breadth and scale of expertise to accommodate any scale of security requirement.”

Graeme continued “A massive 92% of UK businesses reported a cyber security breach of some type in the last 12 months this means our partnership comes at a key time for organisations of any size. Business best practice, when it comes to cyber security, is driving a real demand from businesses and organisations to have a comprehensive security service that monitors, manages and outpaces security threats 24/7. We have recognised that the only real way of doing this with confidence is working with a partner like EXPO.e, who alongside the team at IFB, are delivering these services in quality and scale.”

The cyber security market has grown to more than £10.5 billion in the UK alone in 2023 and by working together, IFB and EXPO.e are positioning themselves to capture our share of this market moving forward. This will come from our ability to design, deploy, manage and support real time and full-time security services for businesses, including core and complementary skills and resources, management and monitoring covering everything from training and education, firewall and software management through to completely outsourcing your security needs.

Phil French, Channel Account Director at EXPO.e said “We already have a great relationship with IFB and understand the importance of delivering best in class cyber security services for our customers. EXPO.e’s proven cyber security capabilities, from technical expertise from early design through to incident response and recovery, bring a new dimension and scale to IFB’s offering to their customers, and we look forward to working with them in this key business critical area.

Together IFB and EXPO.e will be running events in Aberdeen and the wider Scottish market to provide businesses the opportunity to understand more about this partnership and the positive impact it will have for their cyber security position.

You can now register your interest for one of coming events here:  https://www.ifb.net/cybersecurity–events–register–your–interest

 

IFB are an Aberdeen Head Quartered IT Services provider with over 28 years’ experience in delivering critical on demand business IT services across Energy, Public, Business Services and the Third Sector. We specialises in designing and delivering Connectivity and Networks solutions along with Cyber Security services and Business Phone Systems. We do this for SME- Enterprise sized organisations within the Energy, Public Sectors and Business Services industries across the UK. We are committed to maximising our customers uptime which means we use our expertise and resources to ensure that everything we do, from first engagement to ongoing support and development, is absolutely focused on keeping you as our customer

EXPO.e is a UK leader in Cloud, Connectivity, Communications and Cyber Security, with a unique consultative approach to delivering bespoke, fully integrated solutions that enable scalable, high-performance IT infrastructure. As a trusted technology partner for more than 3,000 companies, our evolving portfolio encompasses everything from public and private cloud to leading-edge SD-WAN and cyber security solutions, supported by our managed IT services. Our commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction is at the forefront of our endeavours and is reflected in our nine ISO accreditations and industry-leading NPS score, updated live on our website.

Reacting to the ONS trade data for November 2023, William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, said:   

“The positives are there was a pick-up in some export sectors in goods trade with the EU, particularly in automotive sales. Services also remained steady for a further month, with only very small declines. But other indicators for November were weak, particularly on imports.  

“Looking ahead the picture is only likely to worsen as the effects of the disruption to shipping in the Red Sea, and through the Suez Canal, begin to be fully felt. The Kiel Institute this week estimated global trade fell by 1.3% in December due to the initial impact.  

“These are stark numbers – the fall in containers taking this route, from the East, amounts to 300,000 per day. This suggests only 40% of normal sea freight traffic is currently travelling via the Red Sea. This is a significant challenge, especially when combined with the other global headwinds which traders are facing in the early weeks of 2024.” 

The UK trade picture in detail 

There has been a steady performance for UK services exports in 2023 but this latest data shows a further decline in UK trade in goods, for both imports and exports. This is mainly due to a decline in trade flows with the rest of the world. The trade surplus in services declined slightly in the three months to November, but the trade in goods deficit widened slightly.   

Goods Imports 

Overall goods imports volumes fell by 3.8% (£1.5bn) in November. The main falls in purchases from the EU were in machinery and transport equipment (including aircraft from Germany).  

Goods imports volumes from the rest of the world fell by 6.5% (£1.1bn), driven largely by lower sales of cars, electrical machinery and inorganic chemicals imports from China, and reduced imports of pharmaceutical and medicinal products from Switzerland. On the current prices measure goods import values from the EU fell by £0.5bn (1.7%), while the rest of the world saw import values drop by £1.1bn (5.4%) over the same period. Overall, goods imports fell by 3.3% (£1.6bn) on that measure.  

Goods Exports 

Overall goods exports volumes in November fell by 2.8% (£0.7bn). The significant falls in goods export volumes to the EU over the previous two months of 3.4% and 7% respectively were reversed in November with a modest rise of 0.6% (£0.1bn). This was connected to a rise in machinery and transport goods sales, including cars to Italy. 

Goods exports volumes to the rest of the world fell by 5.9% (£0.8bn), with lower exports of fuels (particularly crude oil) and material manufactures being the key drivers.   

On the current prices measure, without inflationary effects being removed, EU goods export values rose by £0.2bn (1.2%) and non-EU goods fell by £0.8bn (5.0%). The combined figure shows goods exports falling in value by £0.6bn (2.0%). 

Services 

On services, import and export volumes both fell slightly by £0.1bn. On the current prices measure, there were also slight falls in both import and export values of £0.1bn. Services exports in November were 12% higher, excluding inflation, than in February 2020.  

The Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory requirement for all large organisations in the UK that meet one of the following criteria:

• 250 employees or more
• Annual turnover of greater than £44,000,000 and an annual balance sheet of more than £38,000,000

Eligible businesses must submit their reporting by 5 June 2024 – but we recommend organisations that qualify take steps to prepare their submission as soon as possible.

ESOS: The Benefits
While organisations with the above qualifications are required to adhere to the ESOS scheme, ESOS has many benefits beyond compliance – it’s one of the easiest ways to improve operational capability, increase efficiency and take your sustainability efforts to the next level. ESOS has many benefits, including:

• Reducing business costs: at its core, ESOS provides organisations with recommendations to reduce their energy usage – reducing operational costs in turn. According to the recent research, a business can reduce its annual energy costs by 20% through improving energy efficiency and energy management. Even better, many of the suggestions contained in an ESOS report are behavioural – meaning that implementation is very cost effective.
• Increasing productivity, competitiveness and market position: ESOS is all about efficiency – more efficient processes result in a more productive organisation, which increases competitiveness and improves market position. Furthermore, it’s no secret that customers are more likely to purchase goods and services from an organisation that’s demonstrably sustainable. ESOS compliance is an excellent way to show customers and shareholders alike that your organisation means business when it comes to your environmental responsibility.
• Futureproofing your business: energy saving measures, like the ones highlighted through the ESOS compliance process, allow your organisation to manage risks by reducing operational costs, building resilience for future energy price increases.
• Improving UK energy efficiency: the net benefit of ESOS to the UK economy is expected to be up to £3 billion between 2015 and 2030, through a combination of energy efficiency measures, sustainability measures and operational reductions.

ESOS: Reporting Requirements
The good news? These benefits are at your fingertips. All that’s required for compliance is energy data for buildings, transportation and industrial processes over a 12-month period that includes the ESOS qualification date of 31^st December 2022, and our team of professionals can help. Our team will conduct audits and produce reports to recommend a range of energy efficiency measures. Once the reporting process is complete, all information will be signed off by an accredited ESOS Lead Assessor – GEP Environmental has three on staff.

Curious about how ESOS could benefit your organisation? Our team would be delighted to assist. Get in touch today.

Responding to the latest GDP data from the ONS, Alex Veitch, Director of Policy and Insight at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: 

 

“Today’s ONS data, showing GDP grew 0.3% in November, but fell 0.2% in the three months to then, indicates how fragile UK economic growth is right now.  

 

“It’s likely the economy will be stuck in the slow lane for the foreseeable future. Our latest Quarterly Economic Forecast expects growth below 1.0% for the next two years.  

 

“The Chancellor’s decision to make full expensing permanent was welcome, but more needs to be done to help businesses invest and drive economic growth. Despite the headline rate of inflation easing, firms are continuing to battle with high interest rates, recruitment difficulties, and tough international trading conditions.  

 

“Businesses are crying out for a long-term economic plan that prioritises growth. In the upcoming budget, and the election campaign to come, that must be the priority for all politicians.”