Evolution not revolution
Traditionally the epitome of a steady ship, Coffin Mew has rocked the boat a little in the past couple of years. In 2009 it appointed its first ever non-lawyer CEO, Vincent Denham, with the ambition of growing the firm significantly, via merger and acquisition, to maintain and strengthen its position in the South Coast market. Successful ventures under Denham include a rebranding exercise, complete with a trendy new website, and an internal restructuring exercise that made the firm more efficient. However, in 2011 Coffin Mew re-evaluated and decided that in an era of recession, the growth it had been gearing up for was no longer necessary. Denham has departed and the firm has returned to concentrating on the things it has always done well. In the words of training partner Malcolm Padgett: “We’re very much in a ‘steady as she goes and she’s going fine’ mode. There will be growth, where we think it is prudent.”
Coffin Mew mixes a corporate and commercial practice with a private client side: it remains equally committed to both types of work. Take a look at the firm’s website and you’ll see some of the sectors in which it is most active: care homes; the aerospace industry; charities and communities; technology and manufacturing; marine; and the armed forces. The latter two, especially, are obviously a product of the firm’s South Coast location. Coffin Mew has assisted members of the armed forces for years but has recently established a specialist team headed up by a former commando.
Navigating the M27
Trainees often sample both commercial and private client work, giving an area previously unconsidered a go, even if just to rule it out completely. The six-seat system makes this dabbling possible. Everyone was pleased with the firm’s handling of the seat system: one trainee spoke of the ease with which they were allowed to spend a year in a seat of choice; another gushed that they felt “like a kid in a sweet shop” at the array of seats on offer. There are potentials: commercial litigation; commercial services; commercial property; contentious and non-contentious social housing; corporate; employment; family; insolvency; personal injury; and private client. Trainees are landed in an initial seat that they have not chosen but soon meet with training partner Padgett to discuss future seats and get them on the right path. “He really gets a feel for what you might like” and all our sources spoke of Padgett fostering a “friendly working relationship” at Coffin Mew.
Seats are divided between Coffin Mew's offices in Southampton and Portsmouth (a third, in Gosport, doesn’t take trainees, while a fourth in Fareham merged into the Pompey one in late 2011). Trainees are expected to move around between seats (sometimes during) and it pays to be flexible and see the two-office experience as “an opportunity” rather than a drag. A car isn’t essential but it is “a huge benefit.”
All kinds of property
If you are looking for global mega-mergers, this is the wrong place, but there are certainly national and international companies alongside the local organisations that Coffin Mew typically represents. The recent £4m acquisition of a nursing home was representative of the corporate department; as was the demerger of two care homes. As you can see, Coffin Mew has carved out quite a niche for itself in that particular sector. Other clients include the University of Portsmouth and plenty of local hardware and software companies, including a computer games development company. The commercial property team acts for developers (Foreman Homes, Crayfern Homes), banks (Handelsbanken, Clydesdale Bank, NatWest/RBS) and housing associations (First Wessex, Teign Housing), while the insolvency practice has both PwC and KPMG on the books. Trainees were effusive about their responsibility in the commercial seats, reporting that it increased as they gradually established themselves. They noted the speed at which they became “relied upon by fee earners,” who have no problem letting trainees go away to have a stab at drafting themselves, and who “take the time to sit down with you and go through stuff afterwards.”
The excellent contentious social housing team is top-ranked in the South by Chambers UK and acts on behalf of housing groups, often in cases of anti-social behaviour. “It’s pretty fast-paced and the closest thing to criminal law that we do.” Trainees are quick to get involved with clients and are also included in marketing and the business development side of work.
Equally well respected is the personal injury and clinical negligence team, which acts exclusively for claimants. The subject matter can be unpleasant – a recent case was to do with a hospital patient who died of extreme dehydration – but trainees spoke of the “key work” they were entrusted with and the regular client meetings they attended. In private client, too, “the firm has no qualms about getting you face-to-face with people.” A three-stage appraisal system is thorough and intuitive, and rigorous supervision provides “plenty of opportunity to say if you haven’t had enough experience of this or too much of that.”
Chemistry lesson
All the trainees we spoke to said what a welcoming place Coffin Mew is, and that it’s because “people who are interested in people” run the firm. Since everyone – from partners down to NQs – will allocate tasks to trainees, they soon get the chance to “interact with people at every level.” Coffin Mew is a place where relationships are forged quickly and you shouldn’t be surprised if a partner greets you by name on the stairs. “It’s good that I’ve never felt intimidated by a partner. Maybe I should have been,” mused one source. Much of the office space is open plan: “That’s always a good thing for trainees – you can listen in on seniors." Such an open atmosphere should not be mistaken for a soft-touch training contract, however – as one source warned, “you are not mollycoddled.” Coffin Mew looks after its trainees but it pays to be alert: trainees have sometimes been given opportunities only because they “have been proactive and asked for it.”
Equally, the firm “does not have a long-hours culture but you do have to be good at time management.” Trainees generally arrive between 8 and 8.30am and it’s not unheard of to leave the office at 5pm, but longer hours are not exceptional either. Working in corporate may even require the odd stint until midnight.
Colleagues bond through firm-organised social events and regular informal nights out in Portsmouth or Southampton. More notable get-togethers have included a fellow trainee’s wedding reception and a team-building exercise for the Jubilee Sailing trust, which involved the cleaning and maintenance of yachts. There are cross-company sports teams to get involved with, and “even if you don’t play, you can still come and watch.”
Trainees recognise the need to “stick together” and some sources commented on the firm’s aptitude at picking people who “can get on as a group.” Other adjectives used to describe fellow trainees included “outgoing” but “not backstabbing or competitive” – in short, just plain “nice.” The firm seeks people who “could have a very good reason not to be there.” Trainees need the desire to succeed outside of London coupled with a certain je ne sais quoi. Malcolm Padgett described the “indefinable chemistry" as well as the "careful judgment" that takes place between firm and applicant during the recruitment process.
And finally...
All our trainee contacts were keen to stay on after qualification, and quietly optimistic about their chances. In 2011, three out of seven qualifying trainees were lucky and remained with the firm.