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Lexcel and CSE Accreditation 2023

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We are delighted to announce that Adams Harrison has been re-accredited with Lexcel for the 24th year and Customer Service Excellence (CSE) for the 3rd year.

What are Lexcel and Customer Service Excellence (CSE)?

Lexcel is a Law Society Quality mark for law firms demonstrating legal excellence. The assessment process is independent and objective. The firm is assessed in areas of: Structure and Strategy, Financial Management, Information Management, People Management, Risk Management, Client Care and File and Case Management. You can find further information here: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/firm-accreditations/lexcel

Customer Service Excellence is an accreditation which was introduced by the Cabinet Office in 2007 and Adams Harrison gained accreditation in 2021. It offers businesses a practical tool for driving customer-focused change within their organisation. You can find further information here: https://www.customerserviceexcellence.uk.com/

Who has Lexcel and CSE?

Lexcel accreditation is not obligatory. It was introduced in 1998 by the Law Society for law firms and Adams Harrison was one of the first firms to achieve the accreditation.
CSE is open for any business in the UK to apply for this standard. Currently 322 organisations are accredited.

What happens during the annual re-assessments?

For Lexcel the auditor interviews staff and partners selected by him. He audits both open and closed files randomly selected by him. He reviews the firm’s practices and procedures, including policies and office manual. This year the auditor found no non-compliances.
For CSE the auditor reviews current policies and procedures which demonstrate that client care and maintaining high levels of service are at the forefront of everything we do. He also interviews a selection of clients for direct feedback on the experience.

Auditor’s comments for Lexcel

Despite the current difficulties and challenges, the Practice should again be very highly commended for sustaining an extremely high level of compliance against the Lexcel Standard. It remains very clear that compliance remains deeply embedded within the ethos and culture of the Practice. In Lexcel terms the Firm is an extremely well run, and extremely well managed Practice!!
The Practice should continue to be highly commended for the significant emphasis, and resources, which it devotes to ensuring the Wellbeing and Mental Health of its employees.
There remains a comprehensive and well embedded process of supervision which is very consistently implemented and well managed throughout the Firm.
It remains very clear from both interview and documentary evidence that the Practice continues to place very significant emphasis on the levels of ongoing client care which it provides.

Auditor’s comments for CSE

It was very clear from both documentary, and interview evidence, that the Practice puts CSE at the heart of everything that they do. It is fully supported by the entire Management Team, and is an integral part of the Firm’s culture that they are all required to both sign up to, and are measured against.
Despite the ongoing challenges of the post-pandemic context, the Practice has proactively continued to refine and develop the already deeply embedded culture of customer service/client care and it was very clear from interview evidence that staff were highly adept at managing client expectations.
It was also very clear that extremely robust procedures were in place to protect client privacy.

These excellent results are due to the collective effort of all our staff, from Managing Partner down to post clerk. Everybody puts the needs of our clients at the forefront of everything they do.
We all look forward to continuing to offer a high quality service in the communities we serve.

23 Years Of Legal Excellence For Adams Harrison

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Lexcel Logo We are pleased to announce that following an annual audit last week Adams Harrison solicitors has been re-accredited with Lexcel.

What is Lexcel?

Lexcel is a Law Society legal practice quality mark for client care, compliance and practice management. The assessment process is independent and objective. It means Legal Excellence.

Who has Lexcel?

Lexcel is not obligatory. It was introduced in 1998 by the Law Society and this firm was one of the first to achieve the accreditation. In 2021 approximately 13% of all law firms had achieved Lexcel.

What happens during the annual re-assessment?

The auditor interviews staff and partners selected by him. He audits both open and closed files randomly selected by him. He reviews the firm’s practices and procedures, including policies and office manual.

Auditor’s comments

“The Firm continues to be extremely well run and extremely well managed” “The Practice had proactively addressed the need to become, and remain, compliant with the requirements of the Codes of Conduct introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in November 2019” “The Practice should be highly commended for:- • “the maintenance and continued development of a very robust and effective Business Continuity Plan”. • “maintaining its community and social responsibility policy … the Practice has a long and established track record of community involvement”. • “work being done to safeguard the mental health of staff during the pandemic”. • “Highly effective systems, well managed and well implemented”. • “very clear policies and procedures to manage personal data … with a rolling programme of staff communication and training”. • “develop, implement and communicate a set of core values”. • “high standards in terms of training and developing its people and the ongoing coaching, mentoring and support offered to them”. • “the overall quality of its standard client care and terms of business documents. They are detailed and comprehensive, yet well written”. • “for regular reviews of client satisfaction data”.

This excellent report is as a result of all our staff working terrifically well as an effective and efficient team, putting the needs of our clients at the forefront of everything we do.

Adams Harrison Excellent Lexcel Audit Result July 2020

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Adams Harrison is excellent – it is official.

Adams Harrison has held the Lexcel accreditation since 1999 and over the last four days has undergone a rigorous full reassessment. The result being that the firm has passed with flying colours.

What is Lexcel?

It stands for Legal Excellence and is a Law Society accreditation in relation to legal practice management standards that is optional for law firms to attain. Lexcel defines quality management procedures in seven areas: structure and strategy, financial management, information management, people management, risk management, client care, and file and case management.

During the audit there were absolutely no findings of non-compliance and the auditor identified 40 areas of good practice, an increase of four from the annual assessment last year.

The auditor for the assessment, when reporting the outcome, stated that an increase in the number of areas of good practice was a “remarkable result”, particularly in light of the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

Within the auditor’s report he has stated that the firm has a very robust and tested disaster recovery and business continuity plan. Reference was made to the firm having the Cyber Essentials kite mark.

The auditor stated that “processes and systems are extremely well understood by staff, and are also very well embedded into both the operations, and culture, of the Practice.”

In relation to risk management the finding was: “The Practice should continue to be commended for the practical, effective and comprehensive approach it has taken to operational risk management” and “the processes are clearly effective, very well implemented and, taken together, continue to constitute a highly robust approach”. It was stated that Adams Harrison should be highly commended for the work done to remain compliant against the requirements of the Standard.

The auditor was of the opinion that the Practice continues to place “very significant emphasis on the levels of ongoing client care which it provides.”

The report states that “In Lexcel terms, Adams Harrison, continues to be an extremely well run, and extremely well managed Practice – made all the more noteworthy by the fact that it has been achieved in a period of ongoing change and significant uncertainty!!”

 

Law Society’s Legal Excellence Standard (Lexcel) For 20th Year

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Lexcel Logo

Adams Harrison are very pleased to announce that we have attained our re-accreditation to the Law Society’s Legal Excellence Standard (Lexcel) for the 20th year, having originally achieved the standard in 1999.    

We were commended for 36 areas of good practice and highly commended for sustaining a very high level of compliance against the standard. 

We were also highly commended for our approach to the development and implementation of our Community and Social Responsibility Policy by attending local schools, providing advice in Careers Events about the legal profession and helping pupils understand the workplace and recruitment into the sector. As well as supporting a number of local events and charities.

The audit commented on the excellent calibre and high morale of our  staff.

Our assessor stated that there was clear evidence that we continue to place very significant emphasis on the levels of client care that we provide.  He stated that it was evident from the files he reviewed that levels of client care were excellent.

Lexcel Report 2018

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Adams Harrison solicitors has undergone a vigorous annual maintenance visit in order to be audited for our Lexcel accreditation. I am pleased to report that we continue to hold the Legal Excellence Standard endorsed by the Law Society.

Please click on the image below to downlaod the summary report

Adams Harrison Lexcel Report 2018 Image