Lemon&Co's refurbished Regent Circus office

Lemon & Co has played a key role within Swindon for over 80 years. The firm prides itself on coupling formidable expertise in Private Law, Business Services and Litigation with an approachable and friendly manner and as such has earned an impressive reputation in the region and beyond.

Key to the firm’s success has been its ability to understand and adapt to the ever-changing needs of its clients and staff, and as such the firm has spent the past two years taking a long hard look at itself and its ambitions for the future.

The result of which has been a full review of its brand identity, a joining of the buildings in Regents Circus and an extensive renovation, extension and modernisation of its offices to create a new look and feel for the firm.

The newly refurbished offices on Regents Circus were officially opened on 10 September 2007.

The Business Services team, which has been operating from the Old Town office has closed and moved to the new offices at Regent Circus, and for the first time in over 30 years the whole firm is now under one roof.

Tim Dixon, managing partner says: “Lemon & Co has always prided itself on its legal expertise and also the service that we offer our clients. We had the opportunity to combine our two Regent Circus offices and in doing so realised the importance of improving our working environment to both our staff and our clients. We wanted our offices to reflect the services we provide and also the wider goals and aspiration of the firm.”

As part of the planning for the refurbishment Lemon & Co subjected itself to a grueling review of its overall image and as a result of the decisions made, consulted with Cheltenham-based brand and marketing consultants The Edge to create a new identity representing the firm.

 

Nita King, Partner, who has lead the re-branding alongside with Deirdre Moss, Partner responsible for the refurbishment project: says: “Legal firms and other professional services companies have perhaps lagged behind other sectors in recognising the importance of branding and brand values, but we believe that this is an essential part of operating effectively within today’s business community.

“We conducted a number of in-depth focus groups with staff and also asked our clients to provide feedback. It was a fascinating process and really concentrated our minds on what was important to us in provision of our services, the type of firm that we were, wanted to be and how we wanted to present ourselves and our services to existing and future clients.”

Once the new brand identity had been created Lemon & Co appointed Claremont Group Interiors, a national interior design and fit-out company that has extensive experience in working with the legal sector to design the new office environment. As well as an eye-catching new frontage the office has been remodeled to create a friendly, welcoming reception area and an impressive client suite with several meeting rooms, three of which can be transformed into one large conference room, with space for up to 40 people.

Deirdre Moss, partner says: “Lemon & Co has given a lot of thought to the needs of all our clients and potential clients during this project. A further meeting room and facilities, which have full disabled access, are available on the ground floor, and a hearing loop installed.

“The working area for partners and staff has also been remodeled to meet our brand objectives with the creation of more open plan office areas and shared space to encourage staff to meet away from their desks.”

The motivation for this process has been triggered by a period of substantial growth and development for the firm, as well as the firm’s future plans and its focus on meeting new challenges. Long well respected for its private client services and property services, the employment team, led by partner Paul Archer and the Litigation team, headed by Nita King, are probably the largest specialist teams of their kind in the region.

The firm has also been growing its dedicated Business Services division that deals with corporate, commercial and commercial property work. Lemon & Co also boast a strong
Family Law team, led by partner Stephen Moss, who is also a qualified collaborative practitioner. Members of the team are heavily involved in the wider legal community - Tim Dixon, managing partner is a deputy district judge, and also sits on the Children’s Panel, along with Jayne McPherson. Other growing specialises include Health and Safety and tax advice.

The refurbishment of the office also comes at a time when the focus on regeneration of the town centre is growing. The transformation of the Lemon & Co building on Regent Circus marks the completion of the first in a series of development and regeneration projects that will see the town centre transformed into vibrant and modern commercial and residential area.

John Callum, chairperson of the Swindon New Company, which was formed in 2002 to stimulate investment and co-ordinate plans for revitalisation of the town centre says: “This is a fantastic example of how companies in Swindon are really grasping the nettle and playing their part in the transformation of the town.

“Lemon & Co is a well established and extremely well respected firm and I am delighted to see that they are leading by example and have adopted such a forward thinking approach both to the branding of the firm and the refurbishment of the offices. This is the kind of action that we need to encourage in Swindon in order to achieve our aim of creating a town which helps drive the economy of the region.”

Tim Dixon concludes: “This is an exciting time for Swindon with millions of pounds worth of regeneration underway across the area. Lemon & Co has played a major role in Swindon life for many years and is keen to play an even bigger role in its future.”

Rationale Behind the Branding

Marc Phelps, from branding and marketing consultancy The Edge, explains the rationale behind Lemon’s new brand identity.

“Creating a new brand for Lemon & Co was no easy decision for the partners. After all, the successful firm has built a solid reputation over 80 years representing the local private and business clients legal affairs.

“However the partners recognised that times have changed and peoples’ expectations and needs for a legal firm have moved on - it was time to redefine what Lemon & Co were about moving into the future.

“Our branding programme involved everyone in the business. We talked to the partners at length to ensure their aims and objectives for the firm were completely integrated.

“We spoke to every single employee and interviewed many, as well as customers old and new. What came out of this ‘discovery’ process was a solid understanding of what people really want and need from Lemon and Co both now and well into the future.

“We at The Edge take our hat off to the entire team at Lemon - their dedication and resolve has been fantastic. It has involved an internal restructuring, new ways of working, new communication tools - just a tremendous investment of time and effort from everyone involved.

Lemon&Co's archives provide a sense of history

Lemon & Co was founded in 1914 when advocate Harold Lemon settled in Swindon following time spent practicing in Totnes, Bradford and Chichester. The practice was set up to deal with the new business of motoring cases, which were being referred by motoring associations.

The firm moved into Regents Circus by 1920 and in 1930, Harold was joined by partner Gordon
Humphreys who in addition to specialising in property and tax also became renowned for his organisational and entrepreneurial skills.

Soon after they were joined by brothers Frank and Leslie Browning, who looked after administration and conveyancing, and Ronnie Parker, a litigator, at this point the practice became known as Lemon Humphreys and Parker.

Ronnie’s prowess in the courtroom soon became legendary, leaving Harold, now affectionately known as ‘Pop Lemon’ to further develop the business.

In 1950 Philip Mather was made a partner – and the firm’s name was lengthened to Lemon Humphreys Parker and Mather. When Peter Fairbairn Copping and John Wraith Halfhead (father of current partner David Halfhead) were taken into the partnership it was agreed that a name can only be so long, and the name Lemon&Co was adopted.

The last of the founding partners of today’s Lemon & Co, John Halfhead, retired in 1980 after 48 years practice with the firm.