This will be my last blog for Jacksons as managing partner but hopefully not the last one I write for the firm. At the end of this month my term as managing partner comes to an end and I will become a consultant to the firm. It is a strange moment in time. This is my plan and it fits with the succession plans the firm has been working on for some time. I am very lucky to be a member of a partnership which has planned succession and not left it to chance.
At times like this it is very easy to reminisce and look back over things that have happened, but I do not want my last blog in this role to look backwards but forwards to the future for Jacksons.
Firstly, I want to say that I am delighted that my successor as managing partner of the firm is Tony Wentworth, someone who has committed his whole career to Jacksons and is passionate about both the firm and the north east. I know Jacksons is in safe hands to grow and prosper in the years ahead. He is supported by a strong and vibrant partnership with a real team spirit and a desire to do the best for the practice, its clients, and the north east. The firm is therefore in great shape as we move forward.
Secondly, I look at the young people in the firm who have completed their apprenticeships and taken new roles in the firm, our trainees starting their legal career, our solicitors and associates progressing through the firm and learning new skills all the time as they go and last but by no means least all of our support staff who ensure the smooth running of the practice and know that their energy, commitment and resolve to do their best is second to none. Everyone has been challenged, in particular, in the last eighteen months and it is the support that everyone has given each other and their desire to find a way round problems that has been so heartening to be a part of. I know there are great things to come from this group of very special people.
Thirdly, I look at the challenges that need to be met – how we help young people recover from the effects of the pandemic, how we consider the environment and sustainability in business, how we ensure gender equality and fight against discrimination and how we fight for levelling up for our region, and I see things Jacksons is doing and has planned which gives me great hope and encouragement that the firm is playing its part now and will do so going forward.
So, what next for me. I am thrilled to say that I have the opportunity to become a consultant for Jacksons to work with the people I admire so much within the firm, to continue to support our clients and to promote the firm and the north east business community which means so much to me. I am truly honoured to be given this chance and look forward to meeting with so many of you while doing this. When I wanted to return to work after a career break it was Jacksons which gave me the opportunity to do this, gradually working part time and building up my hours as my children grew up. Now it is Jacksons which is allowing me to reverse the process and gradually reduce my working days. That is special.
Jane Armitage
