Lexcel Assessment 2019
Lexcel is the Law Society’s quality mark for excellence in legal practice management and in client care. Bowcock Cuerden LLP has held the prestigious Lexcel accreditation standard since 2001, far longer than any other local legal practice; indeed for many years it was the only law firm between Chester and the Potteries to have achieved such accreditation. The standard is noted as going significantly beyond the requirements normally required of solicitors’ practices. It is regularly updated and the current Lexcel standard, introduced during 2018 and more searching and wide-ranging than ever before, is 6.1.
Accredited firms are assessed annually by independent external assessors and our 18th annual external assessment took place during January 2019.
The Lexcel standard identifies an “Area of Good Practice” as one in which Lexcel requirements are not merely met but exceeded. The assessor identified no less than twenty-four such areas throughout the firm, a record during its long period of accreditation. Particularly praised were the firm’s strategic financial and risk management, its GDPR compliance systems, its level of service to clients and its systems for the management of clients’ matters. No non-compliances of any kind were identified.
Managing Director Philip Cuerden said: “That a law firm achieved Lexcel accreditation at such an early stage, and has maintained it for so long, is a reliable indicator of an accomplished commitment to excellence in legal practice. We are delighted that an external assessor has again elected to rank our performance so highly, and this is a fitting tribute to the hard work and dedication of its directors and staff”.
