We have set up shop in Cardiff City Centre, with support from the Welsh Assembly Government and Cardiff City Council.
What a brilliant welcome! Cardiff City Council has said over and over again that Cardiff is the right place for Carbon. Not that we needed any encouragement. Cardiff is a historic, vibrant city with unique character. We love exploring the gilded Victorian Arcades, where the traditional and the alternative sit side-by-side, boosting each others’ footfall. And we enjoy the beautiful views from our Conference Room – our offices are just a stone’s throw from Cardiff Castle.
Carbon’s exciting move follows a £0.5m funding boost for our business. The Welsh Assembly Government has played a big part in this. Today, the Minister for the Economy, Science & Transport, Edwina Hart, said that the government is enthusiastic about Carbon’s growth plans. We are going to create 25 new roles at our Cardiff HQ. Our ten Partners are based in Cardiff, Bristol, Manchester and Reading. The Partners know that they are welcome to pop in and work with us any time.
The Spirit of Partnership
For those who don’t know, Carbon is built on the ‘Spirit of Partnership’. This simple concept really resonates with our entrepreneurial clients and business-minded lawyers. We believe in law and business working together to achieve shared objectives. We keep all of the best things about large, traditional law firms – and we also incorporate innovative, high growth business structures from other sectors.
Our Chief Executive, Michael Burne, is really clear about this. “Law is a service business. We are here to serve. Our Partners are our clients, and their clients are the point! For too long, law firms have addressed the market in the wrong way by telling clients what they do. We think it’s about time we asked clients what they need and want.”
And this is exactly what we’ve done. Carbon’s ‘best of both’ approach is inspired by careful research. We talked to lawyers and clients to find out how they would work differently if only they had the freedom to shake things up. As a result, Carbon treats its lawyers like valued clients. Our focus is clear: supporting our expert Partners so that they, in turn, can concentrate on delivering great results for their clients.
“To do that a firm has to operate flexibly and be able to adapt. Law firms don’t like change and many have inflexible structures preventing positive, time efficient changes of course. Carbon is able to be highly responsive to client needs on price, service delivery and relationship. In fact, we promise our clients we will do our best to get things right first time with the right lawyer, at the right time, in the right place and for the right price.”
The right place
Now that we are in the right place, we’re ready for this Spirit of Partnership to take hold and gain momentum. As Michael reminds us all, “Cardiff is growing rapidly and the environment for professional services firms to flourish here is very real. We’ve gained encouragement from the Welsh Government and Cardiff City Council. Their support, coupled with the additional funding coming to the group, sets Carbon on course to continue our steady, controlled growth.”