Telfer Blacklock carried off the prestigious award for Managing partner of the year, having been nominated for the second year in a row. Under Telfer’s stewardship, Blacklocks –which specialises in debt recovery - has generated a fee income in excess of half a million pounds, and have seen its profits rise 50% in the last financial year, a significant success for a three partner firm.
The firm’s two law accountants and two paralegals have all been with the company since leaving school, creating a tight unit and promoting loyalty towards the aims of the firm.
Telfer is one of only eleven practitioners in the UK to achieve the top ranking in his field in the Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession, where it is placed above giants such as Shepherd and Wedderburn and Harper MacLeod and, despite its small scale, is also listed in the Legal 500.
Chambers says that its leading listed individuals “have demonstrated an exceptional ability to handle both high volume and high value work for a variety of household name businesses, and have helped to strengthen or build the reputation of their firms as experts in the recovery of outstanding debts.”
In the office, Telfer will be found in the thick of it amongst his colleagues, and not tucked away in an eyrie on his own. The office is open plan and the team work together, so he can be seen and heard carrying on his business, and can monitor the performance of the team, whilst being on hand to provide advice if required.
Due to Telfer’s close involvement with the firm’s IT programme, he is in discussions to develop a Debt Recovery case management system. He also prides himself on his plain speaking, which is reflected in the firm’s recently launched website (www.blacklocks.co.uk) which aims to provide information to lay clients in a simple, effective format, with prominent fee earner photographs to ensure client recognition.
He says that the firm is greater than the sum of its parts, and says he runs the firm on the basis that any one of its staff might go under a bus on the way home, himself included. Therefore, it is essential to ensure a ready flow of information around the office, keeping everyone in the loop.
He says that when he goes on holiday he has sure knowledge that the firm will run perfectly without him, and this, he says, is his greatest achievement.