About Us
Gosschalks is a progressive full service law firm based in Kingston-upon-Hull. Our client base is not only local but stretches to all corners of the UK and incorporates a diverse range of business types from sole traders to national PLCs.
We always strive to enhance our reputation as trusted advisors, offering pragmatic advice and always ensuring we provide great value for our clients and at the same time, exciting opportunities for our people.
Now with 34 partners, 4 associates, 9 assistant solicitors and 7 paralegals, the practice continues to grow and, having invested heavily in technology, is able to offer a very dynamic service to clients. Gosschalks benefits from a positive working atmosphere born from a desire to remain at the forefront of a rapidly changing legal world and to continue to provide clients with the best possible service.
We are a “one office” firm and the move, 14 years ago, to our own purpose-built city centre office complex has further enhanced the ability of our people to deliver a first class service to our clients with each department being on-hand to complement the others. We have a high ratio of partners to assistant solicitors. This means that all your work will be done by, or be closely supervised by, a partner with substantial experience in the relevant area. Your work will not be passed down through several layers of hierarchy to inexperienced people.
We invest large amounts of time and effort in ensuring that our people are kept abreast of all areas of development including technology. Gosschalks has developed carefully planned and documented systems to cope with the increasing demand for leading edge services across the UK legal market. Our methodical approach has seen the practice rapidly expand its use and understanding of technology, continually adding value to the service we offer our clients.
Despite the substantial and necessary development of technology, we strive to keep matters as simple and straightforward as possible and to maintain a personal touch which we believe many larger legal practices struggle to achieve. We believe that our people should provide a friendly, informed and trusted point of contact for clients.
We take the view that fostering a “partnership” with clients enables clearer communication which in turn provides us with a better understanding of our clients’ objectives and means we effectively become an extension to our clients’ in-house resources. We actively encourage our clients to review the way we communicate with them so as to ensure we continue to maintain a competitive edge and provide them with the best possible levels of service.
WHAT CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEANS TO GOSSCHALKS
Corporate social responsibility ( CSR ) is something which should be of concern to all businesses. For Gosschalks CSR is about managing our business in a way that enhances the positive and minimises the negative economic, social and environmental impacts of our activities and the services we provide. We aim to combine the provision of high quality legal advice to our clients with a rewarding working environment and an awareness of the wider community together with support for our people to engage at all levels of the business.
CSR requires balancing the interests of our stakeholders who include our clients, our employees, the local community and relevant regulatory bodies. Our stakeholders are fundamental to the success of our business and to achieving our vision of the responsible delivery of legal services by highly motivated employees. Our CSR policy builds on the values we hold as a firm for the benefit of all our stakeholders, and guides us in making a positive social impact.
Responsibility for CSR performance rests with all partners and employees throughout the firm. This policy is designed to guide and inform the decisions of everyone at Gosschalks. The importance of CSR to Gosschalks is reflected by the responsibility for the delivery of our CSR commitments being with the Business Development Director and supported by the firm’s management committee which has broad membership from departmental heads across the firm.
This policy is an integral part of our core business strategy and is reviewed regularly and updated as necessary.
GOSSCHALKS VALUES
Our culture We believe that striving to improve our client service is consistent with creating a friendly and supportive working environment. Clients enjoy working with motivated and friendly colleagues. We aim to provide a creative environment where our employees are offered the freedom to think and apply their technical skills. We encourage teamwork throughout the firm which is vitally important in our relationships with clients.
Our lawyers are committed to being 'hands-on', we have an ‘open door’ policy allowing everyone in the firm together with clients to tap into the extensive experience of the lawyers in their respective specialist fields through practical application of the law in a commercial environment. Our clients are at the core of our business. We take pride in looking after our clients and aim to provide a professional, cost-efficient, accessible and responsible service at all times. This is backed up by our commitment to the Law Society’s Lexcel Practice Management standard to which we are accredited. Lexcel accredited practices undergo rigorous independent assessment every year to ensure they meet required standards of excellence in areas such as client care, case management and risk management.
We work hard to maintain our local and national reputation for strong straightforward and pragmatic advice. We aim to combine sound legal judgment with undoubted commercial acumen. Gosschalks values diversity in the workplace and expects and promotes mutual respect and understanding between people with different personal situations or backgrounds. Gosschalks defines diversity as differences of race, national origin, religion, cultural background, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as differences in work abilities and capabilities.
We believe in caring for our employees and are committed to delivering a competitive and fair employment environment and the opportunity to advance. We believe continued learning is important for all our employees, and we strive to ensure that everyone in our organisation has ready access to development opportunities at all times. This is backed up by the provision of a full time training manager together with annual opportunity assessments for everyone in the firm.
GOSSCHALKS WORK IN THE COMMUNITY
For Gosschalks, CSR extends well beyond handing over a cheque to a well known charity. The firm is dedicated to being a responsible contributing member of society, seeking to build strong relationships with the local community and making a positive impact on those who need our help most. Charitable giving and volunteerism are part of the Gosschalks culture, and our employees are making a difference through local involvement and corporate activities - partnering with community organisations, business and government, schools and workforce development programmes, all designed to make a difference to people's lives.
The firm is proud of the contribution made by employees to CSR programmes and aims to encourage and facilitate the growth and development of CSR projects by the firm. The success of our CSR policy is dependent on the contribution made by individuals and all employees throughout the firm are encouraged to consider how they can participate. Our CSR policy outlines our support for a broad range of activities in areas such as pro bono assistance, sponsorship and the arts, charity and community work. Participation is both by individuals and as a firm and activities include:
- Being an official charity partner of the Smile Foundation, providing support for local lives in Hull & East Yorkshire resulting in numerous volunteering and community projects.
- Being a key business supporter and mentoring centre of the Hull Children’s University
- Being an active supporter of Enterprise Education through our continued support and involvement with Young Enterprise Yorkshire & Humber. Gosschalks are current ‘Who wants to be an £ntrepreneur’ champions.
- Supporting local sporting teams, both professional and amateur. This includes being official City business members and key supporters of the new Solutions through Sport initiative at Hull City.
- Being members and providing board membership of Hull Bondholders. The Bondholders scheme is all about bringing businesses together to raise Hull's profile and change its image, providing a positive context in which Hull's businesses can operate.
- Providing pro bono legal advice to charities and not for profit businesses locally and nationally
- Supporting initiatives aimed at assisting businesses in the Yorkshire region
- Supporting and sponsoring community work by employees
Examples of current initiatives are available via our community Facebook page.
ENVIRONMENT
Gosschalks acts with respect and consideration for the environment. We are continually taking steps to minimise our impact on the environment through reduction of waste and energy consumption. We encourage all our employees to consider the effect of their actions on natural resources. Our goal is to be not only conscious of, but also responsible in the way we deal with our environmental impact.
We have an established Environmental committee which looks at ways in which the firm's impact on the environment can be reduced. Gosschalks has taken part in the Business in the Community Environment Index initiative. The index uses a framework of best practice to shape our approach to environmental issues as well as to benchmark against peers. Current projects include: Reducing the volume of paper and plastic waste we produce and maximising its reuse and recycling through proactive waste management. Saving energy by encouraging staff to be aware of their impact on the environment, and through intelligent use of technology. Investigation into the benefits of a solar panel installation at our offices