Markel Law’s vision for the future

Markel Law has evolved significantly since 2019 under the stewardship of our divisional director Richard Napoli, and I was delighted to be appointed as the first senior partner to lead the business. It’s an important moment in Markel Law’s journey, and a step towards a more structured and sustainable future. As we move from early-stage growth challenges to our current trajectory, my appointment will facilitate the building of robust operational structures that will enable our legal service teams and offerings to flourish.

Since 2019, the focus has been on turning Markel Law from a loss-making entity into a profitable business. Our divisional director’s role has been to turn the business around, get the right people in and point them in the right direction. But with his wider responsibilities within our parent company, Markel International, the firm now needs a dedicated day-to-day leader.

With an ambitious goal of being two to three times the size we are now by 2030, it is crucial to maintain the high standards and consistency that have become synonymous with our brand. Scaling up presents its own set of challenges, particularly in maintaining service quality, retaining clients and managing internal turnover.

We’ve steadily progressed from a strong team of fee earners to a firm with solid operational foundations that now need to be built upon and developed over the next few years and beyond to ensure a consistent service as we grow. You need to make customers want to come back, but you won’t do that with inconsistent service.

Scaling up presents its own set of challenges, particularly in maintaining service quality, retaining clients and managing internal turnover.

Culture is important and I’m focused on reinforcing Markel’s people-first values. Traditional law firms have partners responsible for their individual teams, creating minimal cohesion across departments. With our size and structure, there is a really good opportunity to put our people-first philosophy at the heart of our management strategy and work as a single team.

This is really important to me personally, and I felt a different culture to what I have previously experienced the moment I joined. There is a genuine desire to do what’s best for the employee, to nurture the individual and to give them the best work experience possible. You must make sure you don’t lose sight of what runs your business, and that is the people; especially as this directly translates into how customers experience your services.

Our growth strategy relies heavily on hiring and developing the right people, which is why building career frameworks and investing in training remain fundamental. One of my tasks is to ensure we have a pipeline of talent ready to step into roles as we expand. As a smaller firm competing with larger organisations talent retention has been a challenge.

Operationally and process wise I will be focusing on ensuring our operations and legal services align. In the coming months, we will concentrate on further embedding the operational and cultural changes needed to support our growth plans.

I’m delighted to be working at Markel Law and excited about what the future will bring.