A clear gap in the market was identified for a law firm that’s willing to move away from corporate stereotypes, and show off its softer side to build long-lasting relationships with partners, not clients. A relatable law firm that talks like a person, not a corporate thesaurus. However, being a ‘Legal500’ firm with large, specialist teams, in multiple locations across the North West of England, brings its own challenges for implementation and creating a unified voice across the business.

Despite its 135 year heritage, the firm is also now driven by younger, entrepreneurial Partners who wanted an identity that reflected their collaborative approach to decision-making with clients.

To streamline the strategy proposition into a single, memorable brand idea. This then became the starting point for all messaging and tone of voice to be rolled out. It was also important to leverage the rich heritage built on the importance of personal relationships, trust and respect. Helping people who want to take their destiny into their own hands, whether that is commercially or privately.

The symbol in particular echoes the idea of trust and reassurance through an outer, protective ‘B’ containing the ‘&’ inside another ‘B’. We met, and presented, to the senior Partners before the wider teams, with ultimately a brand launch to the entire business.

“By understanding the way our firm works with our clients, across all of our North West sites, The Modern World were able to define our whole company ethos in two simple words, “Decisions, shared”. After living with our new brand for over a year, this brings our concept to life and the collaborative approach it promotes underpins everything we do.” Amy Norman, Marketing Director, Butcher & Barlow

“As an industry, law has historically been one tarred by corporate stereotypes and the reputation of pay-per-minute advice. So, for us to differentiate Butcher & Barlow from the competition, we wanted to focus on their ‘Decisions shared’ mentality and the importance of relationships, trust and respect that have been fundamental to the company’s practice for over a century.”

“As an industry, law has historically been one tarred by corporate stereotypes and the reputation of pay-per-minute advice. So, for us to differentiate Butcher & Barlow from the competition, we wanted to focus on their ‘Decisions shared’ mentality and the importance of relationships, trust and respect that have been fundamental to the company’s practice for over a century.” Matt Lewis, Creative Director