Partner Article

Being a firm that cares reaps rewards for Jacksons in 2025

When we looked back at 2024 last year, Erica Turner, head of legal at Jacksons said it had been so good, she almost didn’t want it to end! Here, head of operations Amie Callan describes why 2025 has been even better.

It has been another landmark year for Jacksons in 2025, following on from the year in which Amie Callan, a non-lawyer, was appointed head of operations and Erica Turner was made head of legal, in a move away from traditional law firm management structures.

In 2025, Amie and Erica have overseen the rebranding of Jacksons together and with the full backing of the whole team – something which Amie is keen to stress is about more than just a new logo and website.

Instead, the new brand has brought Jacksons’ external image in line with its internal ethos and values, which are all about caring for people – both colleagues and clients – as well as striving for continued growth and extending its support for the local communities it serves – all while retaining its much-valued independence.

“I think the rebrand has been a massive part of our whole year in 2025 and has reaped many rewards for the firm,” Amie said.

“Things now look and feel very different, not just in terms of our new logo and bright colours, but in terms of who we are perceived to be from an external perspective, as an independent law firm that cares.

“That was always who we were and still are, but we didn’t feel the old brand aligned with that and didn’t represent us in the way we wanted to be perceived, so the rebrand has been fantastic for us in 2025.”

Amie said feedback on the rebrand continues to be “tremendous” and “really positive”, having succeeded in getting the message across about Jacksons longevity and core caring values.

In 2026, the firm is looking forward to celebrating 150 years since it was established on Teesside and is now a key player in the legal world across the whole North East region.

And Amie says the key to its success is its whole team, which has continued to grow rapidly throughout 2025.

“Our core values are all about having our people at the heart of our business – and I think that comes across very clearly now through the new brand,” says Amie.

“When people look at our website now, through the brand and images, they see us in a very different light – and it’s all about our caring philosophy.”

Amie believes this has translated into financial rewards for the firm, with Jacksons seeing a revenue increase of 20% compared to the same period last year, and with at least three more months of the current financial year to go.

“In terms of revenue, we are continuing to see new records year on year,” Amie says.

“We continue to retain our clients as well as attract new clients, all while maintaining our independence, which is very important to us.

“The rebrand and the work we will do in 2026 to celebrate our 150th year should also allow us to tap into some new markets and continue to drive that success we have been having.”

Amie says people across the firm are very excited about the 150th year celebrations in 2026 – something which has created a “new buzz” around Jacksons’ offices following on from the buzz of the rebrand.

“We have a lot of exciting things planned throughout our year-long celebration, with a number of different events set to take place across all of our fee-earning teams” says Amie.

More will be revealed as we move into 2026, but Amie says the events range from “duck herding to wine-tasting!”

Jacksons is also proud to have continued growing its talented workforce from within in 2025, with a number of promotions recognising a wide range of colleagues’ hard work and achievements.

Significant appointments in 2025 also included Dan Flounders, partner and head of the corporate and commercial department, which Amie says is now “absolutely flying”.

“We are growing from within, but we are also keen to expand into new sectors which means we will also look to attract talent to Jacksons from outside of the business,” says Amie.

“As well as highly skilled and experienced professional lawyers, we also have a significant operations team and without those people, we wouldn’t be able to operate at the level that we do today.

“One exciting role that we brought in in 2025 was our in-house AML (anti-money laundering) compliance officer Kristen McQueen, which represented another departure from traditional legal functions.

“This appointment continues to make a significant impact within the firm.

“Our operational team continues to grow, and we look forward to welcoming a junior developer to our in-house IT team, which will grow to a team of four in the New Year.  This will allow us to further enhance our systems and processes bespoke to our way of working.”

Amie adds that as a forward-thinking firm, Jacksons is also not shying away from developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which have the potential to free up time and support employees in their roles.

“We have formulated an AI team and have AI champions within the firm, as well as some agreed strategic aims around the use of AI,” said Amie.

“We meet monthly to discuss various projects and initiatives.”

In this way, Amie says colleagues will have more time to devote to the areas of their job they most enjoy and excel at.

“It isn’t about replacing anyone, it’s about making people’s lives easier allowing us to take care of our people, our clients and our environment.”

Here’s to the future, 2026 - and Jacksons’ 150th year celebrations!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Walker .