Who we are

Although nearly all legal practices have the same commercial objectives as organisations in other industries, the legal sector still believes it is different and to a certain extent it is right to think so. After all, law firms are (at least for the time being!) the last bastion of true partnerships and working inside a partnership can be quite a distinctive experience. In their every day lives lawyers are engaged in highly competitive and sometimes confrontational situations, aspiring to be “right” all the time, working long hours at high levels of intensity. Those who seek to support lawyers in this environment must have complete understanding of all these factors.

Associates at Cresco are consequently chosen for their broad expertise as coaches as well as possessing extensive knowledge of the legal sector. Cresco’s operations are co-ordinated by Nigel McEwen. After building a successful personal litigation practice as a solicitor, Nigel became the managing partner of Tarlo Lyons, a position which he occupied for some 11 years.

During his management the firm grew significantly in terms of turnover, profitability and profile. Nigel set up specialised management training programmes to extend skills in sales, coaching and teamwork as well as introducing commitments to training and personal development, leading to Investors in People accreditation( being at the time the only firm in central London to hold this standard). Nigel also held responsibilities for customer relationship and key client programmes and co-founded a subsidiary (Business Integrity Ltd) to exploit original software using artificial intelligence to automate documents.

Nigel is now an accredited coach concentrating wholly in the professional services arena. He is qualified in delivering a number of psychometric profiling tools, is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and is also carrying out research into returns on investment on coaching in the professional services arena as part of his Masters thesis.

Our other coaches include

• a former senior partner in a top 10 London law firm now extensively coaching in the professional services sector

• a former City solicitor with a masters degree in management with wide experience of training in leadership skills

• a coach and consultant who has worked with both public company boards and partners in law firms

• a former HR director in a city law firm

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