SHOOSM ITHS
Putting purpose into practice SPOTLIGHT ON SIMON BOSS AND SHOOSMITHS
SIMON BOSS GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN IN CORNWALL AND WAS ADVISED NOT TO STUDY LAW BY ONE OF HIS TEACHERS - BUT THAT ONLY SPURRED HIM ON, AND HE IS NOW THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF SHOOSMITHS, A NATIONAL LAW FIRM. Simon believes in giving back to communities and making sure there is a ladder for others to climb to get on in life. He spoke to Fit for Purpose about his own career and the social mobility approach at Shoosmiths.
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Was law something you’d always wanted to do?
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Well, it’s not in the blood - I think it’s fair to say it’s not in the family. I grew up in West Cornwall in a small family business running a hotel, which was a fantastic place to grow up and be a kid, but not a fantastic place if you wanted to explore a big city or find a large commercial organisation to work in. At 17 or 18, I had no idea what I wanted to do with life, so I chose a degree that I thought would give me a good background and opportunity to see where it took me. I decided I wanted to do law, but I was advised against it by a teacher at school who I actually respected and was a fantastic teacher. He suggested it probably wasn’t the best career for me and I would struggle to get into university as a starter. He wasn’t wrong, I did struggle to get into university, but there’s nothing like someone telling you not to do something to make you want to try a little bit harder. I don’t know whether he actually read me well and said that on purpose to prompt me to go for it. Choosing university was easy, because I only got one offer, which was Birmingham University. So I finished the degree and [decided to] continue with law until I found something better to do. I haven’t yet found something better to do. It has taken me from one step to another and each has been good and interesting and has provided plenty of challenge along the way.
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When would you say that you really got interested in the idea of a business having a purpose?
A// // You joined Shoosmiths in 2005 - did you think at that time that you’d ever go on to run it?
// Absolutely not! I joined what was then a large regional practice that was ambitious. It was a bit different – it had a fantastic value set and was very clearly focused around its people, but also gave a platform
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and an opportunity, for me, and for the team that joined with me at that stage, to come in and express ourselves [and] just to be yourself and get on and do it. It was it was like a breath of fresh air coming into that environment. I joined the Birmingham office, which at that time had about 20 people in it and a very clear growth agenda, with the support of [in place] to actually go on and take the business forward. Birmingham is now the largest commercial office in the firm. That was absolutely not down to me, a lot of people can take pride in terms of seeing how Birmingham has grown and developed, but interestingly it’s been replicated across our network.
I think it was in me all the way along but I think there’s a difference between it being in you and a realisation that it’s something in its own right. The first firm that I joined as a trainee, or article clerk [in 1986] was ambitious [but also] had some fantastic leadership within it and was very people focused. I really connected with that for the first 14 or 15 years of my career. Coming into Shoosmiths, it just clicked. Coming into a firm where it felt so strong, it was almost irresistible to me in terms of actually matching my own personal perspective on life. I think
