A new approach to practicing law

We believe that the best way to build a sustainable, high-performance culture is to do so with a focus on personal engagement and wellness.

This approach is the cornerstone of what we call SWART 3.0, the third iteration of our practice management philosophy since the inception of the business. It builds on the lessons learned over more than a decade on how to promote a human-centric platform for people to pursue their professional ambitions.

• We assign reasonable fee targets.
• While we promote in-person meetings, we have progressive remote working and flexitime policies.
• We use a blend of custom and third-party technologies to focus our efforts on creative work and critical thinking, rather than administration.
• Staff have access to an industrial psychiatrist, who is embedded in our team to help us work at our best in a sustainable manner.
• Our corporate social responsibility team co-ordinates our efforts in this regard, regularly convening events that make a difference outside of our professional work.
• We run bi-weekly fitness challenges to motivate ourselves to keep active. Staff have access to shower facilities at the office.
• We have monthly team social events, typically at a new restaurant, a local wine farm, or do some group activity (ideally supporting one of our clients).
• For ergonomic support and comfort, we only use Herman Miller Aeron® chairs at the office.

Professional growth

We believe great things are achieved by teams, working together from a shared purpose towards a common goal.

• We negotiate key personal and team performance objectives on a bi-annual basis and reward achievements through our prevailing bonus schemes. We check in with each other on progress and make changes if necessary.
• We start each week with a workflow meeting, where professionals discuss ongoing projects, planning the best path to successful completion.
• We actively track developments in the law within our focus areas and debate these developments at monthly knowledge management meetings.
• Through SWART University, various structured learning opportunities are available, such as internal masterclasses on various topics.
• Our executive study programme invites seniors to study recent, authoritative and forward-thinking books on topics such as strategy, leadership and wellness, which is then debated and put into practice.
• We provide liberal support to pursue external learning opportunities that align with our focus.