Roger Hart, Addleshaw Goddard's Head of Manchester Office and a Corporate Partner at the law firm, talks about his long legal career.
Today Roger Hart is at the top of the legal profession, advising high-profile companies at one of Manchester’s leading law firms. This week, he was shortlisted in the North West Rainmaker Awards for Rainmaker of the Year. In January, he was named as one of the Hot100 UK lawyers by the prestigious legal publication, The Lawyer. Given his success, you might think a career in the law was always Roger’s aim but in fact he never planned to go to university, let alone become a lawyer,
“I'd never intended to become a lawyer,” he explains. “It was never in the plan. I didn't have a plan. I went to a comprehensive school in Bolton and there was never a push to go to university. I was just going to leave school at 16. Becoming a professional cricketer was the goal for a while and I wasn't looking beyond that. But I realised at the age of around 15/16 that I wasn't good enough for that. I was good at cricket, but not that good.”
Once being a cricketer was no longer an option, Roger describes becoming a lawyer as “a series of very lucky decisions” that began with him being asked if he was going to stay on after 16 to do A-levels. Halfway through his A-level course, he was asked if he was going to apply to university, and law was suggested as a good degree as it was well-regarded by employers. He hadn't previously thought about doing A-levels or going to university – both were stopgaps while he figured out what he wanted to do in life.
When it came to choosing a university, Roger admits he “had a massive working-class chip on my shoulder” at the time, which meant he didn't want to apply to Oxford or Cambridge - "the view I took at the time was that only the dull, unsporty swats went there – that was a bit naïve, albeit it was true of my school". Once he got his place at University College London to study law, he was firmly on the path to becoming a lawyer and never looked back.
He says: “I got into UCL, which was then and is still now the second-best university for law after Cambridge and, after my first year, I realised I'd found something I was good at and the rest is history. It’s complete luck, in my view, as to how I got into that university and, of course, once you've got a university of that calibre on your CV, it opens up getting employed by top law firms like Addleshaw Goddard.”
Social Mobility
Looking at the situation today, Roger believes it can still be hard for a young person coming from his sort of background to enter the legal profession.
He says: “I think kids who are in the position I was in don’t have parents or other adults saying this is what you need to do to get into this profession. Study that subject, do that work experience, apply to that organisation, do that charity work in Africa. They don't have that guidance. At Addleshaw Goddard, we are trying to address that through the social mobility initiatives we have to help kids from that kind of background to get that kind of guidance. Without that, they lack the knowledge of what to do in order to get into the profession. Kids from more privileged backgrounds have got that in abundance. They've got their parents, they've got their parents’ networks, they've got their school's knowhow and connections. It's chalk and cheese, unfortunately.”
Addleshaw Goddard has Social Mobility Champions within the firm who help to deliver various work experience and mentoring programmes aimed at socially diverse students. For a number of years, the firm has supported the PRIME initiative, where law firms provide quality work experience for young people who might otherwise struggle to get access to these kinds of opportunities. Last year, Addleshaw Goddard, launched a flagship Legal Explorer Programme for Year 12 students – click here for more information. Addleshaw Goddard also has the 'Sonia McMahon Award', which is designed to help first year university law students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds through financial and employability support. The award was set up 12 years ago in honour of Sonia McMahon, a partner in the firm’s restructuring team who passed away tragically at age 37.
Working Life
Unlike many young people starting their career today, Roger has spent his whole working life in the same business from training to becoming a Partner in 2005.
“I think there are three reasons why you why you would stay with an employer,” he explains. “From a professional perspective, are you doing the best work in the region for the best clients, and that's a bit of professional satisfaction, ego, whatever you want to call it. This firm is at the pinnacle of the profession in this region. So, of course, the answer to that's always been ‘yes’.
“You need to like the people that you work with. I think we have a unique culture here where it is very easy to like the vast majority of your colleagues right up to the very top. And thirdly, you need to get rewarded well for your hard work.
“Those three things have conspired to never really make me think there would be anywhere better in this region for me to move to.”
In May last year, Roger became Head of Addleshaw Goddard’s Manchester office which sees him act as an ambassador for the firm across the North West.
He says: “We have very big growth ambitions, so I see that role as mainly being to facilitate the growth of our business in this region. To get our business out into the market even more than it is already, in order to get more and more clients and to increase our brand awareness, so that every business and every lawyer in the region knows about the quality of our work, the quality of our people, and that we’re a law firm they should want to work with or for.”
In his other role as Corporate Partner, Roger advises such major names as JD Sports, Speedy Hire, Applied Nutrition and Boohoo (now called Debenhams). And, as Addleshaw Goddard’s reach extends far beyond the North West, Roger leads the firm’s relationship with London-based BT and Currys.
North West Pride
While Roger is focused on opportunities for Addleshaw Goddard across the country, he is passionate about the North West as a place to do business.
“There are some great businesses in this region and a lot of energy,” he says. “I see a lot of energy amongst businesses, a lot of energy amongst funders. This city's got more private equity houses than any city in the UK after London. There are 20 private equity houses with offices in Manchester, which is massively more than any other city apart from London. And if you look at the stats around the amount of private equity investment done across Europe, Manchester is second only to London and therefore it's ahead of Paris. It's ahead of Frankfurt. It's ahead of lots of great cities when it comes to private equity.
To me, these are signs of how vibrant the business community here is, because private equity only opens offices in cities where they think there are some great businesses for them to invest in. So, we're thriving.”
Roger also believes the strength of Manchester’s legal sector means that young people can build a law career in the city without having to move to London.
He adds: “There are some big law firms in Manchester and we’re one of them. There's a good community of professional advisors, lawyers, accountants, PR and private equity. The quality of work and the quality of client that you'll be servicing is strong enough that you don't know need to go to London. But if you do, I would never criticise someone for going and experiencing London, but I think you can come home and have a very fulfilling career here.”
AG's ambition
Addleshaw Goddard aims to be a £1 billion business by 2030 and Roger is driving growth in the Manchester office as part of that goal. He believes there are opportunities for the firm across all sectors as the number one legal services brand in the North West.
Due to recent economic uncertainty, Roger feels this year will be tougher for businesses than he expected, but he believes there are still great opportunities for Addleshaw Goddard to grow.
“I was expecting 2025 to be a brilliant year, with the economy stabilising and interest rates coming down,” he says. “However, events in the last six months have meant I don't think it will be quite as strong as I was expecting. Having said that, if we get our strategy right of engaging with the market, there'll always be opportunities for us, given our reputation and connections.
“The challenge that firms like ours always have is recruiting and retaining top talent, but that’s no different in any year. I think we’re an aspirational law firm for lawyers to work for in the North West. That doesn't mean we can be complacent, but I think it does help with recruitment. When people are working in the business, we need to look after them and I think we do that well. We have a good culture. We've got some good flexibility that we offer our people and we give them a good work life balance.”
When it comes to his own career, winning new clients and advising on deals remain Roger’s driving passions.
“I never wanted to go into management as I always wanted to focus on client work,” he says. “'Client and deals, clients and deals' was my mantra. I took on the role of Head of our Manchester office last May, but that's the extent of my management ambitions. I would never want to stop or even reduce the amount of time I spend advising clients. That's what I'm good at, so why would I or the firm want me to reduce that? So, in terms of my ambitions away from leading the Manchester office, I'm always chasing new clients, chasing the next big transaction to advise on. So many clients have become personal friends over the years – maybe most of them, in fact.”
Find Out More
Addleshaw Goddard is an international law firm with 19 offices around the world. In Manchester, its roots go back to 1857, when John William Addleshaw began his legal practice. Most recently, the firm opened a new office in Madrid and announced Warsaw as its next location. Visit https://www.addleshawgoddard.com/en/ for more information.