In early 2025, after 17 years in business, regional law firm DTM Legal, approached Sherrington Associates to help them recruit a new Performance & Growth Director.

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DTM Legal

Founded in 2008, DTM Legal are a well-established, regional firm of solicitors, operating out of two offices in Chester and Liverpool. Providing clients with a full spectrum of legal services across Corporate and Commercial, Dispute Resolution, Commercial Property, Residential Conveyancing, Construction, Employment, Trusts & Estates, Business Recovery and Agriculture. Over sixteen years the business has gained an excellent reputation supporting clients across the Mersey / Dee region, nationally and internationally, expanding in 2013 with the opening of the Liverpool office, soon succeeded with a larger office in the heart of the city’s professional services quarter, St Paul’s Square.

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Performance & Growth Director

DTM’s management team had been carefully shaping its future growth aspirations. The decision had been made to recruit a Performance & Growth Director to spearhead the optimisation and development of internal systems and processes that will ultimately increase productivity and enhance organisational performance, whilst also laying the foundations for accelerated growth through better identification and conversion of new commercial opportunities.

It was believed that the successful candidate would need to come from a strong professional services background, or at the very least a B2B services background where they could evidence having delivered exceptional growth, preferably within a small to medium-sized partnership, where they have worked with a board, or partnership, to achieve significantly improved performance, resulting in tangible revenue and profit growth.

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The Search

Having spent significant time with DTM's owners and partners, shaping the brief for the P&G Director, advising on key parameters relevant to securing the best possible candidate for the position, Sherrington Associates began by developing a compelling Recruitment Pack to showcase this new opportunity to potential candidates.

Next, our researchers got to work developing a Target List of organisations where potential candidates could be found in relevant senior management positions, using quantitative research methods to identify those organisations most likely to be aligned with DTM's organisational stature, regional coverage, service-alignment and likely cultural traits. Working in parallel, our consultants tapped into valuable referral sources within their extensive network of senior professional services leaders across the North West of England to illicit high-calibre, pre-qualified candidates.

After several weeks of exacting research and after making a series of confidential approaches to key targets, our team developed an impressive long-list. The long-list was scrutinised by the team, and after consulting with clients at DTM Legal, we progressed to preselection interviews managed by our consultancy team. Candidates were assessed biographically and using competency interview techniques, as well as using Sherrington's own 4A Sustainable Leadership Assessments and Barrett Personal Values Assessments.

Finally, after an exhaustive search and selection process, a final shortlist of six candidates was presented to DTM Legal and interviews were facilitated with the panel. The panel commented on the strength of the shortlist and the diversity of skills and strengths presented at interview.

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The Result

Following the panel's three-stage interview process, an offer was made to the Managing Director of a North West regional law firm who demonstrated a highly-relevant track-record of optimising commercial performance leading to tangible growth in the organisation. Ray Langley, formerly MD at Birchall Blackburn Law, joins DTM Legal in August 2025. Our team wishes Ray and the team at DTM Legal every success in this exciting new chapter.