Tell us about your company…

DAC Beachcroft LLP is a leading international legal business with offices across the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

We partner with our clients to help them achieve sustainable growth and to defend their business and reputation. We do this by taking a tailored approach to providing commercial, transactional, claims, risk and advisory legal services.

We are recognised leaders in Insurance, Health and Real Estate and draw on the knowledge, industry experience and commercial expertise of our outstanding 2,200 lawyers and support colleagues in these sectors and beyond.

We are forward-thinking, flexible and easy to engage with and we’re proud that our clients tell us regularly that we’re great to work with.

We know that our clients value advice that is innovative, practical and personal to them, and we pride ourselves on getting to the heart of their businesses. We measure our performance against their expectations and embrace change as a necessary stage in evolving and strengthening our relationships.

The close working relationship we enjoy with our clients has not been built overnight but honed carefully over the last 250 years. This means today our clients can remain confident they have the very best legal expertise available.

How did you find out about the High Tide Foundation?

We work closely with many of the businesses who already support HighTide including PD Ports.  We also have a significant number of staff who are from the Tees Valley and feel very strongly that it is important to maintain a sustainable future for children attending schools and colleges in the area.  Those staff members knew of, or had family engaged in, the HighTide programmes.  Having spoken with Kim and David it was clear to us that supporting, and working with, the HighTide team would allow us to positively contribute to the development of industry in the Tees Valley area.

What was your reason for becoming a member of the High Tide Foundation?

Corporate Social responsibility is very important to DAC Beachcroft LLP, as is social mobility.  The legal profession is, historically, known for being a difficult industry to break into without the right connections.  We are dedicated to breaking this mould.  We recognise the rich and diverse bank of talent the Tees Valley has to offer and relish the opportunity of working for and with some of the forward thinking businesses of the region in developing the next generation of business men and woman, and perhaps even some lawyers!

What support will your company offer to High Tide?

DAC Beachcroft LLP can offer work placements and school visits, supporting workshops for the various cadetship programmes and engaging with the committee in providing resource and support for fundraising events.

What do you hope to gain from offering work experience opportunities to students through the High Tide Foundation?

Offering work experience to a more diverse range of students helps DAC Beachcroft to develop a workforce that is adaptable and free thinking.  We pride ourselves on not providing a one size fits all advice and, in part, this is fuelled by the broad range of lawyers we appoint.  Academic results are only one part of making a good lawyer, commerciality and an innovative approach to thinking have equal value to us.  We hope to be able to show to the students that geography and demographic should be no bar to achieving their legal career aspirations.

Are you a business in Teesside or the North East like DAC Beachcroft, who are looking to give back to the community by offering work experience placement or apprenticeships? Do you think you could help us provide knowledge of your industry by offering your assistance through our many programmes? If you are interested in becoming a member of the High Tide Foundation, then please get in touch.

Contact our General Manager, Lauren Bywater, on 07834 176945or email info@hightidefoundation.co.uk.