Yorkshire law firm becomes employee owned

A Yorkshire law firm which is a former winner of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise has been sold to an employee ownership trust.

Tapestry Compliance, which has offices in Sheffield and Leeds, was founded by Janet Cooper OBE and Bob Grayson.

Their shares, as well as those of the other two founders Shirley Cooper and Marianne Chalcraft, have been sold to a newly-formed EOT.

An agreement has been reached for the founders to be paid the purchase price out of future profits.

Tapestry has worked with Aviva, HSBC Goldman Sachs and TripAdviser on employee and executive share awards, and is an established advisor on employee share ownership plans. The firm won a Queens Awards for Enterprise – International Trade in 2017.

Cooper said: “One of my key goals when we set up Tapestry was to create a business which was good for women lawyers to enjoy a long and successful career advising on interesting and challenging work.

“From the outset we have offered agile working and our team is over 70 per cent female. Many women lawyers who work in an agile way do not have the opportunity to become partners in the business.

“By becoming employee owned all our lawyers and team members become partners in the business and share in its future success. We are one of a handful of law firms who have become employee owned and I feel sure this is a great model for the future.”

Deb Oxley, chief executive of the Employee Ownership Association (EOA), added: “We congratulate Tapestry on its move to employee ownership – sustaining its values, customer focus and culture for future generations.

“By rooting the jobs in the UK economy and having the independence to plan for the longer term makes these types of businesses more resilient.

“By giving employees a stake and a say they build trust and shared responsibility, therefore uniting leaders and employees behind a common purpose, placing them in a better position to flex and adapt – key qualities needed to help the UK Build Back Better.”

Janet Cooper previously led the global employee incentives team at law firm Linklaters for more than 20 years. She was awarded an OBE in 2017 for Services to Equality, Women’s Empowerment and Employee Share Ownership.