Number of lawyers in team: 115
Legal directory rankings: 21
Q&A with dispute resolution lawyer, Kelly Tinkler who joined in 2017 from Shakespeare Martineau
How did you hear about Keystone?
I heard of the Keystone model through the legal press and when I started looking for a new role, I interviewed with more traditional firms as well as new-model firms. I found myself saying I would be able to bring in around £400,000 to £500,000 worth of business and the traditional firms said that would make me around £120,000 of income. The Keystone model would generate three times that amount, so I found myself asking why on earth I was looking at a traditional model.
How does the IT system and support compare to a traditional law firm?
When I joined, it happened to coincide with the Keystone skiing holiday, so my induction was delayed by two weeks. But I still found I was able to use the IT system to run conflict checks, to generate retainer letters, and to actually do substantive work purely intuitively because the computer systems are just that far advanced compared to a traditional law firm. There is an IT department, who are experts at fixing your laptop when things go wrong!
What kind of support do you have from the rest of the Dispute Resolution team?
Most of the work I do is international and because of the size of it, I invariably need a team to support me to do that work. At Keystone we have 90 partner-level litigators to call upon. For example, I may have a construction case and because I am certainly not a construction litigator, I will bring in a Keystone construction lawyer to run that case for me subject to my supervision. I have also been busy enough to maintain my own paralegal who is on call whenever I need them.
What are other lawyers like at Keystone?
Keystone lawyers have all come up through the ranks and have all developed their own practices and specialties. So they are already people who you can trust and rely upon, both in terms of their expertise and in terms of client management. They are outgoing and fun people on the whole.
To watch a video interview with Kelly Tinkler, please click on the play button.