Legal Services for Hollis

Business background

Hollis is an employee-owned, international, independent real estate consultancy. With a team of expert surveyors, engineers, technical specialists, ESG consultants and project managers, it works with owners, occupiers, developers and funders to help them get more out of their real estate.

Hollis has a Europe wide network with a global outlook. Since 1991 they have shaped their own path to the forefront of international real estate consultancy.

The business has grown from two to over 500 people
operating across more than 20 offices, and is committed to providing an engaging, safe and fun environment for its employees and to nurturing diverse talent.

Hollis applies a pragmatic, problem-solving approach to help create a sustainable future for environments, communities and everyone with a stake in the work they do. Sustainability is a key aspect of high-performing real estate, and Hollis applies their expertise to increase energy efficiency, make smarter use of resources and create healthy, safe environments.

Hollis strives to find ways of doing this better, continually seeking new ideas, technologies and ways of working.

Legal services required

As Finance Director at Hollis, Ian Thompson has overall responsibility for finance, governance and compliance as well as contributing to strategic and critical thinking for the organisation. With the business having grown rapidly and the organisations regulatory burden becoming increasingly complex, Ian wanted assistance with the ongoing development and management of their governance and compliance programme as well as legal
support for more complicated matters.

He was looking to bring a legal expert on board to give him an overview of the current status and an accurate understanding of the scope of the future engagement required to maintain robust and comprehensive compliance and keep Hollis at the forefront of ethical and sustainable practices.

Alongside this, he was finding that the legal work he had to deal with was increasing and consequently, he was unable to devote the time he needed to that and his main role. So, he also wanted support with ongoing commercial legal work.

Why The Legal Director?

Hollis was introduced to TLD by one of their consultants who had previously worked with TLD Director James Mallender.

James recommended Client Legal Director David Bray for this assignment. David is a senior lawyer with extensive experience designing and implementing compliance programmes, having worked in senior legal and compliance roles in the financial services sector for nearly 20 years.

Ian was not only impressed with David’s credentials but on meeting him knew he was someone who he could work with effectively and productively: “As soon as I spoke with David, I knew he was the right person for the job. His knowledge and experience were obvious, but more than that, he was someone who would give us practical as well as legal advice and fit in with the Hollis way. He immediately felt like part of the team.”

Legal services provided

David initially engaged in a due diligence exercise to assess the current status of Hollis’ compliance programme and the scope of the future engagement. He was asked to concentrate on general regulatory compliance (with a particular focus on financial crime & health and safety), corporate governance, commercial matters, data protection, professional standards and employee relations.

From his investigations, David produced a report and
summary matrix that clearly evaluated the maturity of each area covered by the review, recommended potential programme enhancements and ranked the importance of the recommended actions.

He then moved on to an ongoing delivery and maintenance phase, addressing the proposed programme enhancements in a targeted fashion and supporting the ongoing maintenance of the compliance programme, and reporting to the board on any changes in the regulatory environment that would impact Hollis’s business practices.

Benefits to the business

Ian felt the immediate benefit of having someone coming in at a senior level taking work off his desk. “David’s experience was obvious straightaway. Having the commercial nous as well as the legal expertise meant he really did hit the ground running and it freed up time for me to concentrate on my core role.”

The systematic and detailed way that David approached compliance gave the business real confidence that nothing had been overlooked. “Operating to the highest standards is vitally important for Hollis”, says Ian, “David’s ‘Compliance Blueprint’ report gave us both an overview and the detail we needed to map out the journey Hollis needs to go on to ensure our compliance programme keeps pace with our ambitious plans for business growth. Also, as David is such a great fit in the business, the fact that he can work with us to provide practical help and guidance to implement and manage the programme going forward is another great benefit for Hollis.“

“David’s ‘Compliance Blueprint’ report gave us both an overview and the detail we needed to map out the journey Hollis needs to go on to ensure our compliance programme keeps pace with our ambitious plans for business growth.”

About The Legal Director

The Legal Director is a fully regulated legal consultancy that provides in-house lawyers part-time, on a retained basis.

If you are focussing on compliance in your business, we can help you to develop a robust and comprehensive compliance programme. Our ‘Compliance Blueprint’ product puts one of our Client Legal Directors in your business to review your current compliance. You will then receive a written report with recommendations and a summary matrix indicating our assessment of the maturity of your compliance programme in each area covered by the review. We can produce this as a discrete piece of work or alongside our customary part-time in-house legal service. We can also support any enhancements to your compliance programme that are highlighted as desirable following our review.

Do you require similar legal advice or legal services?

Call us on 020 3056 8538,
Email us at info@thelegaldirector.co.uk
or send us an enquiry.