UK law firm Burges Salmon has appointed Alice Bretherton chief people officer as of this month.
With responsibility for all aspects of Burges Salmon’s people-first agenda, Bretherton will lead the firm’s people strategy for its workforce of more than 1,000 people based across its offices in Bristol, Edinburgh and London.
She will ensure Burges Salmon continues to recruit, develop and retain talent and to remain an employer of choice, while also working to support the delivery of its diversity, inclusion and social mobility priorities, as part of the firm’s commitment to being a responsible business.
Bretherton joins from EY, where she was strategic talent director for the tax and law business in the UK and Ireland. She had end-to-end responsibility for HR and talent activities such as recruitment, performance, reward, engagement, learning and development, and diversity, equity and inclusion, along with being a member of the executive leadership team.
She previously held roles at KPMG International as global head of organisational development, and subsequently global head of workforce of the future.
Bretherton said: “The first thing that really struck me about Burges Salmon was its authenticity in terms of its values and unique culture, which are both clearly at the core of its overarching vision and purpose. This, along with the impressive efforts that Burges Salmon makes to build long-lasting relationships with its clients, its people and the organisations it works with as part of its responsible business agenda, represents genuine differentiation in the market. I’m proud to be joining a firm that doesn’t just pay lip service to these important factors but really does ‘walk-the-talk’.”
Roger Bull, managing partner at Burges Salmon, added: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Alice as our new chief people officer. Alice brings with her a huge amount of experience and expertise in delivering successful people-led strategies across the professional services sector and we’re excited to welcome an individual of her calibre to the firm.”