In 2016 we became the first large law firm in the UK to become employee owned. In part our decision was driven to give all eligible members of staff an equal share in our profits. In a sector which has traditionally seen partners alone share in the profits, the move has attracted interest from across the UK – and not just from within the legal profession.
Celebrating ten years of employee ownership now in 2026 we’re proud to reflect on our journey to date. Since becoming employee owned, we’ve seen our revenue and profits increase year-over-year, but employee ownership is not a silver bullet to business success. As we have experienced, to unlock the benefits requires education, a strategic approach to cultural change, and more.
We’re proud to be members of the Employee Ownership Association (eoa) and active participants within the EO business community, from where we’ve learnt a lot and shared our experience (and continue to do so including in our Employee Ownership Info Hub).
Ten years on: measurable impact
When Stephens Scown transitioned to employee ownership in 2016, it was a rare move for a large UK law firm – and an even rarer one in a professional services sector dominated by traditional ownership models. A decade later, employee ownership has proved to be more than a values led decision. It has been a commercially effective way to build resilience, retain talent and plan for long-term growth.
Employee ownership has strengthened engagement and accountability across the firm. When people understand how the business performs and feel genuinely connected to its outcomes, behaviours change. Collaboration improves, decision making sharpens and performance follows. Consistently high engagement scores and external recognition as a leading workplace underline the tangible business value of this shift.
Culture as a competitive asset
The EOT model has reinforced a culture built on trust, fairness and shared responsibility. That stability has helped attract and retain talented people who are aligned with the firm’s purpose rather than driven solely by short-term incentives. For clients, this translates into stronger relationships, consistency of service and a partnership mindset.
Longterm resilience and financial strength
Employee ownership naturally promotes long-term thinking. Without the pressure of an exit timeline, the focus shifts to sustainable growth, prudent investment and collective problem solving. This approach proved particularly effective during periods of market uncertainty and economic disruption. In 2024-25, the firm delivered its strongest financial results to date, with further growth forecast.
Innovation informed by employee insight
Giving employees a meaningful stake also gives them a stronger voice. Ideas generated from within the business – covering technology, client service, governance and ways of working – have driven continuous improvement. Recent governance changes, including trustee representation at board level, ensure that employee perspectives are embedded in strategic discussions rather than consulted retrospectively.
Ten years on, employee ownership remains central to how Stephens Scown operates and grows. It has strengthened the business culturally and commercially, while reinforcing a long-term view of success.
Several themes have emerged as the core benefits of employee ownership.
1. A more engaged and motivated team
When people feel genuine ownership of the firm’s success, their connection to its outcomes changes. We have seen stronger collaboration, deeper commitment, and an enhanced willingness to go the extra mile for our clients and each other.
Our staff surveys continue to show high levels of pride and belonging, resulting in the firm being recognised as one of the Sunday Times Best Places to work in the UK for the last two years, and for seven consecutive years prior to that – with only a year off when undertaking our own employee engagement initiative. The idea that “every voice matters” is not just a sentiment – it is embedded in how we make decisions, shape strategy, and nurture emerging leaders.
In the Sunday Times’ Best Places to Work results, we scored 84% on engagement – 10% above the legal sector average – with improvements in 19 out of 22 categories. This is not accidental. It is the outcome of a culture built on trust, shared ownership and genuine care. Our retention data places us in the ‘Excellent’ category, with a 7% flight risk compared to an industry average of 41%.
This is evidence of a stable, healthy workforce and a culture where people thrive.
2. A stronger, values driven culture
Employee ownership has reinforced a culture rooted in fairness, shared responsibility, and trust, allowing us to protect and strengthen the qualities that clients value most: openness, integrity, and a genuine partnership approach.
The sense of shared purpose has made our culture more resilient and cohesive. It has also enabled the firm to attract key people at every level who seek meaning and alignment, not just a job title.
3. Greater business resilience and long-term thinking
Employee ownership naturally shifts a firm from short-term profit pressure towards sustainable decisions that protect the future. That long-term mindset has been essential in navigating everything from uncertainty in the legal market to wider economic shocks.
Throughout, our model has encouraged calm, collective problem solving and financial prudence. Employee ownership has proven to be not only a cultural strength but also a commercial one, with the firm recording its best ever financial results in 2024-25 and with 2025-26 set to be better still.
4. Innovation fuelled by employee voice
With employee ownership comes employee influence. Colleagues contribute ideas – about client service, technology, workplace culture, community engagement, and more. This has driven constant improvement and innovation, making us more agile and responsive.
Our governance model ensures those ideas are not just heard but acted upon. The result is a firm more able to adapt, evolve, and lead. Following a comprehensive governance review last year, we saw the addition of our first trustee representatives invited to join the firm’s strategic board. This is no mere lip-service change as I can testify to being one of the first appointments to this role, it’s a clear indicator of the difference our ownership culture makes at all levels of the business.
Scownership: how our profit-share and ownership model works
Our employee ownership scheme, which we call Scownership, is all about giving everyone who works here a real stake in the business. No matter what role someone has, we are all part of the same team. Everyone’s contribution to the firm is equally important and everyone receives an equal share in the eligible profits.
Coming from all areas of the firm our Scownership trustees act as representatives for all staff, ensuring everyone has a voice. They regularly meet with the Board to give staff feedback, ask questions and raise issues – bringing about meaningful change.
We believe being employee owned is not only great for our employees but that our clients benefit too:
-Happy, motivated and engaged employees deliver better client service,
-Employees who are owners and benefit directly from the business’s success are more invested in the outcomes of our clients,
-Employees who know how it feels to be business owners can deliver a more empathetic experience to their clients,
-And for our clients who are also employee owned, we can support them with the nuances of what that ownership structure means to the operation of their business day-to-day.
How we help businesses explore and implement EOTs
Being the first large law firm in the UK to become employee owned and full members of the eoa, we understand first-hand what it takes to make a successful EO transition.
We have learnt a few lessons on the way and have gained further valuable knowledge from working with companies exploring and commencing EO projects alongside building national connections with long-established EO businesses. We understand both the technical aspects of the journey, but perhaps more importantly, the core principles and underlying values that drive the founders who choose employee ownership above all other succession options.
Our clients tell us that we make EO make sense – we can explain the complexities of the legislation in a way that they can understand and implement. We can do this as we have the technical expertise and the lived experience as an EO business ourselves.
Not all businesses will be a good fit for employee ownership and only some businesses will meet the requirements for a tax advantaged trust – we can help you work out if EO is a feasible option. You may have a timeline or a structure in mind and we can work through these with you to ascertain which is best for the business.
We believe that EO has an important part to play in the future shape of business and it’s our intention to provide the best support to companies on that journey.
The journey isn’t over once you are employee owned. You may have a new leadership team who need some guidance on governance for employee owned businesses. You will also have some new trustee directors who might benefit from some training on what it means to be a trustee director. And your employees will need to be educated and upskilled on what it means to be more than an ‘employee’, as they become ‘employee owners’.
James Berry, Managing Director, Berrys Coaches
“Cat was very down to earth and immediately understood what we wanted to achieve”.
“The whole team made the process simple to understand, though employee ownership is a very different structure when measured against what most people are used to.”
Resources: guides, events and client stories
Over the past decade we’ve learnt a lot. And as we reflect on our journey, and the conversations we regularly have with businesses we support on their EO journey, it’s clear that there is a lot to understand in how to become employee owned – not just the transition but after and moving forward.
To support the community, we’ve created a variety of resources for businesses at different stages to help them.
We have a guide on how to transition to employee ownership.
We’ve shared a series of our top tips from our own journey and that of the clients we’ve supported.
We run a monthly virtual event featuring a guest speaker from the community and an opportunity to speak with peers outside of your business. We write up the key messages from each of those events as you can read in this example.
What is an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT)?
An Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) is a type of discretionary trust in which holds shares on behalf of employees. There is usually a corporate trustee rather than individual trustees. The employees do not have individual shareholdings. The trust documents are drafted in a specific way to ensure that the trust meets the requirements for tax advantages. There is a complex set of rules to follow at the time of the transition and afterwards.
Employee Ownership works for the business, the employees and the sellers!
Studies have shown that EOBs are 8 – 12% more productive than other similar businesses which are not employee owned. Staff attrition rates are lower. There is a more cohesive workforce as they are all in it together.
A sale to a qualifying employee ownership trust is eligible for a reduced capital gains tax rate – 50% of the prevailing rate – which is a perk for the seller. It is the most tax efficient way to sell your business.
If the company pays a profit share, this can be paid to the employees free of income tax up to £3,600.
An EOT is a long-term choice. A business is likely to stay in employee ownership for the lifetime of the business. It embeds a business in its location which contrasts with a trade sale – buyers often consolidate their purchase with their existing business in their existing location. Employee-owned businesses usually have better staff retention.
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