Nigel Sprunt
Global business development and marketing director | London
Nigel is global business development and marketing director.
After an early career in advertising and research, he joined Withers in 1999 and was seconded to New York between 2004 and 2007 to take on the additional role of US executive director.
In 2008 Nigel won 'International Marketing Director of the Year' at the Legal Marketing Awards. This followed his team winning 'Marketing Team of the Year' in 2006.
Nigel has also recently featured in the Professional Marketing magazine article 'Cutting its own groove', alongside managing partner Margaret Robertson The article focuses on Withers and its unique approach to marketing.
Me in a minute
If you have the courage to want to try and broaden your skills and knowledge, then the firm is extremely supportive
Once I realised that a career in professional sports was not going to happen, I was lucky to find that marketing and communication was the next best thing! Having worked in large commercial organisations it was somewhat of an initial culture shock to work in a partnership structure. Once I got the hang of it, I actually found that it suited my personality.
My role is very varied and dealing with offices across Europe, Asia Pacific and the US certainly raises interesting cultural challenges when seeking to build a single international brand. As the saying goes, experience is a hard teacher, because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.
What I like about working at Withers is that it allows lawyers and support staff to really develop their careers. If you have the courage to want to try and broaden your skills and knowledge, then the firm is extremely supportive. I was lucky to work for the firm in the US for four years in a more general management role and it really helped my overall understanding of the business. One of the biggest challenges in building a brand is ensuring there is a consistency of communication both internally and externally. I'm very lucky to manage a very talented team, but with the best will in the world its hard to ensure that everyone across the Withersworldwide network is kept up to date. It was for this reason in 2013 we launched Withers TV. Across our 17 offices in Europe, Asia Pacific and the US we have large TV screens on all floors providing a live stream of news about the firm every day. This can be new client wins, new staff joining, events taking place, press coverage etc. It is fair to say that the firm is now very well connected and ensures that even our smaller offices feel part of the family.