North-east solicitors adopt a cuddly puppy look for their firm’s Twitter personality — but no word on whether pets are allowed to join staff during working day
Top of every wannabe and young lawyer’s wish list is not a training contract or pupillage at a leading firm or chambers, or a decent annual bonus, or that the irritating partner head of department would soon go under a bus.
No, what prospective and young lawyers really, really want is to be able to bring their dogs to the office.
So north-east firm Hewitts can expect a deluge of applications now that it has positioned itself in social media-land with the personality of Hewie, the Hewitts Hound.
Hewie — who appears to be a little terrier with dodgy vision — poses nonchalantly over a legal tome, his spectacles rakishly cocked over one eye.
His Twitter tag-line describes Hewie as the “law firm office dog”, also making it clear — in typical anally retentive lawyer style 00 that “views on life my own”.
True to his nature, Hewie seems to spend a lot of time tweeting about animal-related issues, ranging from the cute to the hair-raising. An example of the latter being a re-tweet of a Sun newspaper story about a crocodile biting an elephant in the trunk.
Visit by the @TheLawSociety President means I am freshly bathed and dressed for the occasion. Important day pic.twitter.com/nojZRvZ5k7
— Hewie (@HewittsHound) February 4, 2015
While Hewie himself was unavailable for comment — it is understood he fancies long mid-afternoon kips — the firm’s senior partner, John Turner, told Legal Cheek:
“With very few exceptions, we are all animal lovers at this office. Hewie has pretty well free run of the office apart from the waiting room and the interview rooms.’
Turner went on to demonstrate just how pet-friendly his practice is, saying:
“In the past, other members of staff have been accompanied to work by their dogs. Some of the partners catch up with work on a Sunday and bring their animals in. And in the past I often took my cat into the office for company when going in after hours to work the night shift.”
Currently, however, Hewie is the only regular canine feature at the firm.
“This is probably because he adapted so well to office life,” said Turner. “It is a great stress-buster to have him around. I know a number of staff members volunteer to take him for walks to chill out.”