Head of Corporate Communications

The role

Shoosmiths is entering a new phase of ambitious growth strategy, with a clear intention to position itself as the challenger brand in the upper mid-market legal sector by 2030. The Head of Corporate Communications is a new role and will be responsible for developing and delivering a dynamic, business, sector, insight-led communications strategy that brings our bold identity to life internally and externally.

This role will unify our internal communications, PR, and social media functions into a single, cohesive Corporate Communications team, ensuring clarity, discipline and consistency across every channel. The postholder will help shape and articulate the firm’s narrative, redefine and communicate our tone of voice, and steward Shoosmiths’ reputation across all audiences. The role will work closely with the Main Board, divisional departmental heads, sector heads, partners and our external advisors to elevate Shoosmiths’ profile and develop a confident, well‑equipped cadre of spokesperson partners capable of representing the firm to the market.

It will also work seamlessly with and across the business and business services teams to ensure our communications strategy is engaging, informative and timely, reflecting our brand internally and externally.

This newly formed team consists of a Head of Internal Communications, Internal Communications Lead, PR Lead and Social Media & Digital Lead. The role reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer with a dotted line to the Chief Executive Officer.

It will work seamlessly with the Business Development & Marketing team, specifically with the marking operations team who lead website, brand and visual design.

Design and implement a unified communications strategy aligned to the firm’s 2030 growth vision and brand ambition. Champion Shoosmiths’ challenger brand positioning ensuring our communications are bold, distinctive, and differentiated from competitors. Develop a clear narrative for the firm, with consistent themes and messages used across internal and external channels. Establish and maintain disciplined message control and cadence across owned, earned and social media channels.

Oversee crisis and reputation management planning, working with our Main Board, Business Continuity team and external advisors to prepare, prevent and respond to reputational risk.

Lead and integrate the Internal Comms, PR and Social Media teams into a single, high‑performing Corporate Communications function. Define roles, responsibilities and ways of working to ensure efficiency, clarity and accountability. Build capability, confidence and expertise across the team, including social media best practice, media handling, and content quality. Establish and track KPIs for communications effectiveness, reach, engagement, and ROI. Throughout this transformation, ensure the function fully aligns with and actively embodies Shoosmiths’ values in both its culture and its outputs.

Ensure our people staff across the firm are aligned with the firm’s strategy, purpose, values, tone of voice and market ambition. Deliver compelling internal communications campaigns that build culture, understanding, engagement and advocacy. Support transformation, innovation and change programmes with clear, consistent messaging. Develop an internal communications platform that encourages colleague engagement and strengthens firmwide cohesion. Utilise our platforms to ensure we use the right channels, for the right communication at the right time and skill our business to utilise effectively.

Own and drive all PR activity, including proactive storytelling, corporate announcements, campaign moments and profile‑building. Develop a strong network of journalist relationships across national, sector and business media. Identify opportunities for commentary, news hijacking and profiling within Shoosmiths’ growth practices and sectors. Manage reactive communications and reputational issues with speed, judgement and discipline. Work seamless…