The Colour Purple | It’s in our Blood

We have our CEO, Claire Sandbrook, to thank for the colour purple of our brand. It’s her
favourite colour and throughout Shergroup it appears in different hues to match our
cubes.

In 2003, Claire and the team began to think about how to brand the sixth oldest law firm in
London, Burchell & Ruston, into a modern-day brand. We knew at that point change was
coming for Sheriffs in England and Wales. With Claire’s leadership and determination, she led the
Sheriffs through a period of change by bringing them all together in one room to form the National
Sheriff’s Campaign. Using a little-known County Court Rule to transfer judgments from the county court
to the High Court, Claire had pushed the transfer of judgments to the top of the agenda in the world of
Under Sheriffs and Sheriff’s Officers. She created and managed the implementation of the Sheriff’s
Lodgment Centre® which started to transfer judgments as far back as 1997.

The Sheriffs themselves got behind her ideas and indeed John Marston, CBE, laid out all the designs for
the National Sheriffs Campaign on the floor of his sitting room to pick which one he thought Claire
should use for the marketing campaign which was designed to bring increased awareness to the Office
of Sheriff.

From there, the number of judgments began to flow as word spread that the Sheriffs were positioning
themselves for a tussle with Government on their future. Lord Justice Woolf even visited Claire’s office
to inspect for himself the transfer of judgment process and to see how thousands of judgments were
capable of being transferred.

Four members of the original Sheriffs Lodgment Centre® are part of Shergroup’s team today. They
advise, support and counsel judgment creditors on how to transfer judgments from one court to
another, and now from country to country. They are if you like the “Coca Cola” of the High Court
enforcement industry. Today they work with the same precision and care that they started twenty years
ago.

When this plan emerged, Burchell & Ruston, was the law firm that began it all.

We hope we did our history proud.

This was a real tipping point for the sixth oldest law firm in the UK – and possibly the world – transforming into a
brand. In a marketing meeting in Liverpool Street, London UK, the then team crowded around magazines
for inspiration. With the BIG question on everyone’s lips, “What should our corporate colour be?”, our marketing gurus asked.

“There is only one colour I will accept”, said Claire. “It has to be purple”.

And so, the corporate colour was chosen and the cubes you see today have stood the test of time.

The Writ is the purple cube, the judgment the mauve cube behind. The final brand name wasn’t
particularly original – the marketing gurus took the “sher” of Sheriff and added “group” on the end. We
know from our Indian division that “sher” means lion in Hindi. That seems rather appropriate for
Shergroup’s brave stance on many issues when dealing with High Court enforcement.

For those of you looking for authenticity with an innovative approach in your partners, and vendors, we believe we’ve set ourselves apart from the pack.
We don’t try and be something we’re not. We work hard, and we deliver. Purple is our color
and we are very proud when we see our officers enjoying wearing a new sort of corporate color!