Cox Hallett Wilkinson Ltd (CHW) is going up in the world following its move to a top floor location in the centre of Hamilton.The law firm, which completed the relocation last month, also became a limited liability company (LLC) at the start of this year.Having started out life as Cox & Wilkinson at Milner House in 1977, prior to merging with Hallett Whitney in 1998, the firm has moved from a one level building at the back of town to the eight and ninth floors of Cumberland House overlooking City Hall and the main thoroughfare of Church Street.In an exclusive interview with The Royal Gazette, Ernest Morrison, head of the corporate department and director at CHW, said the firm decided to relocate due to the need for more space after the lease on its former premises expired in December 2010.“We effectively outgrew it two or three years ago and it was really around then we were thinking about staying on or moving out,” he said.“The market being the way it was offered some great opportunities. Our lease ended in December last year and this space became free during the course of last year and following extremely satisfactory negotiations with the landlord we decided to move.“It offers us good security and lots of room for growth.”Mr Morrison said that the firm left its old place on Friday December 10 and moved into the new offices, which were previously occupied by Aon and XL Group before them, the following Monday.Spread over two floors incorporating Coson Corporate Services Ltd and State House Trust Company Ltd, CHW’s corporate department is based on the top floor, with the litigation, private client and real estate departments, as well as its accounts and administration functions on the floor below, in addition to storage space in the basement and off-site.“We are really happy with the rent arrangements which give use a footing for growth over the next stage of our expansion,” said Mr Morrison.“Our previous building was not efficient, our departments were not able to communicate internally let alone with each other, with the three key areas of our firm in three different buildings spaced around a car park, but this one is conducive to work the way we like to work and communicate.“We looked at a few offices spaces before deciding on this one, but personally it was love at first sight as far as I was concerned.”The new offices feature everything from a board room and four meeting rooms to offices and a reception area, while the natural light which comes in from the spiral staircase gives a feeling of air and space. It is a very agreeable space,” said Mr Morrison.“I think everyone finds it nicer, brighter and more modern and working in such conditions should help to build good morale among the staff, and with the way we interact with our clients its just makes sense to be here.”Since its inception, the firm has grown from three or four lawyers 34 years ago to a staff of 60 today, growing the litigation and corporate parts of its business in particular.Making the move to become an LLC on January 1 after filing with the Bermuda Bar Association, CHW’s head of the litigation department and director David Kessaram said it was a trend that most law firms and other professions such as accountants were following these days and he viewed it as a good way to organise the firm and attract skilled professionals.Mr Kessaram said that during his time office he had seen a shift towards a higher degree of specialisation in commercial and corporate law within the firm while maintaining its range of other legal services, in line with the majority of practices across Bermuda, with the need to be fully compliant in that field.Mr Morrison said that CHW was focused on utilising the top talent from overseas to nurture the young up-and-coming Bermudians working with each other across all departments of the firm.And he said that the firm had benefited from being a small and lean operation while remaining diversified during the recession.“The recession has generated a tremendous amount of uncertainty about how our existing and prospective pipelines for work are going to operate,” he said.“We swim in very much similar pools of water that our competitors do but we are larger than most so that the impact of a lack of or fallout of work is not felt as greatly at this point.“The kinds of work that we are going to get are probably going to change in some cases quite dramatically in the future.“Our challenge is to be as adaptive as we have always been to continue to get and do good work for our clients.”Mr Kessaram said there had also been a increase in the regulation of law firms over the past few years which had added to the burden and cost of running a legal practice.He added that Government’s mandate to maintain Bermuda as a favourable place to do business was key to the success of firms such as CHW going forward.Having signed a 10-year lease on its new offices, CHW plans to continue its steady growth while taking advantage of the opportunities available in the market in the future, according to Mr Morrison.