East Anglian law firm Ashtons Legal has achieved the Gold standard under the Investors in People (IiP) accredition scheme for employers committed to staff training and development.

Ashtons, which employs a total of 330 people at offices in Ipswich, Cambridge, Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Felxistowe and Thetford, is thought to be the only law firm in the region to have achieved the Gold level of accredition under the IiP programme.

A recent independent assessment, involving interviews with 36 staff, saw Ashtons meet a total of 125 “evidence requirements”. Together with 48 from an assessment last year, this gave the firm a total of 173 evidence requirements, enough for the coveted Gold rating.

Ashtons chief executive Ed O’Rourke said: “I am honoured to lead Ashtons and being recognised at IiP Gold level signifies that our staff feel the same way as I do about the firm.”

Antony Sloan, HR director, added: “I am hugely grateful to the staff who have worked so hard to make Ashtons a great place to work and am humbled by some of the comments that were included in our assessment report such as ‘it’s a company you want to get out of bed and come and work for’, ‘they get the fundamentals right, all along they are building on solid foundations’ and ‘we are always looking to make things better’.”