Camillo Serafini-Fracassini

Responsible for all external and internal communications relating to the work of the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry, the biggest and most wide-ranging public inquiry in Scotland. The independent Inquiry was established by the Scottish Government in February 2022 to investigate the devolved strategic response to the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022.Since joining the Inquiry I have:• developed and implemented internal and external communications strategies, working closely with the Chair and Leadership Team; • written website text, news items and newsletters for the Inquiry website (www.covid19inquiry.scot), and press releases, briefing papers and speeches for the Chair and Leadership Team; • edited interim reports published by the Inquiry and proof-read independent academic reports commissioned by the Inquiry to inform its investigations; • directed an introductory film for the Inquiry’s opening hearing, which has since been broadcast on the BBC, STV and Sky; • led a marketing/communications campaign to encourage public participation in the Inquiry’s listening project, Let’s Be Heard, the largest public consultation exercise conducted by a public inquiry in Scotland; • directed and scripted a series of short ‘explainer’ videos to assist public understanding of the Inquiry’s remit and investigative work; • led on reputation management and media relations, conducting briefings with journalists and responding to a large volume of media enquiries; and • media trained the Inquiry Chair as well as members of the Leadership Team and Counsel.

I was recruited by Shepherd and Wedderburn as its first Head of Marketing and Communications to build its communications function from scratch, having established a reputation as one of the UK’s leading legal sector communications professionals during my six-year tenure at Brodies LLP.As the most senior member of the Marketing and Business Development Department, I managed a team of communications and marketing professionals and was responsible for developing and implementing communications projects directly aligned to the firm’s strategic objectives. I worked closely with the Managing Partner, leadership team, divisional directors and Partners, providing strategic counsel on matters ranging from article writing, media relations and media training to crisis management, public speaking, client presentations and government engagement.My achievements included:• securing 648 items of coverage in target publications - a 38% year-on-year increase; • driving website SEO improvements which led to a 63% year-on-year increase in page impressions; • improving social media channel performance, with LinkedIn follower numbers up 13% and traffic driven to our website up 67% to 6,000 visits each year; • developing and implementing the firm’s 250th anniversary campaign, which involved creating a dedicated website, and editing and promoting Scotland in 2050: Realising our Global Potential, a report produced in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute (https://fraserofallander.org/publications/scotland-in-2050-realising-our-global-potential/); • project managing the firm’s legal directory submission process (involving editing just under 100 individual submission documents each year), achieving a record number of top-tier rankings; and • writing successful award submissions, including Transaction Team of the Year and Innovation Award (Law Awards of Scotland); Diversity Star Performer (The Herald and GenAnalytics Diversity Awards); Best Professional in Business (Scottish Women’s Awards); Legal Technology and Support Team of the Year (Finalist - Scottish Legal Awards); and Regional Law firm of the Year at the Legal Business Awards.

Responsible for all internal and external communications, with an audience of colleagues (92 Partners and a further 555 lawyers and staff across five offices in Scotland and Belgium), the media, policy-makers, business partners, clients and prospective clients, the legal sector and wider business community. My role involved advising the operational and strategic boards on the formulation of our proactive and reactive communications strategy; delivering media training for the leadership team, and providing reputation management/crisis communications support for the firm, its clients and business partners.In 2016/17, Brodies reported its seventh consecutive year of revenue and profit growth, with turnover of £66.7 million and operating profits of £31.7 million, and was named UK Regional Law Firm of the Year at The Lawyer Awards and UK National/Regional Law Firm of the Year at The Legal Business Awards.My achievements included:• delivering record coverage in legal, trade and business publications across the UK, securing the largest share of voice in the Scottish legal market, averaging 400 articles each year (a report by the independent media monitoring company Press Data found that Brodies outperformed all of its competitors in the Scottish and UK regions in both print and digital coverage); • implementing effective multi-platform communications campaigns that raised the firm’s profile with clients active across all key sectors of the economy and generated substantial (seven-figure) instructions; • ensuring clarity and consistency across all communications platforms – leading brand expression, social media tone of voice and writing style guide projects; • project managing the firm’s legal directory submission process (100-plus submissions each year), leading to Brodies achieving more top-tier rankings than any other Scottish-headquartered firm; • drafting all award submissions – Brodies secured more recognition at the UK’s most prestigious legal awards than any other law firm outside London (this included being named UK Law Firm of the Year at the British Legal Awards; UK Regional Law Firm of the Year at the Lawyer Awards; UK National/Regional Law Firm of the Year at the Legal Business Awards; and Scotland Law Firm of the Year 2016 at the Who’s Who Legal Awards - the fifth consecutive time the firm has gained this recognition); and • designing, editing and publishing Brodies’ 100-page annual review.

Responsible for leading the corporate team in the Edinburgh office of the largest communications consultancy outside London. Delivered effective communications and public affairs campaigns for private and public sector clients.

Responsible for the news coverage of Scotland’s best-selling quality newspaper, managing a team of reporters, writing features and news articles, leading an investigations team, commissioning freelance content and coordinating weekly news coverage with editorial management in London. In the editor’s absence, I managed the entire editorial team, including news, sport, features, business and pictures, and oversaw newspaper production. I also regularly briefed the newspaper’s senior executives in London on Scottish issues such as politics, government and other devolved matters.