Lots to talk about... Dr Martin Douglas Hendry joins Needle

“One of the things that impressed me the most is the quality and quantity of work the firm does [...] I’m excited to help the firm tell that story and celebrate our clients’ successes.”

Dr Martin Douglas Hendry has joined Needle as a Marketing & Business Development Consultant in September 2025.

Welcome to Needle Martin, how are you settling in?

Thanks, it’s been a rollercoaster for a couple of months! That’s often the way when you find yourself joining a business and looking to get a sense of the lay of the land.

It’s also been a natural and seamless experience. I’ve spent a bit of time speaking to members of the team, and everyone has been extremely friendly and helpful.

I’ve been focusing on getting to know everyone and understanding a bit more about the unique ways that the firm delivers for its clients.

One of the things that impressed me most is the quality and quantity of work the firm does. The business has been quite humble!

Ultimately, this has been because the firm has been solely focused on the work itself, and as soon as a massive deal or piece of work has been completed - the attention then shifts to the next client objective.

I’m excited to help the firm tell those stories, support the team in whatever way that I can, and celebrate clients’ successes.

What is it about working at Needle that excites you the most?

I’ve been a friend (and fan) of the firm for a long time and have always been impressed by its stature and international impact, in particular.

It’s a firm that has maintained a people-based culture, whilst consistently engaged in work at scale - which is remarkable and something that many organisations find difficult to achieve when engaging with significant matters. 

That personal touch often gets lost as firms and the kind of work they’re engaged in grows in size and scope.

All in all, it’s almost a “classic” firm in that its reputation amongst its clients has until this point “spoke for itself”. This is why the firm has received continued referral and recommendation over the years.

But there’s no need for the firm to be a “best kept secret” for clients who might be looking for something different from a typical city firm and all that comes with that.

So, in a round-about way, what excites me most is that all the good stuff is already happening - it’s just a case of letting people know about it.

As a marketing professional (especially in the legal sector) having that much of a “well” to draw from is something that makes the job much easier and enjoyable.

In essence, you spend your day-to-day celebrating clients’ successes, which isn’t a bad way to spend your week.

It’s early days, but what’s most surprised you?

I think what surprised me the most was that my responsibilities and objectives aren’t solely focused towards generating more business, leads, or enquiries.

(Typically, when you instruct a marketer, this is usually what you’re looking to do.) 

Instead, I found that the firm is busy, but the issue was that it's so busy that it hasn’t had the opportunity to really speak about its successes, capabilities, or tell its story - at least in a consistent and joined up way.

Not getting ahead of myself, but some recent examples are a testament to the kinds of work the firm is capable of and engage with on a day-to-day basis.

These kinds of deals, and size of work are not uncommon for the firm. but communicating them effectively in recent years has been.

So, my role, at least in the initial sense, is at its heart to make sure that people know what’s going on; and what the team is up to.

From what I have learned about the work that the firm is doing, and how much clients appreciate our team - there’s plenty of stories to tell.

On top of that, the ambition of the firm at this juncture is much bigger, and I’m excited to support that however I can.

What’s on the horizon now? 

There’s lots of exciting things on the horizon, a lot of which we can’t necessarily talk about right now.

But what I would say is watch this space as we’ll be much more vocal moving forwards about how we’re helping clients, what the firm’s about, as well as everything else that we’re getting up to.

There’s of exciting things to let people know about, and we’ll be sure to keep people updated.

Find out more about Martin by visiting our people page here.