Holding back the tide

Who knew legal practice could be fun? We’re forever faced with depressing facts and figures around mental health, court closures and lack of resources, but growing numbers of solicitors are relishing the challenge of setting up their own niche practice to concentrate solely on their area of specialist expertise.

One such solicitor featured this month says every day brings new challenges, which “is half the fun of it!”.

The recent Bellwether/Lexis Nexis report “Is the future small?” confirms not only that the small firm sector as a whole is thriving, but a growing number of solicitors are leaving bigger firms to work in smaller ones.

So why leave the security of a large law firm to launch into the unknown? How do you plan a successful niche firm and fund the set-up costs? What are the challenges in your formative months (apart from sleep deprivation and keeping your accountant happy)?

The emergence of the niche/boutique law firm has stayed under the radar but we’re now seeing the emergence of ‘niche within a niche’ firms – specialising in a narrow field within a specialism.

To date, this sector has been somewhat neglected in the legal press yet there’s so much the wider profession can learn from it (and vice versa).

If you’re in a bigger, multi-disciplinary practice you could be forgiven for viewing small niche firms in a ‘them and us’ way but the evidence is, far from being insular these specialist firms are outward thinking, and there’s a growing collaboration between niche firms and the larger firms.

The challenges presented by the various law firm models may be markedly different but the relationship between them is vital, and it seems that the driving force behind their links is to achieve the best outcome for the client.

Lawyers across the board are increasingly confident in admitting the limits of their expertise and engaging with other firms to ensure their clients get the best available legal advice and representation – even if there’s a risk of losing the client for good.

While welcoming the enthusiastic ambitions of many specialist solicitors and the success of the small firm model, we must never lose sight of the perennial problems facing other solicitors.

Family and probate lawyers are dealing with court closures and an expected hike in probate fees. Criminal defence solicitors are facing an uphill struggle against the background of a crumbling justice system (and cold, rundown courtrooms).

It would be disingenuous to imagine it being fun to practice law in those circumstances but lawyers are doing so because they believe in the principle if not the system. They believe in access to justice for all and they have faith justice will prevail.

The vulnerable continue to be at most risk. While government is making progress in that regard, there is still a long way to go with the lack of funding often a barrier to instructing a solicitor.

Could any mechanism replace the true justice of legal aid? Without a much needed injection of government cash it could be argued that any attempts to fill the legal aid gap or to repair the crumbling (both physically and metaphorically speaking) justice system will fail.

For a week this summer, the Whaley Bridge dam in Derbyshire threatened to collapse with the high risk of loss of life.

After days of the RAF Chinook helicopter meticulously placing aggregate on the damaged area, the dam has been declared safe – but for how long? Repair continues and there is a long-term construction project ahead which could take years and cost huge sums.

Can the parallel here be any starker? The justice system is in danger of collapse and repair work might contribute to short-term successes; but if government doesn’t allocate sufficient funding to enable long-term repairs, the dam of injustice is at risk of bursting.

And that, dear colleague, will not be fun.

Nicola Laver is editor of Solicitors Journal