Kent: new legal boom for the garden of England?

Much is made of Kent's privileged position as Britain's gateway to continental Europe, with the high-speed rail link nearing completion and the Thames Gateway site hailed as the largest regeneration project in Europe. On the ground, though, the reality requires a strong visionary sense as well as serious faith in long-term planning.

'There is undoubtedly huge potential,' says Stuart Burnop, chief executive at Buss Murton. 'With developers such as Wimpey planning between four and 5,000 new units, and the creation of St Mary's island, a new 2,000 home community near Chatham, the region's dynamism seems apparent, but at present, Ebbsfleet station is completely isolated; there is no business yet; the site is surrounded by earthmovers and it will be 10 or 15 years before the area starts taking off'.

This has not stopped Buss Murton from embracing the future by reaching out of its original location in the Weald to absorb a smaller firm in Dartford, in preparation for the expected flurry of new business. In many ways, the firm had little choice if it intends to survive.

'It is all about growth, and we are not uncommon in our approach,' continues Burnop, 'a number of firms around would say the same thing. The market is segmented between London and the rest of the UK, and in Kent competition has increased dramatically.'

The larger local firms started raising their game a decade ago. Cripps Harris Hall now boasts 42 partners offering expertise across the board. With a range of services for businesses, the public sector and charitable organisations, as well as a private client and a specialist service for French businesses operating in the area, the firm provide a realistic alternative to London firms.

Another large player in the area, DMH Stallard, has unrolled a similar expansion strategy. The firm, the result of a merger between Brighton-based DMH and London firm Stallard in 2005, appointed its 50th partner last month and has clearly positioned itself as a South-east rival to City firms.

Most established firms like Buss Murton, which was set up in 1713, started mainly as private client firms and are now going through the same adjustment. Furley Page, another veteran which traces its origin back to 1725 and now counts 21 partners, has opened an office in Chatham to try and grab a slice of the Thames Gateway action. Mergers and acquisitions between law firms, according to Burnop, is what will drive the market, as firms try and build to a size which makes economic sense while remaining affordable.

'It seems to be working for the larger firms,' comments Burnop 'now many other local firms are following in their footsteps and the trend is likely to continue.' And while Buss Murton intends to grow its private client portfolio, growth is expected to come from commercial work, which has already doubled in the past five years.

Low cost alternative

But this change of direction came at a cost as the partnership turned itself around from a declining private client practice to a promising firm serving the business community. According to Burnop, his firm has probably changed more than its competitors and went through difficult times as lawyers were made redundant five years ago. Eighty percent of the original fee earning staff departed in the process and the firm is only just returning to the pre-change levels, with just over 43 lawyers.

But the biggest issue remaining is succession planning '“ and with only four partners, the firm needs to tackle the issue urgently. 'There is not a huge movement of lawyers in the local community, in part because of the restraint of trade clauses in their contract,' says Burnop, 'so recruitment and elevation to partnership is either through internal promotion, which means that recruiting the right trainees is critical, or attracting London lawyers.'

For Burnop, it is all tied into the quality of service and being a 'people business'. Both are phrases which one hears a lot in the context of increased pressure '“ in particular against the background of the Legal Services Bill '“ but which Burnop says is not as woolly as it sounds.

'It is about the quality of the business as a whole. There is a shift of lifestyle as people are now leaving London; not just lawyers, but clients too. London is an attractive place to start a career, but later in life, working in a local environment becomes more attractive.'

The argument, which has been run by other firms in the provinces, is that highly qualified lawyers moving away from the City in search of a better work-life balance are an incentive for local businesses and individuals to seek legal advice locally rather than in London, and so the quality of the work itself changes.

In turn, London-based clients then start considering provincial firms as a low-cost alternative to City lawyers. And for Kent, this seems to be happening, as the larger firms there have been instructed in AIM listings, are handling some of the work associated with the Thames Gateway project and count many blue chip companies in their portfolio.

Burnop is one of those late 30-something who left London for the charms of Tunbridge Wells. One of the cultural changes he pushed through, and which he says is typical of medium-sized provincial firms, was to set up a proper IT system and office facilities for the firm. At Buss Murton and similar sized firms, one of the partners would usually be in charge of IT '“ a responsibility which would often fall by the wayside as client time would take precedence. Add to this the substantial dent that IT management consultancy fees make to a firm's budget, and it became clear that bringing someone on board would be a sensible move.

Flexibility

One of the key benefits of IT systems and software-based solutions for smaller and medium-sized provincial firms will be in areas such as conveyancing and wills and probate, says Burnop. 'Conveyancing is becoming workflow-orientated. Traditionally, operators were required to 'push' transactions through the system, now systems drive the person through the process,' he adds.

But for all that conveyancing is becoming process-driven '“ and this is mostly residential conveyancing '“ firms trading on 'quality of service' are keen to ensure that lawyers, not computers, remain in the driving seat.

'It would be dangerous to say to conveyancers 'this is the process and you manage it'. The process must have a degree of flexibility allowing lawyers not to have to focus on the process itself but on what it does for the client.'

David Green, a consultant with Sevenoaks-based Knocker and Foskett, also firmly believes that conveyancing will be saved by keeping lawyers in charge of the process. And in this respect, Green doubts that the advent of 'Tesco law' will change anything for residential conveyancers.

'The idea once was for estate agents to start doing conveyancing, and it did not happen, so whether the liberalisation of legal services will have any impact remains to be seen. There have always been customers who want to pay as little as possible, but the majority wants direct one to one attention, which they would not get it through a conveyancing factory. Initiating the standard process may be done by a secretary but the file will always be handled by a qualified lawyer, either a solicitor or a legal executive.'

Green, like many conveyancers around the country, is more concerned about the introduction of home information packs (HIPs), which he says are a 'waste of time' which the government refuses to acknowledge despite lawyers' representations. 'HIPs are not going to achieve what they are meant to prevent, which is to stop gazumping and delays,' Green comments. 'It will present sellers with additional expense with no benefit in return. The only purpose will be to provide an Energy Performance Certificate, which could have been done as a stand-alone requirement. Home Condition Reports are not compulsory and most searches are out of date after three months, which all makes HIPs a wasteful exercise.'

Green has also been monitoring the progress of the Legal Services Bill with interest but little fear. Established firms, according to Green, are unlikely to be affected by the rules allowing the opening up of law firms' capital to non-lawyers as it would lead to a depreciation of the firm's value. 'If you sell to raise capital, you will end up being driven by the bottom line, which almost inevitably leads to a decline in the quality of client service.'

Improving service

The new Solicitors' Code of Conduct features higher on his agenda as the single most important change to affect the profession at the moment. 'Solicitors are being asked to put in place new systems which we have no experience of. Lexcel accreditation is one thing but that will not be sufficient, as firms need to appoint supervisors with at least 12 hours of training, so even though I have been a partner for so many years, I would not qualify.'

The other question is whether 12 hours' training is sufficient '“ this is the requirement but will it equip supervisors with adequate skills? But Green accepts that there has to be a benchmark with a view to improving service and reducing the risk of error. 'A lot of solicitors could not run a baked bean factory, let alone a law firm', Green says, 'so it is only right that the Law Society should be setting higher standards, but you are never totally certain that someone is not doing something they should not do, so that could impose a heavy burden on firms.'

The position is similar at Buss Murton, with Burnop saying that there has been a tendency for smaller firms to compete on costs, with little knowledge of what is of benefit to the client, unlike the City where client care is part of the culture. The risk though, as with all consumer-led approaches, is that one moves away from a professional ethics approach '“ which may ultimately not necessarily be in favour of the client.