Solicitors in Kent

Sadly yet another firm of solicitors has closed in Sittingbourne.

In April of this year James & Beckett Solicitors which have been practising in Sittingbourne, Canterbury and the Medway towns for 12 years went out of business.  Until the beginning of 2008 the firm had employed between 50 and 100 staff at its various offices.  Indirectly the firm's activities had kept a lot of other people and small businesses employed.  As the firm was mainly employed in conveyancing the collapse of the property market and the credit crunch were blows from which ultimately it could not recover.

Last week the solicitor's firm AJ field & co also closed.  It had an office in Sittingbourne and a second on the Isle of Sheppey.  It was one of the few firms in the area to offer its clients public funding through the Legal Aid system.  This can only leave clients in the area with less choice.

The collapse of the property market, the credit crunch, the shortage of new mortgages and the cost of professional indemnity insurance is having a crippling effect on solicitors who practice property law.  It is now virtually impossible to obtain professional indemnity insurance if you are a sole practitioner specialising in the purchase and sale of properties and even if you can obtain insurance the cost is prohibitive.  I recently heard of a solicitor being offered professional indemnity insurance for premiums of between  £100-£150,000 per annum.  This is more than most small firms make in profit

It takes a minimum of 6 years to qualify as a solicitor in England although many members of the profession will take 8 to 10 years to qualify using less traditional routes.   We are probably the most regulated profession in the United Kingdom.  We spend a fortune insuring ourselves against negligence claims in addition to the usual public liability insurance and pay substantial sums of money to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for the privilege of practising as solicitors. We are reviled by the press, preyed upon by estate agents and case management companies and constantly criticised because of our fees.  And yet most solicitors care passionately about their work, put in long hours and juggle enormous caseloads.  It is no wonder that many solicitors are turning away from the profession and that practices are closing rathe than burden themselves with the enormous debt of maintaining professional indemnity insurance.  Even when we retire or leave the profession we are not free of this liability as we have to continue paying for insurance to cover the possibility that an old client may wish to sue us for work which we did years before we left.

As a solicitor practising primarily in family law (divorce, children and property disputes) I was concerned to read in the press that the government is now proposing to make mediation mandatory in family cases. Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with the principle of  mediation I also believe in the principle of freedom of choice and I have experience of many cases in which mediation is not appropriate or has been tried and failed.  Perhaps that's the subject of another blog.........