19 minute read
Profile: Jeffrey Forrest (MA eds
Two heavyweights of the City of Westminster and Holborn Law Society, Prof Sara Chandler QC (Hon) and Jeffrey Forrest, both past presidents, no less, found time in between their frenetic schedules to sit down with each other and reflect on some of Jeffrey’s memories of legal life. Sara and Jeffrey, both also being longstanding council members of the Law Society of England and Wales, amongst a panoply of inspiring volunteer and charitable positions, discuss protests, pro bono and international connections.
Sara Chandler: Did you always want to be a lawyer?
Jeffrey Forrest: Yes and no. I certainly don’t remember wanting to be a train driver or an astronaut but I do remember when I was 11 going with my older brother to the Old Bailey with an elderly visiting cousin from Seattle. (I think she was 21). The officer at the door to the public galleries warned her that it was “not suitable for the young’un as he might be corrupted”. I was disappointed but we went to St Paul’s instead and climbed right up to the very top, way above the Whispering Gallery.
I don’t know how I got a reputation in my family as a putative lawyer – I’m the first one – but in my early teens people started giving me legal biographies and autobiographies – Marshall Hall, Patrick Hastings and so on. Perhaps they thought the law might suit my argumentative personality.
Growing up, there were three London evening papers and just one black and white TV channel and hanging wasn’t finally abolished until 1969. Those papers were full of murder trials and salacious divorce hearings so in those days there was a certain fascination for people in what went on in the courts. That maybe piqued my interest.
I’m a keen observer and I am probably a frustrated journalist. I applied to Cambridge to read English and was rejected, not least because I hadn’t passed the required Latin O Level. With a bit of parental steering I applied to London University to read law (“always useful to have a profession”) and was offered a place by LSE and KCL. I chose the former, probably because of its radical reputation.
After I graduated I tried to escape my eventual fate and headed west, to America, where I had spent time before university. One of the things I ended up doing was helping to organise the 1969 Daily Mail Air Race between the Post Office Tower in London and the Empire State Building in New York. Through that, on my return I was offered a management trainee job with Associated Newspapers in Blackfriars. I kept bumping into an LSE chum who happened to be articled to the senior partner of a local firm of solicitors. She gave him her hand in marriage and he gave me articles (at £12 a week) and thus my legal career commenced.
SC: What were the issues that radicalised the LSE students at the time? Did you join in the student protests?
16 CENTRAL LONDON LAWYER JF: That’s a very long story. At the LSE it actually started in 1966 as an issue of freedom of expression when the Students Union president was suspended for writing to the Times about the appointment of Dr Walter Adams as Director of the school but of course it escalated and ended up as part of the Vietnam War opposition and the international events of 1968, the year we were busy studying for our finals. As to my personal involvement, as they say, if you remember the 60s you weren’t there. And I was there.
SC: When CWHLS used to organise a Pro Bono Fair on the Common Room of the law Society, you were honoured with the first Pro Bono Award. Where did you do pro bono and what difference did it make?
JF: That was actually the 2004 Awards Dinner of the Solicitors Pro Bono Group, now more familiarly known as Law Works, and receiving the Lifetime Award was a bit embarrassing, not only because, as I said then, I hadn’t finished my life (I’m happy to say I still haven’t), but because I know I’ve done so much less than so many others. I think it happened because I had previously spoken up at a seminar to say that pro bono culture should inhabit one’s whole professional career and, indeed, before and after. I started as a student at the LSE, attending advice sessions at Islington Town Hall – then called The Poor Man’s Lawyer. This was just before the first Law Centres. Later, in articles, I participated in advice sessions at the City of London CAB. And in practice, for a significant part of my career I did pro bono work where I felt there was need and no other choice. In some cases I was too busy (read disorganised) to apply for Green Form extensions or to remember to lodge payment applications. And in addition, for some years I was Honorary Legal Adviser at Pimlico CAB.
SC: You were President of CWHLS in 2004-5. What did leading the society mean to you?
JF: It was of course an honour and I had a very enjoyable year particularly in visiting other local societies in other parts of this country – and beyond. City of Westminster merged with Holborn 20 years ago and both previous societies were quite young compared with some that are hundreds of years old. Do you remember that you and I approached the late Sir Donald Sinden at the reception after the memorial service for Colin Prestige (who was incidentally the first president of the Law Society’s Junior Lawyers)? Sir Donald remarked on the paradox that acting is a collaborative but lonely profession whereas the law is collegiate although (often) adversarial. And that’s it – as the pressures of legal life increase, contact and friendship with our colleagues becomes so valuable. I’ve made so many good friends and obtained so much good advice – not to mention helpful second opinions.
SC: You have represented Westminster on Law Society Council since 2005. What have been the issues that affect WHLS members most?
this where we came in?” But so much has happened in my time, perhaps principally the separation of regulation. The national Law Society is working hard (as it must) to persuade the profession of its continuing relevance and importance to them and I hope it will succeed.
SC: You represent the national Law Society on the Access to Justice Foundation. What does ATJF do and how can WHLS members help?
JF: The ATJF has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. It is “owned” by the whole legal profession, i.e., the Judiciary, the Solicitors, the Bar, the Legal Executives and the Advice Agencies. It raises and distributes grants to support advice agencies to provide those needing access to justice. Funds come from generous donors, solicitors’ unclaimed client account money, pro bono costs orders (under s.194 Legal Services Act 2007) and Ministry of Justice grants for Litigants in Person support. WHLS members can help by money donations, by raising sponsorship money on the Legal Walks, by donating dormant client account funds and by ensuring that a pro bono costs order is sought if any pro bono litigation is successfully undertaken.
SC: You are the current chair of International sub committee of WHLS. What does the relationship between international bar associations mean for our members?
JF: The International subcommittee is one of our most active sub committees. Over the years we have built up formal or informal relationships with Berlin, Barcelona, Bilbao, Bogotá, Milan, Krakow and Klug. WHLS is an active member of the FBE, the Federation of European Bars, of which you had the distinction of being the first female President in 2017. As the UK departs the European Union our links with other jurisdictions will become increasingly important and WHLS will do its part in upholding the Rule of Law and, one hopes, helping its member to get commercial benefit from the links we have forged. ■
Prof Sara Chandler QC (Hon), WHLS
The Membership Committee supports WHLS’ vision of building a vibrant and inclusive community of lawyers.
The Committee promotes WHLS and develops strategies to grow and engage its membership.
Please join us to make a positive contribution.
EPE Reynell Providing notice advertising services for over 200 years
In 1 81 2 George Reynell, previously an officer at The London Gazette, established an advertising agency in Chancery Lane. George had realised that lawyers were increasingly seeking his advice and support to arrange for legal notices to be published in the Gazette and newspapers. Reynell & Son remained a family business for six generations. Reynell is now part of EPE Administration, a global fund administ ration firm and part of EPIC Private Equity (EPE), a London-based investment and financial services group. EPE Reynell continue to be at the forefront of their field. Their comprehensive services are built on deep insight into all the latest changes in legislation. In recent years, Reynell has handled large scale legal notice advertising campaigns on behalf of law and accountancy firms based in the UK a nd overseas as well as routine notice advertising such as insolvency and trustee notices in the London Gazette and local, national and international press. Procedures requiring publication of legal notices include: • Administration of Estates - Trustee Act notices • Premises Licence Applications • Insolvencies (including Winding-Up petitions) • Insurance/Banking Business Transfers (Part VII FSMA) • Scheme s of Arrangement • Share Capital Reductions / Purchases You can count on Reynell to have a solution to your legal notice advertising needs –whatever and wherever you need to advertise it is likely that they will have dealt with similar requirements before. Notices are set to the specifications of each publication, keeping the size and hence cost of each notice to a minimum. If advertising overseas is req uired translation of the notice into the requisite language can be arranged. In the Gazettes (London, Edinburgh or Belfast) notices are published on the following working day. If it is urgent, same day publication is possible at no extra cost. Following publication, EPE Reynell supply their customers with Certificates of Insertion and copies of the pages where each notice has been published. For further information, any advice or a free quote please contact Peter Robson on 0208 501 9706 or by email at peter.robson@epe-reynell.co.uk.
New firm: Sinclair Gibson
On the 1st July 2019, Sinclair Gibson was launched by partners Keith Bruce-Smith, Lucy Gibson, Alison Meek, Kathryn Peat, Henry Hickman, Eleanor Walsh and Annabel Staples. Several of these partners had long served together at Harcus Sinclair, a firm with a successful private client practice established in 2002 and had accordingly built strong reputations while doing so. So where did the motivation for a new firm come from?
Firstly, we considered that the time was right for a rebrand. The senior partners of Sinclair Gibson are, very clearly, Keith BruceSmith (the Sinclair is his mother’s maiden name) and Lucy Gibson and it was felt that this should be recognised by placing their names on the door! The name change provided the starting point for the firm’s launch, which has included a new website www.sinclairgibson.com, while simultaneously acknowledging the stellar reputations each of the individual partners have cultivated over the years, allowing a name change with minimal disruption to the business: our partners are our reputation.
Secondly, Sinclair Gibson is licensed as an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) rather than as a traditional law firm. This is, in part, to allow the appointment of non-solicitor partners but also to offer flexibility for the future. The legal industry has changed significantly since 2002: technology plays a far larger part in the day to day activities of law firms and compliance regulations have become more and more stringent resulting in the requirements for a different set of skills to enable the smooth running of a successful law firm.
Against a background where technological advances and regulatory requirements have become more prevalent and finances and strategy play an integral part, many small to medium firms outsource much of their back office work to specialists to minimise workload and to ensure compliance across the board. However, at Sinclair Gibson the decision has been made to bring these skills in house to ensure that the firm’s objectives are fully understood as well as to encourage a culture of compliance within. It is therefore important that there is a structure in place whereby the skills of senior members of staff which lie in areas other than law, such as finance and compliance, can be recognised, with the ultimate reward being a partnership appointment.
Finally, the time that Harcus Sinclair had been trading had naturally resulted in some evolution in terms of practice areas and there was a desire to return to the ethos of old. As such, Sinclair Gibson concentrates on the core work that the founding partners have always enjoyed and valued and continues a move away from the expansionist business model reliant on compartmentalisation, juniors and precedent-led work increasingly prevalent in the market. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide innovative bespoke advice tailored to the individual through our three complementary areas of Private Client, Family and Private Client Litigation law.
18 CENTRAL LONDON LAWYER The firm’s model utilises partner-led teams, though individual solicitors are encouraged to work independently and build close and personalised relationships with clients, with many of the firm’s practitioners having competence and experience across two or more practice areas. The nature of Sinclair Gibson, and the size of our teams, is such that there is an agility which enables us to obtain opinions and advice from other departments within the firm at short notice which is invaluable and allows us to keep the private client’s needs, which are at the heart of our practice, at the forefront of our minds.
Led by Keith Bruce-Smith and Lucy Gibson, and supported by Eleanor Walsh and a team of qualified solicitors, our private client department combines deep expertise in advising UK-based families and landed estates on wealth structuring and devolution planning with a specialist practice in advising international clients on multi-jurisdictional matters, including cross-border estates.
The family department, which is led by Kathryn Peat, advises on all aspects of family law, from legal issues arising from the breakdown of a marriage and other relationships to pre and post nuptial agreements. The team places a particular emphasis on advising high net worth clients on complex financial remedy claims and is also well regarded for its work in private children matters.
The vastly experienced Alison Meek heads up Sinclair Gibson’s internationally well-regarded litigation practice, along with Henry Hickman. The firm’s dispute resolution practice is primarily focussed on litigation about trusts, probate and succession matters including for individuals, family offices, protectors and trustees on general contentious issues such as professional negligence. There are additional specialisms in Court of Protection and Privy Council agency work.
Overall, the breadth of expertise within the firm and the experience of our practitioners ensure that clients benefit from high quality and robust advice, rooted in independent and intelligent thinking as well as extensive experience. ■
Annabel Staples Partner, Sinclair Gibson
EBL Miller Rosenfalck boosts its employment and immigration teams with the appointment of new Legal Director Helen Murphie
EBL Miller Rosenfalck is pleased to announce the appointment of Helen Murphie as a Legal Director in the employment and business immigration team. Helen will head the firm’s business immigration team.
Helen was formerly a partner in Royds Withy King and has more than 16 years’ experience in employment and business immigration law. Described in the Legal 500 as “highly professional” and “an impressive and tenacious advisor.” Helen has a particular interest in whistleblowing, discrimination and knotty unfair dismissal cases. She also has a penchant for nerdy and complicated TUPE and contract issues, including restrictive covenants.
Helen advises on all aspects of business immigration law, helping employers to bring over the best international talent to the UK and assisting professional and high net worth individuals with their personal and family immigration issues. Helen’s clients include household names, entrepreneurs and professional and high net worth employees.
Helen Murphie says: “I am delighted to be joining EBL Miller Rosenfalck, and to be leading the immigration team, at this pivotal point in history. This specialist firm of international and European lawyers share my own values in ensuring that clients come first and that they are given the best possible quality of service and care. The breadth of international expertise and linguistic abilities of the team are outstanding but what makes the firm really unique is its dedicated country specific service to its clients, and the international client focused culture of the firm. I look forward to introducing my client’s and valued contacts to the highly talented team and to sharing more of our new professional services, and exciting plans, over the next few months.”
Emmanuelle Ries, Managing Partner, says: “We are very excited to welcome Helen Murphie to the EBL Miller Rosenfalck team as we continue to grow and develop new professional services. She is an impressive and highly experienced employment lawyer and she has considerable experience in all aspects of immigration law. Helen will lead our immigration team – focusing on business immigration, and helping to ensure that international clients have access to talent – and also providing expert advice to individual international clients and their families, and to investors and entrepreneurs.” ■
Social Housing & Working in Legal Aid
It seems that there are increasingly less housing solicitors in practice that can advise on matters such as homelessness, possession, disrepair and social housing geared judicial reviews, for legally aided clients. London based firms that were once able to provide housing advice through legal aid have sadly been forced to move on to pastures new as they struggle with the financial realities of maintaining a publically funded practice. For those unfamiliar to this area of law, set out below are a few of the problems, which most housing practitioners will have to grapple with on a daily basis.
Sorry, Your Matter Is Not In Scope For Legal Aid Is the legal problem in scope? The answer is, most likely not. Following the cuts made by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) numerous areas of advice, such as challenging housing benefit assessments, early intervention with housing debts/rent arrears and advice on the allocation of permanent social housing have either been cut back drastically or rendered out of scope. This leaves practitioners from deciding whether to refer a vulnerable client to a law centre or to act pro bono alongside a mammoth caseload and stay on top of the overheads of running their practice. Due to these cuts, housing solicitors nowadays can realistically only intervene where a client is at imminent risk of losing their home rather than intervening much earlier and avoid clients reaching a crisis point.
Sorry, Your Funding Has Not Yet Been Granted Housing lawyers will inevitably be using the Legal Aid Agency’s CCMS online portal to make applications for legal aid and if successful, secure a funding certificate with a fixed allocated amount and limit as to what steps of the work are permitted. Each time a practitioner requires further funds or approval to carry out further steps, practitioners can be expected to wait a number of weeks prior to getting the metaphorical green light. Naturally, where one does receive the green light the day before trial, a mixed feeling of relief and frustration can be experienced!
It’s Not All Gloom Despite the cuts to the system and the difficulty in being at the Legal Aid Agency’s beckoning awaiting funds, it goes without saying that the cost protection offered under legal aid allows housing lawyers to lawyers to challenge injustices, make a tangible difference to people’s everyday lives and change the shape of the law. ■
Rishi Joshi Trainee Solicitor, Hodge Jones & Allen
Succession Planning Starts Now Future proofing is an inexact science but one thing I think we can all agree on is that owning a small law practice is unlikely to get any easier during the next 5 years. With this in mind, we must review our strategies with the end in mind and make sure we either build a firm that is sustainable by creating internal succession or work toward making sure the firm is well-placed to be an attractive purchase opportunity for a suited external buyer. I have witnessed some poor decision making with exit planning and there are relatively simple steps that can be taken to prepare much better. These are the three most common errors that can all be mitigated.
1. Failing to plan far enough in advance Deal with succession long before you wish to retire. Identify the need to recruit seniority sooner so you have time and opportunity to source the right people to share the journey with you, ideally people unlikely to want to end the journey at the same point in time as you and others. 2. Unrealistic financial expectations Whether you are aiming to sell your entire firm or just to open up the equity to another person or persons, there needs to be a fair and realistic valuation undertaken. This must be done by someone who understands the legal sector deeply because a generalist accountant who looks after manufacturers, retailers and other businesses alongside yours is unlikely to have the insight to reach a number that will make a sale possible. 3. Talking only to people already known to the owners When a firm approaches Ortus Group unsolicited, the most common reason is urgency to find a solution because a previous attempt has been made to do a deal with a known entity. Without a skilled third-party driving discussions, it can often take six months to reach the full financial disclosure stage. When the parties are known to each other, a third-party is even more essential because people with longstanding professional relationships can be too polite to say what they really think to a peer they may have known for 30 years.
Summary Most partners wishing to retire now or in the near future will have become owners in a very different professional climate and would probably never imagined how hard it would be to sell the business to an internal candidate. This shortage of successors is anathema to a profession that for decades, worked on the idea that junior staff would come through the firm and ultimately take over from the owners. The market has a habit of finding a path of least resistance and many people find themselves being swept along with it. While there is little we can do to influence external pressures as they are imposed and tweaked by politicians and others with an agenda differing to the majority of owners in the legal sector, we can only seek to predict and protect ourselves from the negative consequences that may arise as a result. Those who do not seek to address these issues often find themselves exposed to further risk so make sure you seek good counsel in good time. ■ Colin White Managing Director, Ortus Group
Ortus Group works with law, accountancy and IFA firms to help them realise their aims through originating, facilitating and brokering deals for lateral hires, mergers and acquisitions.
Looking to sell?
We search the whole market to ensure value for you, your clients and your team.
Looking to grow your client base through lateral partner hires? We connect with the whole market to find the best possible outcomes.
Looking to grow by acquisition?
We do the leg work and save you thousands in otherwise lost billable time.
