East Anglia: diverse culture in turbulent times

The Eastern region is one of the largest and most diverse in England and Wales, with a very strong and competitive economy. It stretches form the edge of London to remote coastal and rural areas in the north and east. As a region, East Anglia does not have a large conurbation such as a Leeds or a Birmingham but there are around a dozen medium-sized towns and cities.

The 6,000 solicitors in the region reflect its diversity and lawyers are spread throughout the region in predominantly small to medium-sized firms, but there are also several larger firms with an international reputation. East Anglian solicitors have the same concerns and face the same challenges that the profession as a whole has to negotiate, in what is regarded as an unsettled and turbulent time. The four solicitors who give their views below are representative of the region's professionals. All are committed to provide a premium service for their clients together with a strong social conscience and it is reflected in the work that they do.

Uncertain future

When Robert Colwell entered the legal profession at Metcalfe Copeman & Pettefar (MCP) in 2004 as a trainee solicitor he had no idea that high street law firms would be facing the largest change in their history with the reports of Clementi and Carter just around the corner. Colwell qualified at the start of 2007 into MCP's Family Department and deals with legal aid clients. He wanted to help those people less fortunate in society that are not just located in the cities, but his home town of King's Lynn in Norfolk.

He, like many fellow legal aid lawyers, is facing an uncertain future as firms restructure their workforce to try and counter the stark truth that it no longer makes financial sense to try and make legal aid work pay. The fixed fee system introduced from October 2007 means cuts in remuneration in an already subsidised area that cannot be absorbed by other departments. Colwell went to Westminster as one of the representatives for his local Law Society to lobby MPs at an event organised by the Law Society to show the concern at the grass roots. The event was well attended and it was obvious that many people in the room were angry. He said they 'felt let down by a government that were clearly pushing through legislation after a shambolic consultation where they had not listened to genuine concerns of practitioners and the not-for-profit sector'.

But where does this leave the clients?

Colwell said that the problems facing his clients are accessibility, quality, justice and speed. 'The Legal Services Commission have not fully appreciated the very individual problems that reform will bring to rural communities,' he says. 'No rural impact assessment has been produced and with their own admission, the reforms were based on an urban model.'

Solicitors united

Colwell acts as liaison for a group of solicitors based in King's Lynn that have fought to unite lawyers in East Anglia to prove to the government they speak as one. The list of firms numbers over 30 and a joint letter was published in both The Times and the Gazette back in December 2006, but faced with the possible threat of legal action under the Competition Act felt helpless to take their plight to the next level. The fight continues and he urges all readers to contact their local MPs.

Colwell saw many similarities in his daily work to the recent ITV legal drama Kingdom filmed in the market town of Swaffham, some 15 miles from where he lives. 'It is the varied work and greater responsibility that you simply don't get working in the City, but I've still had days chained to the photocopier'. When asked about why he has chosen to settle his roots in East Anglia he states: 'I grew up in this part of the world and did not really appreciate the relaxed atmosphere until I had spent several years at university. It feels like a healthier style of living and it is easier to get noticed and actually make a difference'.

Yvonne Spencer recognises Colwell's concerns regarding publicly funded work. Yvonne was recently appointed a partnership member at Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP, a medium-sized firm with 130 employees in Colchester. Spencer heads the Education and Public Law Department within the firm, which provides niche advice services to independent schools, FE colleges, parents, teachers and professionals. Prior to joining the firm two-and-a-half years ago, Spencer worked as deputy director of the Children's Legal Centre, an international children's rights NGO based at the University of Essex, where she set up the publicly funded legal practice unit.

'Tesco law' challenges

For Spencer, 'the revised public funding regime, the Clementi reforms and the advent of 'Tesco law', have thrown up some difficult challenges for regional firms, like Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP, who traditionally have provided a mixture of publicly funded and privately funded services'. But she adds 'The reforms have also provided an opportunity for us to really think strategically and to evaluate our lawyers' skills and their applicability to wider niche sectors in the region'. Along with a range of more traditional practice areas, the firm offers

specialist business immigration advice and a range of specialist services for institutional clients in the education and charities sectors. Spencer adds: 'The firm's niche sector services enables us to market nationally as well as regionally, thus opening opportunities for cross referrals across the firm's commercial practice areas.'

But the story does not end there. Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP has long been regarded as a major player in international human rights, with managing partner Tony Fisher chairing the Law Society's International Human Rights Committee. Closer to home, the firm remains committed to providing publicly funded social welfare law advice in housing, community care and welfare benefits. One of the firm's pro bono projects has recently been short-listed for two prestigious awards. The 'Tendring Outreach Project' has been short-listed for the Legal Aid Lawyers of the Year Award and the East of England Excellence Awards - Regional Pro-Help Company of the Year, both to be announced in late June. Yvonne explains, 'it's about putting something back into the local community. The need is there and the firm intends to meet it as far as it can. There's a growing awareness within the business community for ethical trading and many of our commercial clients recognise our firm's values and integrity through the pro bono work we provide'.

Leaving the big smoke

Graeme Menzies joined Mills & Reeve in Norwich in 1985, after eight years with McKenna & Co in London and Hong Kong. He is a partner and heads the commercial disputes team from their Cambridge office. Graeme has seen three main changes during his 22 years at Mills & Reeve: size, specialisation and globalisation. However he did highlight one fundamental feature which has remained broadly unchanged, and that is the culture of his firm, which has been in the Sunday Times list of best 100 places to work for the past four years. The firm has four offices: Cambridge, Norwich, Birmingham and London, with 535 of its 760 members of staff based in the Eastern region.

The Cambridge office, now the largest office with 330 staff, is celebrating its 21st birthday this year having opened with six people in 1986. In the last three to four years the firm has doubled in headcount and turnover which is now £56m. Graeme says that it would have been difficult to imagine in 1985 that M&R would complete £1.7bn of banking and corporate deals in 2006 have top national practices in healthcare, higher and further education, agribusiness, insurance and private client and to have one of the largest and most capable technology and intellectual property teams outside London. Nor would he have guessed that the firm would have active China and India groups and a network of 10,000 lawyers in 250 countries around the world. Menzies adds: 'an increasing proportion of the firm's business, particularly in the corporate services area, involves an international element which reflects the globalisation of clients' business.'

What are the challenges for the future? For Menzies, 'tenders and fixed price quotes are regular features in both private and public sectors. Our strike rate is good, but there is keen competition on price as well as new competition following Clementi, from the likes of Tesco, AA and insurance companies. The challenge will be to maintain the best service at the keenest prices and to provide bespoke services as different aspects of work become 'commoditised' and more susceptible to cut price deals. The practical effect of outside investment and the implications of alternative business structures remain to be seen. We need to continue to refine our skills in managing a substantial multi-site operation in a changing and challenging regulatory environment and to balance the need for ambitious, profitable growth and corporate-style management with the consultative culture and other core values of the firm'.

Corporate and social responsibility

Like many firms in the region, M&R has a strong commitment to corporate and social responsibility and community service is an important part of the firm's culture. There is a free legal advice group initiated and manned by M&R solicitors and ongoing projects to develop educational gardens and to reclaim land for public access.

Another solicitor who decided to uproot from London is Sean McTernan a sole practitioner based in Suffolk. McTernan chooses to highlight some of the more positive elements of practice he has found since moving to East Anglia. He says, contrasting 20 year's in-house work in London with six in practice on his own in Suffolk, that it is easier to get to know the landscape (actual and legal) here and it is more personal.

Though he acknowledges sole practitioners across the profession may feel marginalised, 'there is an active group in Suffolk and there is support if you seek it. I have a stronger sense of being part of the profession here, in what will be looked back on as a turbulent time for lawyers.' Though the greater part of his media practice rests on work from London and elsewhere, he says there have been opportunities to develop local connections. 'I took on organising mediation awareness in Suffolk and that lead me in directions I would not have thought of and I have developed my pro bono profile. It isn't simple altruism, it broadens experience and interaction. There is a lot of professional creative work going on too '“ from bands, record labels and radio production through to fine arts and they do seek advice now and then.'

The biggest difference he sees is the number of truly general practitioners at work.' I have always specialised, so the traditional role of being prepared to take on most things would unnerve me,' he adds.

Role of technology

'Technology makes us more accessible and mobile and the need to be in a major city, certainly for specialist practices has diminished. I really like being just off the road-to-nowhere. Courier bikes still find me if they have to, though a recent 120 mile delivery of a rough cut of a TV programme from a major London post production house omitted to include the DVD itself,' concludes McTernan.