Questions for Northamptonshire Law Society Bulletin Autumn 2020 – COVID Edition
1.Please provide a brief description of you, your organisation, number of employees and areas of work.
Duncan Nicholson, Managing Partner, Tollers Solicitors. Specialist in Corporate Recovery and Turnaround. Tollers is a full service law firm providing legal services to businesses and individuals. Specifically we provide Corporate, Property, Dispute, Employment and Insolvency services for businesses and Private Client, Family, Residential Property, Personal Injury and specialist vulnerable client care services for private individuals. We have around 135 staff.
2.When did you first become aware of Coronavirus and what were your initial thoughts?
Early in January 2020 the news on Coronavirus started to become higher profile and I started to take more of an interest from then. If I am honest my initial thoughts was it would be similar to other coronavirus outbreaks such as swine flu and that it would not have a huge impact on our day to day lives.
3.What steps did you/your firm initially take and what problems did you encounter?
In February/early March we started to take additional steps in connection with office hygiene etc. In addition we cancelled a number of events that would involve mass gatherings. When lockdown was announced we were able to react very quickly as we had the technology and IT infrastructure to send all of our staff home. Where staff were unable to work effectively from home, such as Receptionists, we used the Government’s furlough scheme. We also used the scheme to mitigate against the reduction in activity brought about as a result of the impact of Covid-19.
4.Now we are slowly coming out of lockdown, how are you tackling this, what are your plans?
We continue to keep a very close eye on the level of economic activity and legal instructions. We have introduced flexible working, particularly for our solicitor and fee earning staff. We have reopened offices with Covid-19 policies to keep both staff and clients safe. While we will meet clients we continue to encourage virtual meetings where possible. We have reduced the number of operational sites with Tollers as a much larger proportion of business is done on a virtual basis with location being less of an issue and, where legal activity has reduced in certain sectors, we have made some difficult decisions and reduced headcount. Most staff are now back from furlough with only a handful of support staff remaining on the scheme.
5.Have you seen different sectors of Law, more affected than others, if so which eg. Conveyancing
Yes. Conveyancing dropped off the side of a cliff initially. Then, once lockdown was relaxed the market bounced back due to pent up demand. That was further boosted by the Government’s stamp duty holiday and so our current levels of instructions are ahead of where we expected them to be pre-Covid. Commercial Property was also hugely impacted but is also bouncing back. Corporate deals were shelved thus reducing activity there. Private Client and Family have seen greater activity however that has not always meant an increase in fees. The closure of Courts, financial institutions and Government bodies have resulted in far slower processing and so the fees from the greater activity are taking longer to harvest.
6. Have you seen any positives for you, your firm or more widely the legal sector come out of the pandemic?
Positives are the acceptance of more flexible working and the ability to serve clients in a wider geography as a result. We have also identified additional efficiencies which were forced upon us but have been beneficial. Where there is disruption there is always opportunity and at Tollers we are on the look out for opportunities.
7.How do you see the future for you, your firm and the wider profession?
Tollers is well geared up and robust enough to manage its way through the pandemic. Its been tough, particularly in the first 6 weeks of lock down but we managed our way through. We have learnt a lot and developed as a business. While the economic outlook remains so uncertain it is not the time to be complacent but we believe that we are strong and will emerge even stronger. For the wider profession the concern has to be the smaller firms who cannot invest in the technology for more agile working. In addition, with the Government support packages slowly being phased out, the wider economy is likely to worsen and the impact on legal practices and all other sectors is likely to be significant.
8.Any top tips?
The main tip is not to panic and to keep a very close eye on activity and costs. At the start of the pandemic we were monitoring activity weekly and budgeting accordingly. That is not sustainable however we have continued to monitor our financial indicators very carefully and as a result the firm has performed as well as we could have expected it to given the significant business interruption brought about by Covid-19.
9. Any other thoughts you would like to share?
In terms of final thoughts, communication in times like this is probably the most important thing. We communicated with our staff regularly, especially with those on furlough, so they did not feel out of the loop. In addition, there is a lot to be said for communicating with your business rivals. I have spoken to many other firms to compare notes. We can all learn from one another and however experienced you might be, there will always be something new you might pick up along the way. The impact of the pandemic will continue to be felt for some time and on behalf of Tollers I wish all businesses and individuals in and around Northamptonshire every success in meeting Covid-19 head on. None of us are alone so lets all keep talking and learning.
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