John Howe & Co

RETIREMENT ARTICLE

16/02/2022

By John Howe, managing director of West Yorkshire-based John Howe and Co

In every business, particularly a family-owned law firm like ours, succession planning always is at the back of your mind because you need to have someone to take over the smooth running of the business if the unexpected happens.

It is vital that you have a plan in place to ensure that the transition from the old guard to the new is seamless and that clients, while they will be aware of the change, do not notice any disruption to the level of service.

This becomes even more of a priority when you get to a stage in your life where retirement starts to become an attractive option.

I don’t mind admitting that I have reached the age where I am considering stepping back from the business, but I am finding it easier said than done.

This is because the way that law is taught these days means courses are turning out a future generation of solicitors whose legal knowledge is limited with them often specialising in one sometimes small area of law. I have found however that life and the challenges that it often brings do not always fall within such a small remit and as such a number of solicitors have to be used to advise on one potential problem.

John Howe and Co has over the years bucked the trend and ensured that its solicitors can advise on a number of different areas of law. They are what is known as a general practice where all the legal team handle a wide variety of legal issues and litigation.

The firm offers a comprehensive range of legal advisory services to private individuals and businesses across many diverse sectors.

Indeed, this ability to deal with such a variety of instructions has seen us involved in many high-profile cases including obtaining the fastest divorce in England in legal history.

To further demonstrate the breadth of our general practice, as well as having the ability to resolve business and employment law, family, property and personal law issues for individuals and businesses, we also are one of only two firms currently recommended by the Law Society to assist in the purchase of Bulgarian property for individuals and developers and be involved in litigation cases abroad.

When I was setting out it was more common for those wanting to forge a successful career in law to learn about, and then gain experience in, many different legal topics.

However, during the years that custom has changed completely. Now it is normal for solicitors to train and specialise in a very narrow sphere of law or, indeed, in only one specialism.

This means when it comes to recruiting staff to fulfil the needs of the business – and at John Howe this is a very broad church – instead of taking on one member of staff, who can turn their hand to a myriad of legal matters, you have to employ several. I am not saying I am irreplaceable, but it would potentially take two or three people to do so.

When you consider the multitude of legal specialties that there are – business and employment law, commercial property, corporate and commercial services, licensing, dispute resolution, home and personal issues, clinical negligence, personal injury, residential property, criminal proceedings, wills, probate, tax and trusts – if an individual member of staff only has the knowhow to deal with one area that adds substantially to the running costs of the business. Perhaps just as important it also leads to more costs being paid by the client

Take divorce for example, always a difficult time which can involve family law, child custody issues, financial settlements, employment and corporate issues, and potential property sales, a client may end up with several different solicitors dealing with different aspects rather than having one point of contact who understands the case inside out and can handle the different issues that occur.

The trend for narrowing what would be solicitors learn is a retrograde step not only from how efficiently and cost-effectively a law practice is run, but I would argue, from a job satisfaction point of view too.

The breadth of my legal knowledge, which I first honed studying law in Newcastle and Leeds, has made my working life so much more interesting.

I believe this has contributed to me being able to develop a long and successful practice from scratch which acts for clients not only the length and breadth of the country but also abroad.

I have also been acknowledged in other jurisdictions having provided training on two occasions for lawyers from Italy being seconded to us for a period of three months each to see and help understand the English legal system and how it operates.

Although my journey may be classed as unusual by today’s current practices it has helped me develop the business in ways which the large commercial practices in nearby Leeds, for example would have struggled to achieve. I would like to see a return to law students being encouraged to become general practitioners with legal training reverting to how they were in days gone by to accommodate that at least in part.

Not only would it particularly help the legal profession in general, but it would make my decision to consider retiring a whole lot easier.

ENDS

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