LOCAL BUSINESS NEWS �
are thankfully long gone deriving a large portion of its business from it. “So in 2000 the profession decided, in its wisdom, to put it to the open market as some of the bigger London firms felt they were subsidising the smaller players.” Cripps suffered a setback as it lost its position, but other opportunities had come along for the firm, which moved into property law surrounding large infrastructure projects such as the Docklands Light Railway and HS1. In 2010 another threat to the profession loomed, when areas previously classed as ‘reserved services’ – those which only solicitors were legally allowed to do – were opened up to outside competitors.
‘We realised it was essential to build a sustainable brand’ “The business world began looking at how they could make money out of the law and apply to it commercial thinking as opposed to evolved legal practices,” says Mr Tyler. “Many large companies, ranging from the ‘big four accountancy firms’ to the Co-op and even Eddie Stobart, the haulage company, became involved.” While not every venture has been successful, it did change thinking in the legal profession. Another major shift in the legal sector has been an increased focus on marketing, particularly around branding. “Back in 2014, we realised it was essential to build a sustainable brand and to move on from the
core values we had developed about ten years ago. “We had also undergone the merger with Vertex and grown significantly. We had become a very different legal practice.” The firm hired professional branding consultants to help them articulate what sort of business Cripps is and what it wanted to be known for. “We recognised that many of our future clients are more likely to be economically active people in their 40s or 50s with both personal and business needs, so we needed to adapt in order to service all their requirements.” The new brand encapsulates how Mr Tyler believes the firm approaches its client base. “We very much offer advice and don’t treat the law as a process, as that is not what clients are looking for. “It’s about working with them to help get them where they want to be.” Looking ahead, he said that technology and automation was likely to have a major impact on the profession. “Some of the more extreme predictions suggest that by 2020 the role of junior lawyers will be obsolete due to artificial intelligence,” he comments. “I do not believe that will be the case, but it will certainly being doing some of their work. “If you think about reviewing a whole load of documents, you can either put them through a scanner to search for certain words, key phrases and names, or give them to an individual who will take days and charge fees. “But you have to ask ‘do lawyers really like
wading through paper?’ It gets hours on the clock for them but it is not very appealing. “That’s why it’s important for lawyers to get back to giving advice and spending time building relationships with clients.”
THE BACKGROUND…
Who is Gavin Tyler? Mr Tyler attended Skinners’ School, where he was a member of The Cadets, and decided he would go to Sandhurst Military College if he was unable to study law. However, he attained good A levels, to the ‘surprise’ of his teachers, allowing him to study law at Manchester University and in London. He followed his father by joining Cripps in 1984 and mainly focused on litigation, before later retraining in employment law. Mr Tyler was made a partner in 1990, aged 29, and managing partner in 2013.
About Cripps…
Cripps was founded in Tunbridge Wells in 1852 and now has offices in Kings Hill, Sandwich and London, and is due to move into new offices on the former Kent and Sussex Hospital site. In 2013 the firm merged with Vertex Law, doubling the size of its corporate and commercial practices. Cripps recently won the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award.
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BUSINESS IN BRIEF
County council to set up comercial legal firm KENT County Council (KCC) is commercialising its legal service department in a new venture designed to deliver ‘a significantly increased’ and ‘sustainable income stream’ for the taxpayer. The department, named Kent Legal Services, has over the years provided a range of legal assistance to more than 600 public sector bodies and employs more than 125 specialist lawyers. All legal services staff will transfer into the company except those in the KCC client side commissioning team, who will remain employed by the council.
Workers compensated A LARKFIELD-based newsprint company has been forced to award £750,000 to the 98 workers it made redundant without consultation between February and April last year. The decision was made by an employment tribunal which found the employees were not given their statutory eight weeks’ pay when dismissed. Aylesford Newsprint closed last year, resulting in 300 job losses and a hole in its pension fund which could be partially plugged through sale of the site, valued at £30million.
New local charity CEO TUNBRIDGE WELLS-based charity Tree of Hope, which offers help to families of sick or disabled children, has appointed a new Chief Executive. Gill Gibb, who previously held the role of Managing Director of the Charity Employees Benevolent Fund, has spent 18 years in retail financial services.
Wednesday 23rd March 2016