“Wake Smith has had a good year and we have seen no reduction in terms of commercial and commercial property work, considering the UK's decision to leave the European Union and the impact this may have had.
“Activity is widespread for us and we are hearing lots of talk surrounding pending deals and there is plenty of work in the pipeline for us to feel confident about.
“Other areas of legal work have been, and will continue to be less prosperous. For example, the legal profession is suffering from reduced fee income in respect of Personal Injury cases as the new fixed costs regime and the aggressive costs challenges to claimants costs take effect, but that is a legislative issue rather than an economically driven one.
“Still, we are cautious because there are potentially effects from Brexit which haven’t filtered through to the business community yet, and if we do witness some economic turbulence, then it is reasonable to surmise that banks may constrain lending activities, and a subsequent reduction of investment in deals or acquisitions could follow.
“We can retain optimism, however, as our business is well positioned if there is a forthcoming economic downturn. Wake Smith has been providing legal services for over 200 years and because we cover a wide variety of specialisms, we are able to handle the ebb and flow of business.
“Our competitors do not all share this capacity and many law firms which have chosen to focus on highly specific areas of law can find that the changing political and economic landscapes which may benefit them during good years, can be equally as damaging in bad years.
“An example may be Industrial Tribunal cases – these have fallen by 80 per cent over the past couple of years as prohibitive initial costs have stemmed the flow of Tribunal claims and if this line of business is a law firm's mainstay, it is easy to see how that could be problematic.
“We also see longevity of staff at Wake Smith. We have senior lawyers who have been with us for longer than 20 years and this stability allows our clients to enjoy long-term relationships with us and we can add value to their businesses.
“In a direct contradiction, what we see happening with many of the large law firms is where the appointment and movement of senior advisers often makes it difficult for clients to maintain one-to-one relationships with their legal advisors.
“With all of our teams now working under one roof at our modern city-centre base, we are looking forward to what challenges the next year will bring.”
