Sunday, June 15, 2008

Tough times for anyone involved in Conveyancing

These are troubled times and many industries are feeling the pinch with the credit crunch in full swing.

People who know far more than I about these things claim this is only the start.

My own sector - personal injury claims - is immune to recession. If anything such financial downturns create greater demand. Not so in other legal sectors.

Im sorry to say that conveyancing has been badly hit with the rapid slowdown in the housing market. I have many friends in the industry who deal with conveyancing and other non contentious areas of law.

Every week more news creeps out regarding law firm redundancies with conveyancing the first department that gets trimmed. Even top dogs are not safe - particularly those that failed to anticipate the downturn or have a plan for dealing with a rapidly changing market.

With conveyancing - its a simple supply and demand business and right now - there is no demand.

Some sectors / specialities produce consistent business levels even in bad times. This could include but is by no means limited to, Personal injury, Criminal law [choke] Wills and Probate, Insolvency, Employment law and Commercial law.

There's a lesson to be learned here for anyone looking to come into law. Choose your niche and your law firm very carefully.