Tradecraft tips

Self sufficiency 1: multitasking

A firm I worked for had a high turnover of staff. There was little point in trying to train anyone to do the more menial things for me because they usually did not linger long enough for me to get the benefit of the time taken to train them. Accordingly I got myself into a way of working which I call vertical integration, meaning I could do most if not all of the various processes myself. 

For me, Microsoft Word was a gift from God as it allowed me to do my own typing. Gone were the days when I had to charm a typist into doing something for me at short notice. Many solicitors would throw up their hands in horror at the thought of doing such tasks when there are other people in their office paid to do them, but my priority is to get a job completed and not have to set it aside when I am most of the way through and then have to pick it up again later to finish it. 

A client telephoned late one Friday afternoon looking for a conditional offer to be lodged for a development site. Working on my own, I had the offer drafted, typed out, signed, and delivered round to the selling solicitors’ office in 40 minutes flat. Any other setup would have struggled to match this as the solicitor concerned would have had to involve their secretary and the office messenger. I did not rely on a fax being found at that time; and could advise the client I had delivered the offer myself for speed. 

Even though there may be people in your office employed to do things at a lower skill level than yours, you should still acquire and retain the ability to do the whole job yourself, needing only a partner of the firm for a signature on a missive letter or settlement cheque. 

Self sufficiency 2: judgment

A former employer of mine had to an extent broken the mould by setting up his own practice at an early age rather than working his way up through an existing firm. Faced with difficult decisions there was no senior partner or indeed any partner who could be consulted for a second opinion. He was having to take decisions at age 28 which he would not normally have been taking until he was maybe 48. He simply had to make his own choice between A, B or C; after careful consideration he would commit to his choice and nine times out of 10 he got it right.

Journalists commentating on financial matters sometimes say: “Nobody is more interested in looking after your money than you are.” After you have gained a bit of your own experience you can certainly still take advice from colleagues, but in cases where you have been involved since day one you have to learn to take overall responsibility and rely on your own judgment.  

Economy

Some firms have a subscription to Westlaw, which costs thousands of pounds every year, but Aberdonians are very, very “careful” with money. As an external reader I have access to the entire resources of Aberdeen University Library, including the Law Library at Kings College, which is enormous, at an annual cost of just £20. The Law Library is just over 10 minutes’ drive away and on-street parking is available for 70p, but I usually go at the weekends when parking is free. 

Spending money or having expensive computer programs or case management systems is no guarantee that you are going to be able to do your job in a more efficient manner, unless you have thought through the whole process and come to the conclusion that all other alternative methods are either too inconvenient or more expensive in the long run. 

I may have an oversimplified view of matters, but legal work is basically someone sitting at a desk thinking about the matter in hand and everything goes out from there. Until the point is reached at which computers can take over completely, IT systems and the like are simply tools in our hands and they cannot yet do our thinking for us. 

Perseverance: six into five will go

I had taken over a conveyancing file where the title for a new flat had been rejected by the Keeper. In an effort to be helpful, Register House gave me a copy of the title for a neighbouring flat in the same development showing what they thought was the correct description. The block in question accommodated six flats but only had five floors. If each floor had two flats there would have been 10 flats in total and if each floor had one flat only there would have been five flats, but there were actually six.

It was not possible to ask the client to solve the mystery as this would have disclosed that the solicitor in question had not understood exactly what the client had bought. 

I simply could not work out the correct configuration of the block, and even a site visit all the way to Glasgow to view the outside did not produce an answer. I was on the point of making a second trip to look at the building warrant drawings, when I decided to look at the developer’s website. This disclosed that the block had a mixture of four duplex flats with two flats on one floor only. This was how six flats fitted into five floors. The copy title provided by Register House was incorrect for the same reason as my client’s disposition, as it only covered one floor of what was in fact a duplex flat. 

When dealing with flatted properties you have that extra dimension in the conveyancing to the extent that not only are you dealing with breadth and depth but also with horizontal “slices” of airspace. If you do not understand the three dimensional configuration of the flat you are dealing with, you just have to keep plugging away at the matter until you do.  

Noblesse oblige

You will be dealing with people from all different walks of life and with different attitudes to certain things. 

A firm I worked for had a substantial connection with the Bradford & Bingley Building Society. They telephoned at 11am one day to say they had a woman in the branch whose father had died with £800 in an account with them. According to their rules, if a saver died with less than £1,000 in their account, then if the next of kin signed a special form in the presence of a notary public they would pay out the money on the spot without confirmation being required. The woman then came up to my office with the form but I had to fill it in for her. There was a line in the form for “Date of death”, and when I asked the woman when her father had died she replied: “Two o’clock this morning.”

Keeping a straight face I completed the form, it was signed and countersigned and the woman went back to the Bradford & Bingley to uplift the money. I was shocked that the daughter of a man who had died in the early hours was at his building society the same morning trying to get her hands on his money, but gave nothing away in my demeanour. Sometimes you have to restrict your role to the bare necessities and refrain from expressing your own personal views on the matter in hand. 

A safety net

Clients were buying a property on which they were going to be laying out a considerable amount of money. There was a quirk in the title which was picked up right at the start, and although circumstances were such that no defective title indemnity policy could be obtained, the clients were still willing to proceed. 

The seller was based in Texas and I was slightly apprehensive that if Register House rejected the disposition, which could occur years after it was lodged, there might be problems in obtaining a substitute disposition. As a precaution I requested that a short single transaction power of attorney should be granted by the seller to his solicitors allowing them to sign any alternative deed required. I certainly did not want to have to keep my fingers crossed that a deed sent across the Atlantic at some indeterminate point in the future was going to come back again duly signed and witnessed. 

The backlog of work at Register House is such that it could be a very long time before your dispositions are either accepted or rejected, and if in practical terms the seller is beyond the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts, you may be tempting Providence if you do not take suitable precautions.