Wales Business Insider Magazine, August/September 2013

As part of a Sector Review feature on the legal sector in Wales, Wales Business Insider magazine asked Melanie Hamer (Senior Director at Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice) the following four questions:

Q. What do you see as the main challenges facing the legal sector in Wales?

“Organisations other than law firms, such as online legal service providers, undercutting the fees charged by the legal profession, and finding a means of clients funding their legal bills, in view of the legal aid cuts.”

Q. How will your firm deal with these challenges?

“Emphasising that price is not everything, and sometimes you get what you pay for.  We are addressing the funding issues some private clients face through an arrangement with an organisation specialising in litigation funding.”

Q. What will your firm’s strategy be over the next five years?

“Doing what we do well, and being confident in our business model; looking for innovative and fresh ideas; adapting and moving with the times’ and recruiting the highest calibre lawyers.”

Q. Could your firm acquire or merge with another firm in the next five years?

“We would be open to acquiring family law departments from firms that are closing these.  We have no plans to merge.  For this to happen, it would have to be a like-minded and progressive firm with a similar commercial outlook.”