Yorkshire firm to go into administration

Friday 15 February 2013 by Jonathan Rayner

Yorkshire law firm Atteys is to go into administration, putting at risk 140 jobs unless a buyer can be rapidly found.

Finance director Andy Tuke said today: ‘As a result of continuing financial pressures, Atteys has engaged BDO Leeds to assist in looking for a buyer so that the firm can continue to service clients and preserve jobs.

‘To allow the process to be conducted in an appropriate way, the company has given notice of intention to appoint administrators, but the company is not currently in administration. Staff are being consulted about their future and we very much hope that we will be able to preserve most jobs.’

Tuke said that it is ‘currently business as usual as far as our clients are concerned, and we are working closely with the Solicitors Regulation Authority to ensure all their interests are properly safeguarded’.

Interim chief operating officer Mark Feeney told the Gazette that more than 60 local firms have expressed an interest in purchasing Atteys. He said: ‘It is a sad moment for us all, but we expect to continue our practice under a different banner.’

Atteys is a Lexcel practice management standard accredited firm and is also a member of the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme. It has supported individuals and businesses in South Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire for 230 years and has won awards in both local and national competitions. It has offices in Doncaster, Sheffield, Barnsley, Wath upon Dearne and Retford.

The news follows the collapse of national firm Cobbetts, which was acquired by DWF earlier this month.

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Comments

Hmmm............

Submitted by Interested observer on Fri, 15/02/2013 - 17:38.

Another quick pre-pack

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So, another firm with lots

Submitted by anon on Fri, 15/02/2013 - 18:10.

So, another firm with lots and lots of marketing and kitemarks and all the things modern law firms were supposed to have-except clients who wanted to pay for their services.

Interesting how this recession has shown the difference between style and substance!

Most of us already knew it-but, of course, we were old fashioned.

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Regulation

Submitted by gerry field on Fri, 15/02/2013 - 19:39.

It is very sad. The Law Society has been no friend to solicitors over the last few years. Whilst firms have been struggling in a time of recession, the Law Society has done little to combat the assault they have faced from artificial competition and over regulation. Instead they have devised "kite marks" which, as anon points out, have little to do with the quality of the services being provided. What all this does it take up an inordinate amount of time which could otherwise be spent in looking after clients and running the business.

For my sins I am both COLP and COFA. Looking through the SRA handbook (it would be quicker to read Gibbons "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire") you have to wonder what lunatic devised all this. Still the lunatics are now in charge of the asylum.

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Regulations

Submitted by Bonzo on Sat, 16/02/2013 - 18:26.

I have in my hand 'A Guide to The Professional Conduct and Etiquette of Solicitors 1960'. This was sent to me (free!!!) by the Law Society when I was admitted in 1971. I have read it. It contains 176 pages including index. Yes, I AM a dinosaur and I am still working. I hold to my heart the sage words of my late and much loved Principal Ian Bransom of Newcastle, "All you have to sell is your Integrity". The Thomas Lund book sets it all out clearly. We don't need 1000 words to replace 1.

I have attended at the SDT on many occasions to see the eyes of that body glaze at page 1 of too many being read to them at great tedium. Keep it simple. Not rocket science. That's my job application!

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Dump the debt

Submitted by Deus Ex Machina on Mon, 18/02/2013 - 23:28.

Whilst I have considerable sympathy for the staff at Atteys it galls me that it now seems to be all too easy for firms of solicitors to declare insolvency and walk away from their debts, no doubt to do a pre-pack and pop up somewhere else.

I have no knowledge of Atteys' pricing policy, and my comments don't therefore apply to them. However, it would now seem to be a perfectly valid business model to undercut properly financed competition, generate a lot of cash, pay yourself a good income out of the cash, and then when the inevitable happens just call in the administrators and walk away, perhaps to do the same again.

This is a form of predatory pricing. It means that decent, properly run and financed firms are being undercut by and are losing work to those that aren't, but that no penalty attaches to the predator.

Being a solicitor carries considerable privileges. It should also carry the responsibility to pay your debts in full, and if you can't do so you should not be allowed to practise other than as an employee.