Polish migrants have brought much-needed labour to the UK, and they have also generated a wealth of business opportunities for enterprising law firms, finds Polly Botsford


The arrival of Polish migrants in the UK, in construction and elsewhere, following Poland’s accession to the EU has given rise to a number of important and often unexpected developments in the legal arena.



The Times reported recently that the influx of ‘bad Polish drivers’ into Scotland, and the concomitant growth in the number of Poles committing road offences, has sent the cost of court translations ‘soaring’ – in one area by as much as a staggering 1,200%. In England and Wales, most areas have also witnessed sharp increases in translation work needed across the spectrum of languages. In a housing report to the Home Office’s Migration Impacts Forum, published this month, it was reported that: ‘Increasing migration of people from Eastern Europe (and other countries) is causing a significant strain on interpreting and translation services.’



The Home Office estimates that 715,000 people have migrated to the UK since May 2004 from Poland and the other seven accession countries whose people are allowed to work EU-wide. Polish people make up two-thirds of that figure – about 470,000. Even this is most likely an underestimate – the statistics are only based on those migrants who have been granted worker registration, so the actual number is probably far larger.



But what may in some respects be bad news for taxpayers is good news for an array of businesses that have recognised that the recent Polish migration can have financial rewards – including legal practices.



Savvy law firms have seen this migration as an opportunity for a new community of clients and business. In November 2007, Russell Jones & Walker joined the ranks of firms – such as Irwin Mitchell, Simpson Millar and Thompsons – that have dedicated lawyers working for Polish-speaking clients.



Adrian Fawden, who runs the London office of Simpson Millar, explains: ‘Since 2004, a huge number of Polish people have come to work here, [and] they are all young and very well educated, very computer savvy. They started work in industries such as construction and catering, or as couriers, then quickly branched out into every kind of employment, such as food companies and supermarkets.



‘To respond to this, we employed a Polish lawyer, and in March 2007 opened our ‘Pogotowie Prawne’ – or ‘Alert Legal’ when you translate it literally – a legal service and helpline in Polish. We wrote some articles for the Polish Express and other publications. We were picked up by Onet.pl, a popular Polish website. As a result we’ve had a huge number of Polish clients approach us. Once they find out about the helpline, they tell other people in the community, through chat rooms and by word of mouth.’



The entry point for these firms into the Polish community derives from the nature of the practice areas they cover: they all have strong personal injury practices – a natural point of communication with a new working community. Richard Geraghty at Russell Jones & Walker’s new Polish Claims Unit explains: ‘We deal with the working population, so we have responded to changes within it.’



The work has also evolved through some of the firm’s union connections, says Mr Geraghty. ‘Our unit has evolved partly because the Poles have been putting claims through trade unions and member organisations, such as USDOR, the union representing shop workers, and a language problem has arisen,’ he says. ‘This has been a new form of work for our trade union clients.’



Another reason that lawyers are seeing so much business from this working community appears to be the way Polish people are treated by some UK employers. Patricia Westwalewicz, a Polish lawyer in Russell Jones & Walker’s Polish unit, claims starkly: ‘They are the slaves of 2008’. She adds: ‘They are treated as disposable and replaceable. They suffer verbal abuse and there is a total lack of consideration of their employment rights. They are often sacked within a day without any reason.’



On a more positive note, Polish clients are using an ever-increasing range of services, says John Davis, a regional managing partner with Irwin Mitchell who also runs the firm’s Polish client project. ‘The Polish are becoming more sophisticated,’ he says. ‘They want solicitors for buying homes, for making wills; they are a maturing and assimilating community, so their legal needs change.’



For all these reasons, legal work for Poles is booming. These law firms view their Polish-generated business as ‘important and growing’, says Mr Davis.



Mr Fawden agrees: ‘Although the value of [Simpson Millar’s] helpline and Pogotowie Prawne is small in percentage terms at the moment, it has only been running since March and it is much larger than we expected.’ Certainly those firms doing this work have recruited additional employees to staff their new units. Russell Jones & Walker’s new unit employs three staff. Irwin Mitchell has ten people working on Polish client cases across the country, says Mr Davis, and two Polish speakers who manage the Polish-language email and telephone line.



This development of Polish-led business for law firms has all happened very quickly. Russell Jones & Walker opened its unit only this month, and most of the other firms’ Polish sections have been up and running for no more than a year or two.



Recently, however, several more legal businesses have wised up to this potentially lucrative market. This has led to a plethora of new entrants, according to Mr Fawden: ‘If you compare the advertisements for law firms in the Polish newspapers, at the beginning it was only us and Levenes [a national practice originally based in North London]. Since then, there has been a stampede from law firms to get into this market. You’ll see thousands of claims companies in there now.’



Poland’s accession to the EU has also provided massive growth in its domestic economy, which has led to greater opportunities for UK and US law firms there too. ‘The entire Polish legal market has been booming,’ explains Kevin Connor, head of the Warsaw office of US firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey. Mr Connor has been working in this part of Europe for more than a decade. ‘There is no question that EU accession has resulted in inward investment from Europe and the rest of the world in a whole range of sectors in Poland – real estate, infrastructure, hotels – because there is a well-educated and reasonably cheap labour force. The law firms have followed.’



Back in the UK, it is not only lawyers who are eagerly adapting to the rewards the Polish bring. The numbers filling congregations in English Catholic Churches have led to recruitment drives for Polish-speaking clergy; Polish newspapers are flourishing; and supermarkets are stocking up on fast-selling Polish products.



Translation services have been radically affected, though not quite as The Times article would lead one to believe. John Lord, who runs Central Translations in London, explains: ‘In the private sector, we have seen a lot more Polish work, along with Russian and Serbo-Croat. In the public sector, the amount has increased dramatically. Unfortunately, this escalation in translation costs for the government has resulted in it taking drastic cost-cutting measures, including outsourcing the work abroad. Translators in the UK are up in arms.’



The growth in business from the Polish community is notable because of the sheer numbers involved. The next two biggest groups to migrate to the UK are, jointly, the Slovakians and the Lithuanians, each with only one in ten of the total number of migrants. Mr Fawden says these communities are ‘not so cohesive’, partly because these nationalities do not have an existing community here in the UK, unlike the British-Polish community which has been established since the 17th century. ‘Without that cohesion,’ he adds, ‘one Lithuanian client will not introduce a lawyer to hundreds of other Lithuanians, so business opportunities do not spread in the same way.’



But there is a curious postscript to the recent Polish migration – the peak may already have been reached. According to Home Office figures, the actual numbers of migrant workers entering the UK fell in 2007 compared with the previous year. ‘The tide is turning,’ says Michael Dembinski, head of policy at the British Polish Chamber of Commerce. ‘Even if you accept that the official figures are lower than the reality, the downward trend is genuine.’



This trend is being reinforced with emigration back to Poland. Mr Dembinski’s organisation has launched a ‘Return to Poland’ project encouraging young Polish people to go back home to support its growing economy and alleviate a massive skills shortage. For lawyers, therefore, it may be almost time to move on to the next big thing.



Polly Botsford is a freelance journalist