Against the grain ; ;Farmers are feeling the pinch but their plight means lawyers are reaping a rich harvest of work.

Victoria MacCallum hears how knowledge is the key to success down on the farm ;Farming and the law are two careers which, at first glance, do not seem to have a great deal in common: white-collar versus overalls; office work versus the open air; selling services versus selling goods.

;However, in recent years, farming has undergone a short, sharp shock of an image change ; gone are the pastoral delights of James Herriott, and in their place are long hours and stress levels to rival those of any City lawyer.

Recent figures released by the Office of National Statistics show that last year more than one farmer a week committed suicide, and the economic slump in the industry shows no signs of improving this year.

;Those figures do not surprise Tim Russ, partner in Somerset-based law firm Clarke Willmott & Clarke.

Its a terrible climate at the moment for farmers many of them are living literally on the breadline, and the stress levels are through the roof.

The reasons for this the dropping price of commodities, the lack of public faith in British meat post-BSE, ;the ever decreasing government subsidies are not helped by another problem the industry shares with the law: bad PR.

Theres a general feeling of dislocation from the cities, says Mr Russ.

The idea that city people dont understand their way of life, and see them as lazy, subsidy grabbing and money hungry.

;Inevitably, the economic decline there were 183 bankruptcies and 75 insolvencies last year, according to figures from the National Farmers ;Union has led to an increase in work for agricultural lawyers, who now deal with a growing number of insolvencies alongside their regular caseload of landlord and tenant disputes, buying and selling land, and advising on tax, succession and partnership work.

;Eleanor Pinfold, a Sutton-based sole practitioner and secretary of the Agricultural Lawyers Association, says an agricultural lawyer has to be a jack of all trades.

You have to know the whole of Halsbury and put it into practice, she says.

Your sphere ;of knowledge has to range ;from employment law as ;most farms have at least one agricultural labourer to pollution regulations and ; the rights of gypsies who squat on your clients land.

;This breadth of knowledge is vital as farmers are a notoriously loyal breed, who tend to stick with one firm for all their legal needs.

Definitely, agrees Robin Ogg, head of agriculture at Leamington Spa-based Wright Hassall.

Our clients use us for all their work theyre extremely loyal, and they appreciate dealing with someone they know well.

;However, Mr Russ sees a change in attitude coming as farmers struggle to cope with the harsh economic climate.

Farmers are becoming divided into two groups the traditional farmers, who will use one firm for all their needs because their grandfather used the same firm; and the more progressive farms who will use different firms who have expertise in different areas.

He gives as an example a large estate client who uses his firm for general employment and farming work, but goes to a London firm for trust work.

;This is an assessment with which James Buxton, a partner in the litigation department at Bristol firm Burges Salmon, would agree.

His firm, described by the Chambers Directory as possessing the strongest agricultural practice in the country, is typical of the large city-based law firm which farmers turn to when they need that little bit more.

We have a reputation for providing specialist advice, he explains.

Local solicitors dont always have the expertise required, and so when something arises that they cant deal with, they often refer it to us.

;Mr Buxton has no agricultural background something that he has never found a problem but for the smaller one-stop shop firms, it is often essential.

As is typical of a niche area, farmers tend to prefer their day-to-day lawyers to have some knowledge of the agricultural scene to know their balers from their threshers as well as their probate from their personal injury.

;It helps enormously, says Mr Ogg.

I have a small holding, and both my assistants here in the department are the offspring of farmers.

Knowing the terminology, knowing what the clients are actually talking about is vital if youre not going to make a fool of yourself.

Every week one of his assistants travels to Rugby farming market in Warwickshire and talks to the farmers, gets to know them farmers dont do anything quickly and so you need to build up a relationship before they trust you.

;This relationship needs to be constantly maintained if clients are to be kept: agricultural lawyers bring a new meaning to the phrase hands on.

I never travel anywhere without a pair of wellingtons and a thick coat in my car boot, says Ms Pinfold, who gave up wearing skirts when she left her City job to set up as a sole practitioner.

You will lose your farming clients if you stay in the office all day you have to get out there and actually see what ;the problem is, see what theyre talking about.

;This, she says, is what makes the area such an interesting and rewarding one.

Agricultural law is very client oriented, very geared to dealing with individuals, and ;you have to know more about your farming clients than you do your commercial clients.

Compared with an office, which is pretty much the same as any other office, no two farms are the same you have to give very specialised and individual ;advice for each client dependent on that.

;Richard Barker, head of agriculture at East Anglian firm Barker Gotelee, makes it a golden rule that clients are never taken on until he or a member of his team has made a visit to the farm.

Having the first-hand knowledge is vital, he says.

For example, were very involved at the moment with an outbreak of swine fever in East Anglia one of our team used to be a pig farmer, so he knows all the terminology and can really speak the farmers language.

;Swine fever has affected more than 500 farms since August, according to the National Pig Association, and it is just one of a myriad of problems besetting the modern farmer.

Lack of profitability theres just no money around is a common refrain is driving more and more farmers to bankruptcy.

;Its an atrocious state of affairs, says one senior partner in an agricultural firm.

Ive never seen anything like it in my 25 years of practice.

It puts everything else into a totally different perspective.

;How this will affect the agricultural law niche is unclear.

Big firms such as Burges Salmon continue to attract work from the farms who are managing to stay afloat in fact, according to Mr Buxton, the firm is as buoyant as weve ever been.

He says: The decline in profitability means that there is a huge restructuring of the industry going on, which in turn means that there is a substantial amount of work involved in, for example, setting up new farm structures.

;However, not all agricultural specialists are so confident.

Mr Russ says that in the future there will be fewer farms, so there will be fewer lawyers around.

;Perhaps indicative of this, last year the National Farmers Union slashed its legal panel from 69 law firms to just nine in specific regions: Jacksons from Tyneside; Napthen Houghton Craven, Lancashire; Morgan Cole, Cardiff; Thrings & Long, Bath; Bond Pearce, Plymouth; Knight & Sons, Staffordshire; Prettys, Suffolk; Brachers, Kent; and Roythornes, Lincolnshire.

;The firms had to sign a ;know-how sharing agreement under which they pledged to ;help each other and not operate outside their agreed geographical areas.

;Mr Barker, while acknow-ledging the lean times farming is going through, believes there will still be a role for agricultural lawyers, albeit a different one from present.

;Farmers need to change their attitudes, they need to see themselves as businessmen who happen to be farmers the days are long gone when they can be brilliant farmers, but lousy with figures, he says.

Lawyers need to become managers of their businesses, help them to become more efficient and ensure that they have business-like and profitable arrangements in place.

;Not so different from law firms after all.