SOME LAWYERS ARE DEALING SOLELY WITH GAY CLIENTS -- AND FINDING LUCRATIVE OPPORTUNITIES IN THIS NICHE MARKET, WRITES TOM BLASSLaw firms have perhaps been a little slower than other commercial enterprises in actively courting the pink pound.

But social and legal changes have put gay rights on the agenda and created much more of a niche for firms to market themselves to the gay community.The gay rights organisation Stonewall has a list of solicitors to whom it refers clients seeking legal advice.

It does this on the basis of that lawyer's expertise: Gill Butler at London firm Evans Butler Wade is a family law practitioner with a great deal of experience of handling custody and contact disputes for gay fathers.

Housing lawyer Will Rolt, of the Chippenham firm Wood & Awdry, represented Martin Fitzpatrick in the landmark case Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association, which established that for the purposes of the Rent Acts, a same-sex couple can constitute a family.

Judith Burton, name partner at London practice Judith Burton & Co, is highly regarded for her employment expertise.These lawyers represent a spectrum of practices.

Some have found that their reputation for handling matters for gay people has come about almost accidentally.

In these cases, often it is the lawyer that has the reputation, and not the firm.

It is not unusual for the reputation to be based upon a single case that made national headlines.But there is also a new phenomenon of law firms that have taken a much more overt approach, solely undertaking matters for the gay com munity.

Firms such as David Clark & Co in Hampstead provide a high street practice for gay clients.

The firm advertises itself as a gay firm, undertaking criminal defence work, conveyancing, immigration, and probate.Daniel Williamson, a lawyer at David Clark & Co, believes that the existence of such firms is necessary: 'A lot of clients are apprehensive about going to see a solicitor and encountering a homophobic reaction.' Many clients arrive at David Clark & Co having had 'a bad experience at another firm -- for example having been dropped as a client when wanting to draw up a will for a same-sex partner'.Haema Sundram, a lawyer at Judith Burton & Co, says the firm meets a similar need.

It advertises itself as 'an all-lesbian firm providing a full range of legal services to lesbians and gay men', and again, in those areas of law which any other high street firm could be expected to provide.

Ms Sundram says that gay men and women are reassured by knowing both that they will be given a sympathetic ear, will be able to speak freely, and that the firm will doubtless have encountered similar cases before them.

And, it seems, the firm's clients keep the practice healthy.But word of mouth continues to be perhaps the most important source of referrals.

Mr Rolt represented his client Martin Fitzpatrick throughout a number of moves from different law firms.

He thinks that in a case like this, it is an individual lawyer, not firm, that accrues the reputation.

Certainly his initial involvement had nothing to do with spotting a niche; and he reflects that at the beginning, colleagues insisted that the case would collapse, and he would be best advised not to take it on.Mr Rolt is first and foremost a housing lawyer, but has always been driven by the 'rights' element of the law.

He says that his firm has always publicised the case locally as a human rights issue, not a gay rights issue.

This, he believes, brings the firm's reputation into a wider orbit.

Through his success with Martin Fitzpatrick, Mr Rolt has received calls from a number of other gay clients with problems involving inheritance and probate issues.

'My stance is that I might not know very much about capital gains tax, but I do know how to interpret legal thinking on gay rights issues.'Ms Butler is a partner and family lawyer at Evans Butler Wade.

Many of the cases referred to her are concerned with disputes relating to child custody or contact for gay fathers.

'A lot of my referrals are by word of mouth; clients who know clients, for example, and a fair number from organisations such as Stonewall,' she says.

Her experience began more than 20 years ago, handling lesbian child custody disputes.

In those days, she claims, 'no one was prepared to stick their head above the parapet'.

Now, by contrast, 'you can't help being little bit cynical when you see how heavily lawyers advertise in the gay press.' But she notes that gay and lesbian legal interests are vastly better served in London than they are in the regions: 'One client had been refused by 13 different law firms before she got through to me.'Like Mr Rolt, Ms Butler laments the changes to legal aid funding which make it harder for practitioners to act for gay and lesbian clients, especially in matters involving abuse of human rights: 'It depresses me that a month doesn't go by without one seeing an experienced lawyer being driven out of legal aid work.' This, she believes, means that handling some gay and lesbian-related matters becomes unnecessarily driven into being a 'political commitment'.

On the other hand, she ag rees that the proliferation of local advice lines and the increased visibility of gay rights organisations makes access to legal resources easier for gay men and women.Certainly, there are several forces shaping the way in which the legal profession is addressing the needs of the gay community.

One, undoubtedly, is a judicial climate more sympathetic both to gay rights and to human rights issues generally.

Issues such as lowering the age of consent for gay men, adoption by gays, and gays in the military brew controversy, but they also bring gay rights issues to the fore.In turn, the gay community becomes aware that the law can be used in a manner pertinent to its needs.

Adoption of the European Statute on Human Rights next year will no doubt accelerate the trend.

But additionally, an increasingly marketing-conscious legal profession is spotting opportunities in the dynamic of social change.

Firms which appeal exclusively to the pink pound are occupying a very lucrative niche.DESPITE ENCOURAGING CHANGE FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY, BEING OPEN AT WORK CAN STILL BE AWKWARD, WRITES LINDA TSANGComing out as a homosexual at work can be problematic.

Sarah Ahmed, who was an assistant solicitor at Clifford Chance for five years, had already decided that she was going to leave the firm when she came out.

It happened at dinner in an expensive restaurant with other Clifford Chance lawyers.

She was chatting to one of the men, and mentioned that she was not single.

He said: 'What's his name?' And she replied: 'Well, it's her name.' Eventually, someone rephrased the question and asked: 'What's her name?Ms Ahmed is now an equity partner specialising in commercial litigation at Anthony Gold Lerman & Muirhead.

She says the introduction of the Law Society Code in 1995 on discrimination, including on the grounds of sexual orientation, was a good thing, as it sends a message.

'But unlike gender and race, being gay is not obvious, and you have to make a decision whether or not to come out, and to whom,' she says.

It is a continuing process, starting with friends at work, then peers at work, and finally clients.She admits that before she came out, there were amusing incidents.

When she first wore a trouser suit to the office, one of the assistants joked that she should 'watch out' or the partners on the top floor might think she was a lesbian.

She exchanged knowing looks and a smile with a friend to whom she had already come out.

Ms Ahmed adds: 'City firms do tend to have a macho environment -- and that remark sums up the general attitude, but as you get older you get more secure, and it is easier to come out when you are in a more senior position.'She says that she is more comfortable with her environment at Anthony Gold, the London firm she joined after Clifford Chance, which is 'quite liberal and left-of-centre' and already had an 'out' equity partner.

'Now, it's nice to be socially integrated, and I can take my female partner to dos and with clients,' she says.But moving from that type of firm to a City firm can mean that a lawyer who has been open about his or her sexuality may have to be more circumspect.

This partner of a leading City firm declined to be named.

He was approached by a leading City firm while he was at a well-regarded general practice, he says, and the approach was made irrespective of his sexuality.

He adds that his decision to switch to a City firm 'was too good an opportunity to miss'.

As he explained: 'I don't want to be labelled first and foremost as someone who is gay -- I want to be known as a very good lawyer, and I do n't necessarily tell the clients -- but if they ask me, I will tell them.'Although he does not consider that he has been at the wrong end of any discrimination, he has heard a number of horror stories.

Others spoken to for this article also relate incidents in which someone wishing ill towards a gay lawyer has told clients about his or her sexuality in an attempt to lose that lawyer business.

An example of this was a solicitor, who was going through a divorce, telling his wife that her lawyer was an 'outrageous pansy'.Even the Law Society has not been immune.

At a council meeting on 22 September 1999, the family law committee of the Law Society Council debated whether to equate the conduct of co-habiting homosexuals with other forms of co-habitation; One council member described the nature of the homosexual union as 'disgusting, depraved, degrading, unnatural and self-indulgent'.

A complaint was made to the Law Society.

Eileen Pembridge, chairwoman of the Law Society equal opportunities committee says that, as there might have been a breach of the anti-discrimination code, the matter has been referred to Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, and the Society is waiting for its reply.That aside, most are optimistic about the changes that are already happening generally and in the legal profession.

At the top of the profession -- for judges -- it is likely that the Judicial Studies Board will publish guidelines in March on how to deal with gender, disability and sexuality.In the other branch of the profession, the Bar's Code of Conduct has included a prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation since 1993.

Barrister Martin Bowley QC, who is president of the Bar Lesbian and Gay Group, says: 'I doubt if there is overt discrimination, but there is still a fear of coming out at a number of levels.

Bar students are concerned whether or not to come out on their Pupillage Applications Clearing House forms and say, for example, that they were secretary of the university lesbian and gay group -- my advice is yes, that is just as significant to the sort of person you are as being captain of the rugby team.

If chambers don't like that, the chances are that you wouldn't be happy there, and that is also true when you are looking for a tenancy.'Mr Bowley adds: 'Be brave, be open, but equally don't throw it in people's faces.

It usually comes out anyway if you are discussing your social life, and it is better to be truthful -- although I do respect those who prefer not to come out.' He cites the recent gays in the armed forces decision, the Fitzpatrick case on housing [Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association], the immigration changes which allow a gay, non-UK national in a stable relationship to be considered for residence in the UK, Head of the Family Division, Dame Butler-Sloss's recent remarks on gay adoption, and the issue of Section 28, as encouraging developments.

'There are conservative elements in the legal profession, but things are changing out of all recognition.

It is very much an age issue; almost everyone under the age of 35 knows someone who is gay.'The consensus seems to be to proceed with caution.

Zermansky & Partners solicitor Carl Gallagher, who recently urged lawyers to come out (see [1999] Gazette, 10 November, 14) admits that there can be problems, and suspects that a number of judges would not approve of lawyers broadcasting their sexual orientation.

'But I am not suggesting that we wear green carnations,' he adds.Although he stresses that his own firm is very supportive of him, it is not just within the profession that there can be problems.

In one landlord and tenant case, he was acting for a tenant who had a gay landlord, and the tenant made some homophobic remarks.'I had to say that another lawyer would have to act -- I explained that the reason that there was a case against the other side was because he was a landlord, not because he was gay.'Mr Gallagher says: 'People work long and hard to get into law -- in my case, I was evicted, won my case against the landlords, and the damages paid my fees to be a lawyer, appropriately enough, specialising in housing -- so we have a duty to encourage more openness in the profession.'