SIFA solicitors advised to compete to beat recession

CONFERENCE: lawyers told to exploit their financial capacity.Solicitors staring recession in the face should exploit their capacity to give investment advice, the Solicitors for Independent Financial Advice (SIFA) annual conference was told last week.Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva told delegates in Birmingham that given the size of the market for financial services in the UK, the profession's involvement is negligible, with only 250 firms registered to carry out discrete investment business.Endorsing SIFA's plans to create a nationwide network of Solicitors Financial Centres run by consortia of local law firms, she said solicitors must take on 'something of the culture of consumerism' to respond to the government's increasingly competition-orientated policy.Solicitors need to 'compete or wither on the vine', she said, adding that their unique selling points - independence and trust - put them in a good position to survive.David Shelton, head of retail financial services at Clerical Medical, told the conference that growing demand for private pensions, and sharp increases in individual wealth, created the need for advice that solicitors would be well-placed to provide in the future.Meanwhile, Sarasin Investment Management economist Roger Nightingale said that what appeared to be a recession might actually be a global depression, caused by 'stagflation' spreading from Japan and the US to Europe.

He said this would augment the need for reliable financial advice in the future, as consumers become more anxious about investment.Jeremy Fleming