Paula Rohan discovers how the cultural and commercial rejuvenation of Cardiff is benefiting the legal profession

For any visitor to Cardiff, one thing that emerges from the start is that everyone - from shop assistants to taxi drivers - is keen to give a guided tour of their city.

The regeneration of the area has seen the 2 billion Cardiff Bay development flourish, the creation of the flagship Millennium Stadium and its nomination for the European capital of culture prize.

It eventually lost out to Liverpool, but this has not affected obvious pride in the area.

And one sector that has special interest in its growth is the legal profession.

Things have changed over the years, says Alan Meredith, managing partner at Eversheds' Cardiff office.

Eversheds moved its Bristol-based solicitors over to the existing Cardiff office in 2001 in order to show 'a commitment to investment in this part of the world', he says, and all of the firm's Cardiff staff now operate from the swanky Callaghan Square development.

The firm has also seen an influx of new people attracted by the city's cosmopolitan atmosphere, which has made it a contender with London in the recruitment stakes.

Mr Meredith says people who studied at Cardiff University and Cardiff Law School but then departed for work in 'the big smoke' have started to rethink their choices.

'People are coming back because they can get the quality of work they didn't think they could get when they left, plus it's a good place to bring up families,' he says.

'They realise Cardiff is worth coming back to.'

Jeff Pearson, corporate head at Edwards Geldard, says the growth of Cardiff has become more apparent over the past ten years.

In fact, despite being Europe's youngest capital city - having achieved its status in 1955 - it is also the fastest-growing city in the UK, expanding at a rate of 1% each year for the last decade.

'It has all the cultural attractions of a major city - top-class opera, theatre, museums, art galleries and sport, together with a vibrant student population,' Mr Pearson says.

'These attractions make recruitment of quality lawyers straightforward, and this is the key to our success.'

The building up of the city has other benefits aside from recruitment.

Much of the new work for the larger law firms is down to a burgeoning commercial sector, which has had a knock-on effect on residential property in the area, says Matthew Tossell, senior partner at Hugh James.

'Commercial property is an area of business that continues to flourish due to the development in Cardiff Bay, which is profiting from continuing investment and growth,' he says.

'Furthermore, in the current climate, the demand for housing continues, generating increased house building and encouraging re-mortgaging as home-owners continue to look for the best mortgage rates available and release equity value.'

Hugh James is also setting up a business advice centre in a bid to re-package its existing and new services to support the local and national small-to-medium enterprise market and the employment work it brings in.

Other firms are also cashing in on the commercial growth.

However, the big players have realised they cannot rely on the commercial sector if they are to prosper.

Morgan Cole, for example, is currently focusing on energy, health, and the defendant insurance market, but says it is essential to develop a stable of public sector clients - such as government departments or the NHS - because the number of major commercial enterprises in Cardiff is still relatively limited.

Morgan Cole partner Peter Jones says the current commercial marketplace is 'OK, but I wouldn't go any stronger than that'.

He adds: 'In terms of the private sector, Wales's gross domestic product is not what it should be and there is a lack of investment, so indigenous companies are struggling.

It would be a very tough market without the public sector work - I think firms like Eversheds and Morgan Cole would find it difficult.'

An Eversheds spokeswoman says that while local government work is important to the firm, only 5% of its income in Cardiff derives from the public sector.

'The office has a much broader client base, both within and outside Wales,' she says.

By combining private and public sector work, a hierarchy has developed among firms in the city - although there is dispute over where everyone stands in this.

Mr Jones, for example, cites his own firm, Eversheds and Edwards Geldard as the big three.

'Then you have firms like Hugh James and Leo Abse & Cohen,' he says.

However, Mr Tossell insists that Cardiff remains dominated by the same four law firms, ranked in tiers of status, capability and performance.

'In the first tier is Eversheds, which is uniquely positioned because of its national coverage, followed by the second tier in the order of Hugh James, Morgan Cole, and Edwards Geldard,' he insists.

'There is a significant gap from this level to the next tier which I cannot see changing in the foreseeable future, although Cardiff is also well served by a number of very good niche practices.'

Keeping their place in the hierarchy - or trying to work their way up the ladder - means firms have had to look at the way they operate and project their image, says Robert Lloyd-Griffiths, marketing manager at Leo Abse & Cohen, one of the oldest firms in the city.

'We are still a litigation practice but we are moving into other areas, strong areas like clinical negligence,' he says.

The firm has recently appointed Mr Lloyd-Griffiths along with a human resources director and a finance director to address its three core business elements.

'We are really wising up because things have changed and our profile is definitely rising,' he says.

'People do go to someone they trust - we get children and grandchildren of former clients who came to us 30 or 40 years ago and when we ask them why, they say "because you did my granny's will in the 1970s".

But there has been a real sea change recently because people realise that you can't just rely on reputation any more; you have to be recommended.'

Edwards Geldard's Mr Pearson agrees that a firm's reputation must now go before it .

'Referrals used to come from the traditional sources, such as banks, accountants and so on, but this is very much a secondary source for us these days.

'Most clients come directly on account of our reputation and/or successful beauty parading.

Much of our work features lawyers from outside the area and we rarely come across local firms.

However, when we beauty parade, we come across Eversheds and Morgan Cole.'

Bringing in work from outside Cardiff is definitely another priority.

All the firms agree that one of the attractions is the lower overheads, which mean the work can be done at less expense.

This has led many to snap up work in London and other cities and then farm it out to the Welsh capital.

Eversheds partner David Watkins maintains that London firms are feeling the pressure - 'and rightly so' - especially in areas such as employment, litigation and commercial property.

'In terms of the income that comes into this region, a large percentage is from work derived from the other side of the Severn Bridge,' he says.

'Clients know they are buying the quality-assured Eversheds brand but if we can pass on cost savings as well, then all the better.

The London office wins the big-ticket office work and then passes the management onto other offices.'

Mr Pearson agrees.

'On the business side, with companies increasingly questioning legal fees, our relatively sensible cost base enables us to be competitive in tendering for work against London firms,' he says.

In fact, there is a wider appreciation of concentrating work in Cardiff which has developed through an elusive phenomenon known as 'legal Wales'.

This has seen the opening of the Cardiff High Court and Mercantile Court as well as the Court of Appeal sitting in the city on a regular basis in a bid to keep law in Wales.

Mark Harvey, a partner at Hugh James and secretary of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, says larger firms such as his own, Eversheds and Edwards Geldard have backed this progress all the way.

'Originally steered by the then presiding judge Mr Justice Thomas following on from devolution, it represented a determination to ensure that Wales had a fully functional trial centre so that work should not drift to London when this was unnecessary,' he explains.

There has also been the establishment of specialist organisations such as the Welsh Public Lawyers Association, the Welsh Personal Injury Lawyers Association and the Welsh Commercial Lawyers Association.

Roy Morgan, sole practitioner at Morgans and chairman of Cardiff Law Society, says there are mixed views on this matter.

He says some feel there should be separate jurisdictions, while others believe that Wales would become insular if it had its own legal system.

'Some see it that with the repatriation of the administration of justice to Wales, combined with pressure for primary legislative powers for the National Assembly, there would be two systems of justice - one for England and one for Wales.

But although it might be a nice feather in the cap of Wales to have its own system, there are concerns that England and Wales currently benefit from a free flow of legal talent between the two, and that is what would be lost.'

Mr Morgan is also concerned about government policy on legal aid and allowing employed solicitors to advise the public; he says this could have a disastrous effect on the high street firms in the city.

'Many firms are finely balanced and they are dependent on containing several types of practice,' he says.

'Cardiff is odd in that it has so many small practices.

Then there are a lot of one or two-category practices covering areas such as probate or conveyancing.

If you have enormous corporations getting in on the act, that could really upset the applecart.

Cardiff is a rapidly developing city, but they are going to struggle to survive the way things are going.'

However, for the larger players the future seems relatively bright.

Mr Meredith admits that Cardiff cannot buck the economic trends but insists it is not as affected as, say, London is.

'When London is flying, Cardiff is doing OK and when London is on its backside, Cardiff is still doing OK,' he says.

'Cardiff doesn't have as many peaks and troughs.'

But Mr Lloyd-Griffiths is optimistic that the local economy will continue to present huge opportunities for both individual lawyers and firms as the rejuvenation of Cardiff continues.

'I can't think of anybody at the moment who is not doing terribly well, and that just reflects the upsurge in the city,' he says.

'In 50 years, we have never been so positive and upbeat.'