Ramsdens looks south as part of ambitious expansion plans

Paul Joyce, the managing partner of Ramsdens, believes independent law firms with strong community ties can survive at a time of upheaval and consolidation in the legal sector.

Huddersfield-based Ramsdens, which dates from the 1870s, has nine offices, after recently establishing a base in Wakefield, where it has 10 staff.

Mr Joyce stressed that Ramsdens, which has 150 staff working in 12 practice areas, had no plans to establish operations in other Yorkshire cities, where competition for legal services is already fierce.

He said: “In the medium term, we will look further east, perhaps into South Yorkshire, but in line with the policy of staying away from big cities. Our expansion policy is to cover the West Yorkshire corridor. We’re deliberately not intending to go to Leeds or Sheffield or into the north west.”

In 2011, the Legal Services Act introduced ABS, which enables organisations such as supermarkets and banks to offer legal services. The Act has increased choice for consumers, but it also means traditional law firms must raise their game in order to survive.

Mr Joyce said: “One of the counters to ABS and the digital revolution... is to provide people with a great legal service close to home. People would prefer, in towns like Huddersfield, to buy from Huddersfield people. As the size of town becomes smaller, that factor becomes even more relevant.”

According to Mr Joyce, Ramsdens aims to provide services associated with a big law firm in smaller communities, through a network of offices.

“Wakefield was a natural extension of where our other offices are. We see Wakefield as a place where things are happening, with developments such as the Hepworth (Gallery) and Merchant Gate, which is the new office and shopping centre. All these things bring a feelgood factor to the city and some impetus to the economy. In the longer term, we would see Wakefield becoming a key office for us, alongside Huddersfield and Halifax, with the smaller towns in between served from those larger bases.”

Mr Joyce said Ramsdens was still a general high street firm, serving small businesses and individuals.

“We’re looking to service everything, which gives us some flexibility if markets dip. We’re looking to add specialist areas such as insolvency and IP around our commercial offering.”

Mr Joyce believes many people have had bad experiences linked to the “commoditisation” of legal services. He said: “There have been lots of ‘conveyancing factories’ – for want of a better description – who’ve come in and grabbed work and people have gone to them, but people don’t want to go twice. If it gets to Thursday afternoon, and you’re supposed to be moving on Friday, and you don’t know whether you’re going to exchange or complete or where your removal van is, you want to speak to your solicitor.

“The last thing you want to do is ring a call centre and get somebody who doesn’t know anything about the file. We think there will be room for good independent law firms in the future.”