Mission Statement

Our aim is to provide quality bespoke services to Clients over a range of core matters by a specialist solicitor. We are a small practice with a team of dedicated professionals committed to servicing our Clients in a personal and friendly way. We do not operate on a "conveyor belt", "one size fits all" system, as we recognise that every Client is unique with individual requirements and concerns. Our approach is to tailor our advice and work to the individual Client and to work to our Clients' timescales and not ours. It goes without saying that we strive to give an exemplary service and 'best advice' in each case even when that advice sometimes may not be what the Client wants to hear!

We are a local Practice operating in a global setting and we have retained many Clients throughout England & Wales and overseas. During 2008 we celebrated 25 years in Prestwood and our aim is to continue to provide a Personal, Friendly, Quality and thoroughly Professional Service to both the local community and the wider spread of Clients in years to come. 2008 also saw the Royal Assent given to the Legal Services Act. The main part of that Act came into operation at the beginning of October 2011.

Up to now, it has not been possible for non-lawyers to have any part in the running or ownership of a legal practice. From October 2011 a new concept was introduced in the form of ABS, which stands for Alternative Business Structures. This enables non-lawyers to share management and control of a legal practice and, in theory, will allow outside investment by non-lawyers who see a legal practice as a potential profitable business to invest in. Unfortunately, although they are strictly regulated, mainly by The Solicitors Regulation Authority, this will see the advent of what is known as "Tesco Law", or perhaps more appropriately "Co-op Law" as it is the Co-op who have now set up access to dedicated legal services for their customers. A substantial number of "High Street" practices are extremely worried about this development as clearly the big organisations, despite the ongoing recession, have infinitely more resources than the average legal practice to devote to both advertising and cutting the price of the core services that normal High Street practices offer. This has led to various groups being formed, notably "Quality Solicitors" who retain their own identity but belong to a larger umbrella organisation which would hope to have the economies of scale to match the larger institutions, certainly in matters such as advertising. These tend to be larger firms of 5+ partners.

We at Timothy Kench & Co have joined The Bold Group which we strongly believe will help us compete more effectively with the larger practices in major centres of population. We believe that it is still essential to provide core legal services to the smaller community which may very well be bypassed by the larger organisations. Whilst the initial target areas for the larger organisations are in conveyancing, we still believe that our discerning Clients prefer the individual services provided by the smaller firm. We look forward to the future with confidence and will continue to provide our Clients with the service they deserve.

We are also acutely aware that the second "credit crunch" has affected and continues to affect a substantial number of our Clients. As a consequence, quite naturally, Clients are looking for even greater value for money in the provision of legal services to them. We would encourage our Clients therefore to discuss their financial concerns with us at the outset of each matter so that we can continue to provide the "bespoke service" within the Clients' individual budgets. We pride ourselves on keeping Clients fully up to date on the progress of their matters, including monthly billing enabling them to manage their finances.

With the advent of the Legal Services Act, there has also been a complete reorganisation of the way in which legal practices are regulated. Last year the SRA completely rewrote the way in which solicitors' practices are regulated and we are now subject to what is termed Outcomes Focused Regulation, which is basically a risk-based type of regulation where each individual firm is given a greater discretion in how they provide the legal services of their firm to their Clients. This is in place of a very strict regime where each regulation has to be adhered to come what may. The new OFR does not mean that the profession is less regulated, just regulated in a different way which will still require compliance with the new and much more detailed Compliance Handbook.

In these extremely uncertain financial times, both nationally and internationally, it is vitally important that each firm, or indeed new-type business structure which has the provision of legal services as its core business, considers the financial stability of the firm and what systems and controls need to be put in place for ensuring continued financial stability and economic viability. Of course it is always tempting in uncertain times to try and attract as much business as possible by slashing fees, however that can lead very quickly to a situation where the economic viability of the firm is very seriously in doubt. We pride ourselves on giving value for money and constantly monitor the fee structure which matches the service provided. We ensure that in each area of our practice we inform Clients at the outset as the likely fees and costs and that these are fairly expressed and not misleading.

There has recently been a very hotly debated topic of referral fees in parliament as the payment of such fees has led to some enormous compensation claims against various firms, mainly in the field of personal injury and accident cases. This has led to very serious conflicts of interest and the present Coalition government has pledged to abolish referral fees, certainly in the areas of personal injury claims. However, referral fees are now very much part of the conveyancing business whereby larger firms and organisations will pay such fees to, for example, Estate Agents to channel clients to them rather than use their "normal" solicitor. This is currently a fact of life and there should be complete transparancy where this takes place, but we at Timothy Kench & Co have never and indeed never will pay referral fees - our Clients choose us by reputation and by the quality of the advice and service we provide.