With over 30 years of experience, Richard leads the residential conveyancing department at Hill and Company – a traditional high street firm which has been supporting those in its community and beyond for more than 170 years. Richard takes pride in delivering exemplary customer experience, taking a personalised approach and being a phone call away at all hours to ensure the conveyancing process is as smooth as possible.
What was your career path to your current role?
I studied law at the University of Birmingham and started my career in conveyancing in Altrincham. I went on to work at a couple of different firms and then moved into commercial debt recovery. In the early 2000s, my brother set up his own firm, which I worked at for 14 years before circling back to Altrincham to join Hill and Company. For me, a local, high street solicitor is where I’m best placed as I like to deliver a personal, bespoke service.
Did you have any other career ambitions?
From a young age, I wanted to work in law and I think these ambitions were inspired by my love for languages, which I studied at college and liken to legal jargon.
What keeps you motivated in your work?
Clients who are happy with the service and let you know that they’ll recommend you to others. Around 80-90% of our conveyancing work comes from repeat clients or recommendations and it keeps you motivated to deliver the best possible service for the friends and relatives of those who have been kind enough to make the recommendation.
If you could change one thing about the transaction process, what would it be?
Whilst the reasons for its introduction are clear, anti-money laundering compliance has added a significant amount of time and work for conveyancing teams trying to establish the source of funds, and complexities have seen an increasing number of firms issued fines. I think this part of the conveyancing process would better sit with accountants, who have the optimum skill set to ensure that compliance is met.
What has been the best development in conveyancing in the last 20 years?
Technological advancements have helped enormously and having access to digital documents from mortgage lenders and the Land Registry portal has significantly sped up the process and made it much more uniform and efficient.
Do you think conveyancing will ever be fully digitalised? Do you think it should be?
Many of the admin elements are already digitalised and others are expected to follow but the knowledge and experience of conveyancers will always be important and required, regardless of digital advancements. Purchasing or selling a home is a huge life decision and clients need the human element to help them understand the process, provide reassurance and ensure advice is tailored to their unique situation. I’m a big advocate for picking up the phone and spend most of my working day speaking to clients, which is increasingly unique in conveyancing.
What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you regarding your career?
A piece of advice that has resonated throughout my career is ‘never assume, always check for yourself’. I always have this in mind, going beyond assumptions to make sure something is correct and asking the right questions before acting. Someone once told me that barristers only ever ask questions they already know the answer to!
What advice would you like to give to someone just starting out?
Don’t avoid taking phone calls. It can be daunting for junior conveyancers starting out but it is key to building good client relationships, avoiding tensions and helping people to understand the process. Emails are great but the context and explanation you can provide in them are limited; picking up the phone better enables you to demystify jargon, reassure clients and answer questions in-depth.
It’s also important to adapt to different types of clients, some might need more communication and reassurance, and others might prefer a more hands-off approach, making this judgement is key to client experience.
Tell us something people may be surprised to know about you…
I studied Latin, French and German and as part of my French studies, I spent four weeks at the Sorbonne University in Paris every year for three years. I was hosted by a lovely French family and the experience was invaluable for advancing my French speaking skills.
