LAW

LAW - SERVICES WE PROVIDE

Solicitors like other professionals are dedicated to the provision of high quality professional services to their clients.

However, this frequently means that they become “cobbler’s bairns” in respect of the management of their own Practices. Over the last twenty years or so there has been significant growth and consolidation within the legal profession and this has brought with it the requirement to create and implement a much more formal and disciplined management style geared to the nature of the individual practice.

The challenges have been compounded by changes in commercial practice which has imposed a more corporate approach not only on solicitors, but also there clients, as their markets are also constantly developing and changing.

On the one hand there has been a liberalising of the market but this has also been compounded by additional professional pressure from governing bodies as well as Government.

With the greater resources available to them, larger legal practices are in a better position to meet these challenges, however for small to larger medium sized practices, meeting these challenges whilst endeavouring to provide a first class professional service, at a profit, can create major difficulties.
Recent tax legislation changes have also compounded funding issues for legal practices resulting in the need to adopt a commercial approach in the areas of budgeting, cash management and financing.
Campbell Dallas are clear that there are significant opportunities to provide real assistance to Legal Practices in Scotland by bringing extensive hands on experience, resolving real issues and helping firms to grow profitably whilst maintaining high professional standards.

What We Do
At Campbell Dallas we recognise the problems that small, medium sized and indeed larger Practices are facing.

We also recognised that there was a real need to create a Specialist Team to provide a value for money service to benefit Partners and Principals in the Legal Profession.

Our Team is headed up by Bob Dallas the Managing Partner of Campbell Dallas.

Aside from a long connection with a large number of legal practices, Bob has led Campbell Dallas since it was formed in 1999, through a structured programme of growth, to a firm that is five times its size since then and is in a position to meet not only the demands facing the accounting profession, but also those of its clients.

Many of the management issues faced by Campbell Dallas are the same as those faced by solicitors and therefore he has a wealth of experience which provides us with an unrivalled opportunity to utilise this experience for our clients’ benefit.

Bob is supported by staff from our Audit and Accounts Department, General and Specialist Tax Departments and Secretarial and Payroll Departments.

A summary of the recent developments in the sector and how we are tackling this is summarised as follows:-

Accounts Preparation and General Corporate Governance
From simple advice on record keeping through to specific support and guidance on the creation and production of management information necessary to control any well managed business, we can provide the support staff to advise and implement recommendations in all areas of Practice Management.

The members of our Audit and Accounts Department staff who are members of the Legal Sector Team are conversant with the Solicitors (Scotland) Accounts, Accounts Certificate, Professional Practice and Guarantee Fund Rules 2001 and this means we are able to approach any assignment with an understanding of the Rules under which solicitors are operating.

The corporate shape of the business, whether a partnership, limited liability partnership or limited liability company is an area where we have extensive practical experience and are ideally suited to advise on this issue.

In addition to the routine accounts production and taxation services, we pride ourselves that we can add value to the practice through the services we provide and we consider this to be the benchmark in respect of our success.

We strive to provide a service that is:-

Robust;
Cost effective;
Risk based;
Highly commercial, focusing on key business issues.

Specialist Tax Services
Tax legislation generally affords opportunities for tax mitigation in respect of income and capital taxes. As well as acting for solicitors themselves in these areas we recognise that solicitors also have clients who require best advice in these areas.

The members of our Specialist Tax Department assigned to the Legal Sector team will give comprehensive and constructive practical advice in these areas.

Other Services
We have set out at the back of this brochure, a list of all our services and we would be pleased, when a client requests this, to back up their services with the specialist services we can provide. This includes membership of our SMART Club (Small Medium Advisers Referral Team). Full details of this can be obtained from Bruce Wilson, our Tax Consultancy Group Partner smart@campbelldallas.co.uk

WHO TO CONTACT
Should you require advice on any of the above please contact
BOB DALLAS: telephone: 0141 887 4141 email: bob.dallas@campbelldallas.co.uk