I have dealt with Blacks Law for years so I feel confident they will do a good job for my clients because they already work to the tight demands of the major lenders.
First impressions:
The website and branding is slick and impressive and it looks better than the sites of many smaller firms. When I am sat with a client this is important, because if they haven’t heard of the solicitor you choose, the website gives them an initial impression of the business and reassures them that the firm is solid and professional.
Registration and quotations:
No problems here. It was quick to register on the system and now I can just jump on and produce a quote very easily. What I particularly like is the fact that I can tailor the quote to the client’s needs and I can choose my own fee to work into the quote.
Contact and updates:
After I introduce a case to Blacks Connect I am given a named contact there who is dealing with that case. The contact after that is as expected – proactive emails that let you know when certain milestones, such as the mortgage offer being received – have been reached. Of course there are always things that crop up in addition to this which is why the named contact is so important for any further enquiries. And behind that I know that David Gilman is there, which also gives me peace of mind because he runs a tight ship and is highly experienced.
Cost:
Blacks are competitive but they are not the cheapest on the market. If I have a first-time buyer who is really watching the pennies I have a couple of licensed conveyancers I sometimes use. But other cases, and especially anything slightly unusual – like an issue with the title – I would only trust with Blacks Connect. I recently had a couple want to use a solicitor that was a family recommendation – even though the firm does hardly any conveyancing – and now I have an estate agent jumping up and down and a deal that still hasn’t gone through. It’s hard to persuade people against recommendations.
Security:
The bigger picture beyond the website is the support. For example I had a client that took his ID into the Blacks office the other day and they actually called me up to say that he doesn’t look like the picture on his ID. In other words they are thorough and this gives me peace of mind, because I want to do business with firms that don’t cut corners and that do the job properly.
