Julia Brown
Julia is a qualified solicitor who trained with and spent five years working at Richards Butler (now Reed Smith) in the City.
Following a career break she spent 15 years in Practice Management and was instrumental in securing one of the first Lexcel accreditations for a firm in Surrey. In recent years Julia has successfully steered four further organisations through the Lexcel process.
Julia advises a number of other firms in London and the South East on Lexcel and practice management and compliance issues. She has also worked with the legal department of a local authority to enable them to obtain Lexcel accreditation.
Julia is a Law Society qualified Lead Lexcel Assessor and is therefore able to offer a unique insight into both sides of the Lexcel process. She regularly carries out Lexcel assessments on firms of all sizes.
She was one of five assessors chosen to conduct the pilot assessments for their Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) by the Law Society .
Richard Brown
For twenty five years Richard was a partner with a firm of solicitors in Guildford, spending his last six years there as the firm’s Managing Partner. During this time the firm doubled in size and turnover.
As Managing Partner Richard was in charge of the firm’s IT strategy and systems, the firm's financial affairs, practice compliance, client complaints, professional indemnity issues and human resources.
He oversaw a number of major IT upgrades, always being involved at the sharp end of these projects.
He was also head of the employment rights team for over 20 years. Richard dealt with the more challenging cases, a number of which set important legal precedent in this field. He continues to practise in employment rights law.
Now, in addition to providing management and compliance advice, Richard also advises on all IT issues faced by legal practices and in particular assists with the communication between law firms and their IT suppliers.