We have all read the endless and often worrying news stories regarding the effect of the global economic climate and it is fair to say that as a society we have collectively mourned the death of some of the largest and most successful retailers in the world. After-all, we are all feeling the disenchantment with the lack of pic-a-mix... This downturn has arguably affected the property market and its affiliates most of all, in particular Estate Agency.

We are justifiably proud at BE Legal of the steps and initiatives taken by our sister company Burchell Edwards to fight and battle these pressures and as a team, we and our clients, are now feeling the rewards of our efforts.

Law firms across the country have of course also been affected. To note in particular January 2009 saw the largest conveyancing firm in the UK, Hammonds Direct, close its doors for new business after its service company went into administration.

John Heller, chief executive of Hammonds Direct, blamed its fate on the collapse of the property market in October 2007. He said that despite receiving record instructions in September 2007, the following month business dropped by 80 per cent.

"Sales and purchases have gone down enormously, as they have for lots of other people"

The above closure resulted in the loss of 210 jobs.

Although it would be less than honest if we were to deny that we have felt similar difficulties, our Partners, Michael Bruce and Greg Begy, in conjunction with our Senior Lawyers have worked tirelessly to ensure that we continue to deliver and excel the Customer Service expectations which our clients have come to expect from us and which we pride and build our business upon.

In line with this ethos and commitment, it was clear that it was essential to take full advantage of the opportunity this downturn had provided by driving forward the above development strategy and in January 2009 BE Legal made the, some would call brave move, to make a significant financial investment in our technology by upgrading our existing Case Management System.

This system (developed by our own staff with the support of a team of programme developers to meet our bespoke needs) uses the latest technology to make the conveyancing process as speedy and hassle free as possible.

With live real time feeds of information being instantly transposed to our sister companies we ensure that our 'all under one roof' ethos is upheld.

We are now able to produce documentation and information to our clients far quicker than our competitors, providing progression updates with just a click of button via a range of mediums, including text messages.

These enhancements to the conveyancing process free resources for our Lawyers to spend far more time in talking to our clients and progressing their matters with the intensity and proactiveness that this market demands.

The new system also allows us to invest more heavily in staff development and training across the whole company; highlighting and pin pointing where our trainers' time is best spent to make sure that every member of staff, from instruction to completion identify and effectively deal with our clients needs.

Another vital benefit is the ability for our system to 'talk' independently with our other in-house computer systems and in particular providing a streamlined instruction process ensuring that the usual delays at the beginning of a transaction are abolished.

For example we have introduced a new identification verification system to ensure that our clients are not inconvenienced by the essential but often time consuming formalities of instructing a Lawyer.

At BE Legal we take every step to make sure that we work for you and that every element of the service we provide excels the previous.

Through the support of our staff and with the aid and investment of new technologies, we will continue to drive the market forward. Welcome to the revolution.