58 | AWARDS for Excellence 2010 OPP AWARDS WORDS | Amit Katwala


www.opp.org.uk | APRIL 2011


Reputation says it all


There are very few industries that generate as much litigation as property. Contracts regularly end up in dispute and it is even more important when you are working overseas, in a foreign culture with a foreign language, that you have the best possible legal advice. What did Chebsey and Co tell the judges of the OPP Awards for Excellence 2010 to make their service stand out from the crowd?


Chebsey & Co is a firm of English solicitors with offices in Beaconsfield, Burnham, Croxley Green, Windsor and Bath with a specialised department that deals with all aspects of Spanish law. Their experienced team of both English and Spanish lawyers deal with all aspects of Spanish law including property (including fractional ownership), litigation, probate, wills, tax planning, timeshare, and company / commercial matters. They also help clients in setting up their businesses, and in writing personal injury and commercial due diligence reports.


Best Lawyer Gold Medal Winner Chebsey & Co “Being a small fi rm we rely on our reputation and client referrals to keep us in business,” says Chebsey & Co in its awards entry. “Despite our size, we are used to dealing with volume work and high pressure situations, as was demonstrated at the end of last year when we received hundreds of fi les in bulk from another local fi rm that went into administration. We believe that we are the fi rst and only law fi rm who deals with international property which has achieved Lexcel Accreditation.” Lexcel is the Law Society’s practice


management standard and is only awarded to solicitors who meet the highest management and customer care standards. The fi rm have recently launched “Checked by Chebseys”, which is a low cost due diligence report product. According to the company: “Past similar products were


aimed at whole developments and therefore had a high cost per report. But “Checked by Chebseys” is aimed not only at new developments but is priced so that it is also attractive to individuals selling an individual property. We believe that is unique in the market.” At the time of the entry the company was also working on another innovative legal product called “Cancelled by Chebseys”. This is aimed at assisting people in getting out of their Timeshare ownership even if they have owned their weeks for many years. “We are not aware of anybody else offering the solution that we are proposing and believe that this will be unique in that it will help in many different circumstances. This product is intended to be low cost to the client.” The fi rm stands out among other


lawyers dealing with international property because it has experienced lawyers who know the markets in


question, rather than employing newly qualifi ed lawyers, or farming work out to local law fi rms in the country where the property is located. “All the staff in the Spanish department are experienced lawyers who deal with the country in which they are specialists. Unlike some other fi rms, we do not employ paralegals or unqualifi ed staff to do international legal work, or employ a lawyer qualifi ed in one jurisdiction to deal with another jurisdiction just because the language is the same.”


Chebsey & Co argues that its


performance during the lean times of the recession is testament to the quality of its offering. “The fi rm is unusual in that we have not made any


“We do not employ a lawyer qualifi ed in one jurisdiction to deal with another just because the language is the same”


redundancies throughout the recession and have in fact grown the size of the fi rm during recent times, both in terms of number of staff and also number of offi ces. Within the last year we have increased our number of offi ces from 3 to 5 and our number of directors from 2 to 4. The growth has been done organically or by merging with other smaller fi rms.” Chebsey’& Co’s size and its


Small | professional and highly specialised ... Chebsey’s head offi ce in Buckinghamshire is growing successfully in hard times


determined focus on property are its greatest strengths. “We are not fi xated on being the biggest or the best- known. We are not fi xated on servicing the greatest number of countries. We do, however, believe that quality of the service and the advice given are the most important aspects of what we do.”


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