16 | DIARY OF A... WORDS | Stefano Lucatello


how the year affected us as international Lawyers. Well, here we are at the beginning of January, and it doesn’t seem like ten minutes ago that we were taking down the Christmas decorations and getting ready for that prosperous New Year... 2012!


I think from personal experience, 2012 has been one of the most challenging and diffi cult years that I can remember. The Editor said to write something “human” and from the heart so here you have it. My year started off with preparations for the demerger and sale of my previous practice in Hull to a local practice and the creation of a truly niche international property orientated law fi rm.


The new practice was christened Kobalt Law LLP and incorporated the previous international law department of my then law fi rm. I took on a new partner, an Italian


Avvocato by the name of Giuseppe Bausilio, who is from Naples and who lives in Monaco. We will shortly have an offi ce in Monaco and we now have an offi ce in Ventimiglia just across the border from France.


Times change S


ince it’s the last edition of 2012 (and fi rst of 2013), I thought I would walk you quickly through


We started with about 17 staff,


qualifi ed and unqualifi ed. We opened on the 1st February in the City of London just off Old Street. We knew we had to make it work – and make it work quickly. Time waits for no man and certainly not for a lawyer! We no longer had the support of all the other English law departments as we had before, so we got to work on making fees and meeting those monthly targets we had set ourselves. Setting targets is not easy for


“We knew we had to make it work – and make it work quickly. Time waits for no man...”


international lawyers! They come from a different world, where competition is not as we know it here in the UK; if you don’t get the particular piece of work , somebody else will and you’ll lose out. Teaching them to understand that is not an easy nor a quick process, even though they are all intelligent and knowledgeable lawyers. Each one has his/her personality and each reacts differently to different cultures and the pressure of making it work here in


Stefano Lucatello is senior partner at Kobalt Law LLP, a specialist interna- tional law fi rm based in London. He has practised international law as a solicitor for more than 25 years, specialising in foreign property, litigation law and related matters. Email: stefanol@kobaltlaw.co.uk Telephone: +44 (0) 207 739 1700


London, where it’s dog eat dog. More and more internationally


qualifi ed lawyers are descending on the UK to fi nd work, as more and more young qualifi ed lawyers fi nd themselves jobless in their own country. Over the years that I have been a


lawyer, and that’s now more than a quarter of a century, my profession has changed drastically. It has become over-regulated by people who have little or no idea of what being a solicitor means. They purport to tell us how to run our practices with little regard for the outcome of what they set in stone for the profession... and they have never seen the inside of a law fi rm. This year has been all about getting ready for something the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) calls “outcome focused regulation.” This is where we are told to be honest, and to own up to our mistakes by telling ‘the powers that be’ what we have done wrong in the previous month. This involves sending in a load of forms which can be inputted and from which information the SRA can decide whether they want you in business or not next year.


So we have had to become more business minded as solicitors - not something many have ever thought about becoming, as there was never any need to do so. Once a solicitor, always a solicitor – no longer. If we can’t prove we are viable and prepare business plans, which show profi t and get quality marks, and set us out from the crowd, then we might be closed down.


Happy New Year | A postive 2012 should lead to an even better 2013


So this year has been one of getting ready for the “Big Bang”, which came into effect in January 2013. So how does all this fi t into Kobalt Law LLP? Well, we have all had to learn new skills, and become a “lean mean fi ghting machine” as the saying goes. I dare say what we in the law


profession are undergoing is something other professions have also experienced and is, I think, something OPP readers, as agents, intermediaries and developers have all experienced over the years from 2006 onwards, when the recession took a heavy grip on the world. I can honestly say that a mixture of regulation and a downturn in the market, causing bankruptcy, insolvency and liquidation of whatever nature, has left a stringer breed, hopefully ready and equipped to survive the next 20 years. Survival of the fi ttest and all that. So as we come to the end of a really hard year for all of us, we have some great news..... We moved offi ces from Old Street to Imperial Wharf. Just 13 minutes walk from home. You can now fi nd Kobalt Law LLP at : Offi ce 5, 75/ 81 Burnaby street , Chelsea, London SW10 0NS. All the other details remain the same, so visit the website at www.kobaltlaw. co.uk. The staff we have are the best and most dedicated team I have had in a long time and they are all as committed as I am to making this work for a healthy long term future.


So I think the moral of the story is think carefully about what you want and who you want to do it with and where you want to go with it and, last but not least don’t, let the so-and-sos grind you down. We have had many successes in the last few months especially with class actions in Italy, Dominican Republic and North Africa and we see 2013 as the dawn of a new era.


I want to thank all the agents, developers and referrers of work who have supported Kobalt Law LLP during 2012 and I take this opportunity to wish all OPP readers and contributors a very well and prosperous new year. Let’s meet again soon in 2013, refreshed and ready for whatever the world throws at us, because international property is coming back with a vengeance!


LAWYER


www.opp-connect.com | DEC 2012/JAN 2013


2012 was a challenging year for many in the industry – including lawyers. Stefano Lucatello tells us how changes in law and practice have affected his working life as he begins a new era under Kobalt law


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