Although controversial, hourly pricing in the legal industry shows no signs of dissipating. Enter Georgina Hamblin, founder of Hamblin Family Law, whose stance on fixed fee pricing is one of the reasons the judges nominated her for Family Lawyer of the Year at the 2024 Spear’s Awards. She discusses this approach and the pride she feels for her firm.
Congratulations for being nominated for the Spear’s 2024 Awards. What does it mean to have been nominated?
When I first watched the LinkedIn video in which I was nominated for the Spear’s Family Lawyer of the Year 2024 award I couldn’t believe it. I needed to sit down. It is mind-blowing to feature alongside the other nominees in this category, many of whom head up some of the biggest Family teams in the country. To find myself here after just over 12 months after setting up my own firm feels like a game changer for me and for my wonderful team. So, I could not be prouder.
What do you think distinguishes the approach you take to your work?
I like to think my nomination follows my firm’s unique commitment to always offering fixed fees to those who want them, even in very high-value cases. This is something that the rest of the Family Law industry is (understandably) fearful of doing despite it having been called for by our judges for decades. It has not always been easy to work within fixed fees, but as a nimble and entrepreneurial firm, we are learning from each case that we do and are perfecting our groundbreaking value-based pricing model. To me, it makes sense.
Fixed pricing gives clients complete certainty on their costs up to a particular point in time. It also motivates staff to be as efficient as possible with their client’s money. The age-old hourly rate does the opposite. It rewards those who leave clocks running and over litigate their cases and leaves staff living under the fear of their hourly rate targets. At Hamblin Family Law we feel liberated to be free from all of these things.
I am also committed to making Family Law a sustainable space for lawyers to work in. Family Law is an area in which many lawyers struggle with the emotional demands of their work and the strain of having multiple deadlines across very large caseloads. I am committed to supporting all of our lawyers not only with flexible working that makes sense for them and their families but also with Executive Coaching, or other independent professional (non-legal) support that they need, at least once a month, to enable them effectively to look after our clients without it taking its toll on them.
What makes you most proud of your career?
As you can imagine, it is quite a scary thing to do to start up a law firm on your own. I love to think back now to the day when my SRA approval first came through. I sat at a desk in my bedroom, without a single client on my books, and thought: now what? Just over 12 months later, Hamblin Family Law has over 100 clients on our books and a team of eight, all of whom have joined me from top-tier firms.
I could not have dreamt of growth like it and I spend most days either pinching myself, or feeling incredibly proud. It is just the beginning, but I think I will always recognise these last 12 months as the most significant in my career, and I am so glad I took the leap of faith to see what I could achieve on my own.
What forces and trends do you think are shaping your industry right now, and how do you think it will change in the future?
To relieve some of the pressure on the court system, litigants and their advisers are being pushed increasingly hard to deal with their cases outside of the court arena via all forms of Non-Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR). As a result, the Private Financial Dispute Resolution Hearing (pFDR- before a privately appointed judge) is fast becoming the most common arena for settling high-value divorce cases.
This is excellent news for clients because pFDRs are hugely effective and can be heard much sooner than court led FDRs. Hiring your own judge for the hearing also means that you will face a tribunal that is well read into your case and has the whole day to help you reach a settlement, rather than an hour or so, as you may get at court. It, therefore, seems likely that court-led FDR hearings will become a thing of the past in high-value cases.
My hope is that other lawyers will embrace the opportunity this presents to:
- fix private FDR timetables from the outset of their cases;
- fix the legal fees on both sides within this agreed timetable; and
- sign their clients up to arbitration if a settlement is not reached at Private FDR.
In my view this will allow clients to: a) avoid their FDR being delayed for reason of directions not being followed; b) have the certainty of a fixed price up to their Private FDR; and c) know that ultimately their case will be determined quickly via arbitration if the pFDR fails.
Family Law is a founding partner of Assent which has designed a process to achieve exactly this. My hope is that this will allow clients to get around the negotiation table quicker, and ultimately spend less in legal fees in getting there.
What do you think draws HNW clients to Hamblin Family Law?
Many of our clients were drawn to us because of our fixed fee promise but not all have chosen this route. I think the most common thread that describes the client referrals and industry wide support that we have received is personal connection and trust.
Our clients buy into us as people and like the vision and spirit behind the firm we are building.
And other law firms and barristers in our world have been incredibly generous in recommending us, where they cannot act, or even on the other side of their cases, because they know we do good work in a sensible way.
There has also been a huge amount of support for me personally, as a (relatively young!) female entrepreneur, which has been incredibly heartwarming to receive.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Whilst at Vardags for 10 years I was lucky to watch Ayesha Vardag grow the firm from its own humble beginnings at her home in Islington, to what it is today. I took huge inspiration from this journey and would not be where I am without it.
In terms of growing Hamblin though, I think the best advice I have ever received is to take each day as it comes, and know that whilst the highs will be higher, and the lows will be lower, ‘you will never regret going alone’.
What would you personally hope to achieve in the future – for yourself or your firm?
I did not expect the level of growth we have had so far, so the next challenge is to stay true to our key values as we get bigger and the pressure mounts on each of us, individually and as a team.
A lot of people tell me that fixed fees are impossible, and that my commitment to my staff working flexibly and in a happy and healthy way (to take the edge off the stress we suffer in our industry) are not realistic.
I meant it when I committed to these values – and when we are a firm of 20 and I am still delivering on them, I will know I have made it.
