Lovetts, the commercial debt recovery law firm based near Guildford has appointed Michael Higgins as Managing Director, with immediate effect.

Michael joined Lovetts in 2007 and has played a significant role in its growth and the launch of innovative solutions to support the cost-effective and speedy recovery of bad debt. Michael, a qualified solicitor, joined the Lovetts management team in 2012, with responsibility for the Commercial Litigation Department and in 2014 he was made Operations Director. Michael will continue to report to Charles Wilson, the continuing Chairman of Lovetts who has, for the past 20 years acted as both MD and Chairman of the business.

Charles Wilson says “Michael has the right leadership qualities, client focus and legal expertise to take Lovetts from strength to strength. With some years of paralegal practice prior to professional qualification, he has the passion and determination to grow our reputation for innovation, thought leadership and superb customer service. We are delighted he has accepted the role of Managing Director and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him as Chairman.

Michael Higgins adds, “This role offers a fantastic opportunity for me to help shape our business, working alongside Charles and the rest of the team to ensure we not only deliver great products and services, but that we take responsibility for helping businesses understand their legal rights and the ways they can reduce their overall exposure to commercial bad debt. This is an exciting time for the business as we push ahead with our Claim the Unclaimed campaign and promote our newly-launched email LBA service, giving our customers cost-effective solutions to recover the money owed to them.”

Sarb Dhaliwal, Chartered Legal Executive at Lovetts spent a day with an Enforcement Officer at the beginning of September. Here is Sarb’s interesting summary of the visit: 

“Collecting Judgment debts does not just involve attending properties and demanding payments as I realised when I spent a day with an Enforcement Officer late last year who had been doing the job for over five years.” 

 I was very eager to make contact with all the Judgment debtors that we visited but it was clear when we visited some properties that no one was in despite looking through windows and trying to see if anyone was avoiding us. We made a point of looking around the Debtors grounds if they weren’t in (and even in the bins to see if there were any letters with a name and address) – we could have potentially levied on anything we thought may be of some value. We then spoke to neighbors to establish whether the Debtors did live at the property and also asked when the Debtor was likely to be home. Where no contact was made, a notice of seizure was left, with a telephone number to call; listing the items that had been levied on (usually a car/garden furniture etc). 

We then made a visit at a property owned by the parents of the Debtors, and the mother claimed he did not live at the property (where the warrant address is the parents’ address; parents often shield the Debtors or pay the debt on their behalf), the mother then went on to say he was out of the country and refused to give us an alternative address. As a prior visit had been made at this property, the officer who had previously levied on a vehicle in his last visit, threatened to remove the car even though the mother claimed it belonged to her daughter. The Officer asked for proof and when not produced he made a telephone call in their presence and requested a removal truck to remove the car. This sent the mother and daughter into a panic and they then managed to produce the log book showing that the debtor was not the legal owner. When threatened to remove other goods, a partial address for the debtor was finally produced. 

Another very positive visit which was also one where a property was owned by the parents produced great results where the father of the debtor agreed to pay the debt and made an immediate payment of £13,000.00 with assurance that the remaining £10,000.00 would be paid within 2 weeks. 

Overall I had an interesting day which made me realise what lengths the officer has to go to so that secure payment is made. It can be disappointing when driving a long way to find no one is at home or is avoiding contact. However, the Officer does not give up and will make out of hours visits if necessary. 

Things can only get better… 2013 Court Services Satisfaction Survey paints grim picture ahead of 25th CCUA Annual Conference, 15th October 2013
www.lovetts.co.uk

One year after a damning report on the state of the court service in the UK, a new satisfaction survey conducted by the CCUA (Civil Court Users Association) with the support of Lovetts Plc, the debt recovery law firm, has painted a similarly grim picture with either no improvement or a further deterioration in service levels. An overview of the findings has been released ahead of the CCUA’s 25th Annual Conference taking place at the Leicester Marriott Hotel on 15th and 16th October 2013.

The survey was completed by 49 major corporate and legal firms representing the UK’s largest users of the court service – the majority of whom use the court services on a daily basis. Their participation in itself demonstrates the depth of feeling about the service levels being experienced.

Respondents were asked to rate the quality of service provided by the CCBC (County Court Bulk Centre), local county courts and the CCMCC (County Court Money Claims Centre) over the 6 months from January to June 2013 and whether they had improved, stayed the same or deteriorated.

Brian Havercroft, Chairman of the CCUA said: “Last year we conducted the first ever satisfaction survey amongst court users. The findings were so shocking we wanted to repeat the exercise this year to establish whether any improvements had been made. To say this year’s survey responses are disappointing is an understatement. Feedback suggests there has been very little improvement and in some areas service levels have actually declined further. Staff knowledge at the CCBC is identified as a particular area of weakness with a marked deterioration in service levels compared to other aspects of the service. Just as an example, 2-5 minutes is the typical waiting time for phone calls to be answered by 24 of the firms and 12 of the firms who answered the survey typically wait over 5 minutes.”

The picture isn’t any better from the feedback on the local county courts. Just over 60% felt the speed and efficiency of services had worsened. Furthermore, 71% had experienced lack of response to correspondence and emails and over 60% had been inconvenienced by lost documentation.

Users of the CCMCC faced similar issues with problems experienced across all areas, however most worryingly the biggest concerns surrounded Claims and Judgments – the core purpose of their service.

Charles Wilson, Chairman of Lovetts adds: “Last year in a speech at the CCUA Conference, I reported on the dismal findings of the first survey – it was a very clear call for action and prompted a great deal of debate. It seems abundantly clear that the court service has failed to grasp the nettle and the reputation of many UK businesses continues to be unfairly damaged because of the failings of the system. It’s about time the court service got to grips with the management challenges it faces and acted on this damning feedback.”

Lovetts Solicitors, the debt recovery law firm, has been shortlisted in the 2013 Law Society Lexcel Awards in the category of Excellence in Practice Management. Lovetts first secured Lexcel accreditation in August 2012, being shortlisted for this important award clearly demonstrates the firm’s commitment to putting its clients’ interests and requirements first in order to provide the best possible service.

The prestigious Law Society Excellence Awards attract entries from hundreds of Lexcel accredited law firms across the UK, with the Excellence in Practice Management Award bestowed on the firm that above all others has shown new and innovative ways of implementing Lexcel. In particular the judges look for the practice which has most effectively incorporated the Lexcel framework into its business and driven new strategies to enhance performance and generate continuous improvement.

Charles Wilson, Chairman of Lovetts, says “We have always received excellent feedback from our clients, but wanted to raise the bar even further through the rigour of Lexcel when Outcomes Focused Regulation was introduced in late 2011. We have found that our first Lexcel accreditation in August 2012 has opened up fresh thinking in this area and allowed us to introduce initiatives to further enhance our systems and service.

For example, we have improved our in-house cost-estimating software, to give better visibility of all estimates through our bespoke CaseManager client extranet. We have also enhanced our operational manuals to be more user-friendly and got closer to our customers through a number of initiatives including director-led client visits with paralegals. We’d be delighted to win but to be shortlisted is a fantastic endorsement in itself. It’s good to have the external acknowledgement that the initiatives and changes we have all worked hard to implement in the past year have been recognised by Lexcel as worthwhile and beneficial to our clients.”

Winners will be announced at a prestigious black-tie awards dinner on Tuesday 22nd October 2013 at Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster Bridge.