An Interview with Rebecca Howard
Rebecca explains what it means to be a Professional Support Lawyer within the firm, sharing insights on how she contributes towards the success of the firm’s residential property team, by staying ahead of key developments in the world of residential property.
Pardeep: Could you walk us through your route into law (if you still remember that is!)
Rebecca: I originally got a degree in Fine Art at Leeds. It didn’t take long to discover that revenue from my creative endeavours did not amount to anywhere near enough to live on! Realising what an impractical choice of subject that had been, I went on to do a law degree conversion course and my LPC at the College of Law.
I studied by way of distance learning while I was working full-time at a law firm in Manchester and doing my part-time study training contract at the same time.
Pardeep: How does residential property work in 2025 compare to what it was like when you first started working in this area and how does it compare to other areas you have worked in?
Rebecca: I first started working in conveyancing around twenty years ago. The demands on conveyancers seemed great then, but nothing compared to the ever increasing tightening noose of regulation we have found ourselves under as a profession since.
At that time, the profession was undergoing a bit of a sea change, moving towards being more accessible to clients – at weekends and in the evenings even (who would have thought it?!). I think today that the pendulum may be beginning to swing backwards or at least teetering in the middle, since there does seem to be more emphasis on wellness and mental health for conveyancers these days.
Prior to this I had been working in criminal defence. Compared to that, conveyancing was a walk in the park!
Pardeep: You were the firms first PSL, having first joined the team as a client-facing lawyer. Could you explain what attracted you to the role of a PSL and step away from client-facing work?
Rebecca: Maybe it’s an age and a personality thing! It may not be de rigueur to admit this but dealing with people was my least favourite part of the job. I’ve always enjoyed – yes enjoyed – the documentation side of things. That’s not to say most of the clients, agents and other lawyers weren’t lovely – because they were. It’s just that I had always got much more of a sense of fulfilment from the job finalising a lease then telling a client their property had completed!
Pardeep: What does your role as a PSL in the residential property team look like on a day-to-day basis?
Rebecca: There is a brilliant variety of work. And a lot of it! No two days are the same. I’ll have a wide range of technical queries and tasks from the managers and the fee earners (covering the whole gamut of land law); planning and delivering training; reviewing legal updates and being involved in the drafting of our template documents and protocols. Depending on the demands of the department – which are of course ever-shifting – I will also at times be called upon to provide technical support for paralegals where fee earners are on holiday.
Pardeep: In your view, how does your work support the client-facing lawyers within the firm?
Rebecca: The PSLs have the benefit of distance from the demands of clients, agents, and other lawyers. This frees us up to spend time getting into the documentation and finish reviewing titles and resolving issues without interruption. We can really see the wood for the trees, and be able to offer solutions to the lawyers who are “at the coal face”.
Pardeep: Would you ever consider diving back into client-facing?
Rebecca: No, I’ve done my time! But seriously, I’m glad to have so many years of client-facing experience under my belt; it means I understand the practical demands the fee earners are facing, and can take a commercial as well as technical approach to the tasks.
Pardeep: Do you have any tips when keeping up to date with new legislation, legal updates, knowledge sharing and updating policies and precedents?
Rebecca: Yes, get on the mailing lists for the conveyancing news outlets and the Law Society; get involved with consultations, read the articles, talk to your colleagues. There is a wealth of online resources – webinars, newsletters and training. The resources offered by HMLR and Practical Law, to name just a couple, are invaluable.
Pardeep: If there was one thing you could change in residential property, what would that be and why?
Rebecca: I would try to get agents and lawyers to work closer together, become more sympatico. Perhaps agents should see what life is really like for conveyancers and vice versa. When I was fee-earning, I used to find the cases that went through the smoothest were those where everybody – the lawyers and the agents all knew each other and worked well together. There was no back-biting, and the clients felt supported and kept up-to-date from all angles. Networking and meeting the parties involved often helped and took the sometimes confrontational aspects away. It doesn’t have to be a battle! I used to be weary of the cases where there was tattle-telling and point-scoring rather than the professionals trusting and supporting each other in the process. After all, we are usually working towards a common goal, which is to get our respective clients moved. When the transactions went through with this collegiate approach, they were a beautiful thing! When they didn’t … well, we all know that those transactions are like!
Pardeep: What’s your top tip for someone that wants to get into a professional support role?
Rebecca: Live eat and breathe the documentation, the legislation, the cases. If you love the quirkiness of our country’s land law, have a solution-driven approach, and ideally a track history of fee-earning under your belt, then this could be the job for you. There is a lot of work. You are basically helping a whole department, sometimes across several offices, but it is so interesting. Even after twenty years of working in conveyancing I’ll regularly see things I haven’t encountered before. Finally, I would say keep attuned to the constantly evolving developments in policy and legislation, the economy and the news in general. Conveyancing is constantly in flux – and is often a mirror on what is happening in our society.
