Christopher Cook

I deal with all aspects of property law, both residential and commercial, and have previously been the partner in charge of our private client division. My other expertise is in managing risk and compliance for the firm and supporting staff with all things technical. I have been credited with nit-picking skills and wear that badge with pride.

I began my legal career in 1975 at a small solicitors’ firm in Croydon, moving to Brixton in 1981 to become a partner with Frank Lissimore in what was then Williams and Company. In those days a solicitor was expected to know something about all aspects of law and turn their hand to most of them when necessary, but the trend towards specialisation has since led me to focus on property and conveyancing, with a side-line in ‘private client’ work – wills, trusts and probate.

In recent years solicitors have had more and more professional regulations and standards to comply with. As senior partner I spend much of my time seeing that we abide by these, and I also advise other lawyers in the firm about law, procedure, and risk management. I enjoy getting involved with tricky or complex drafting and building up our teams’ technical knowledge. I have a keen interest in systems and processes and have supported the development of our case management system over the years to maximise efficiency in a busy and demanding environment. When the slogan “policy precedes procedure” becomes a commonplace of management theory, remember you saw it here first.