Richard Swinbank, Director, EMG Solicitors.
“When I arrived at EMG Solicitors in 2015, my role was to head a department which specialises in residential property. It was a small department…me.”
That was how Richard Swinbank described his first experience of EMG Solicitors when we caught up with him at their head office in Durham. “Since then we’ve grown to a team of 23 in the residential property section of the firm and I’m delighted to say that it will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.”
Richard, who originally comes from Woking in Surrey, studied law at De Montfort University in Leicester, although when he was at school his career aim was to join the Army. He was talked out of it by his parents. After graduating in 2007, he secured a job in the North East…and he’s never left.
“It’s a region that you fall in love with. I initially worked in Sunderland, but before joining EMG and moving to our offices on the outskirts of Durham, I’d worked in Stockton and Chester le Street…all of which is handy when you deal with residential property because, especially in the early days, you get a broad experience of property types and the sort of services that clients are looking for.
The majority of work in our residential department involves the buying, selling and refinancing of houses. Of course, this involves talking to clients to ascertain precisely what they are wanting. Even from when I was at school, I’ve enjoyed talking to people and it’s helped me develop strong communication skills. This allows me to build up a rapport with clients when advising them on their transaction. Communication is something that we impress on all of the team here at EMG Solicitors. Anything to do with legal matters is important…and clients generally recognise that. This can be an extremely stressful time for them so we need to put them at ease and effectively lead them by the hand. This is something I enjoy managing and has become a trademark of how we operate here at EMG. Client care is essential and we’re proud of the reputation that we’ve built.”
Richard’s property department isn’t the only one that’s growing.
“I arrived in 2015 when the company was still quite small having been formed the previous year by current Managing Director Emma Gaudern and Director Jemma Morland. Today our number of colleagues is approaching the 150 mark and, as with residential property department, the company will continue to grow. We now have offices in Gosforth, Penrith, Darlington and Manchester in addition to our head office on the Abbeywoods Business Park in Durham City. We’re also steadily seeing an increase in the amount of national work we do.
The residential department is incredibly busy because interest rates and inflation have stabilised and are now starting to fall. Clients are becoming increasingly confident about the buying and selling of property and we’re very close to the levels of business that we saw before the Covid pandemic. Remortgaging, refinancing and equity release are extremely popular, and the buy-to-let-market is very strong. We act for small and large developers as well as for individual clients either buying their first home or selling a large estate.
I wouldn’t say that I’ve seen everything, but it’s not far off.
And that is part of the beauty of doing this job within EMG Solicitors. Almost every day will see a new challenge arise…no two days are the same. There’s a relaxed atmosphere within EMG but everyone works hard and knows what they have to do. We operate an open door policy at the firm which means that any queries from colleagues can be dealt with quickly so that the client’s transaction will run smoothly.”
In other words, if you would like any legal assistance when it comes to residential property, the best idea is to contact Richard Swinbank and his team at EMG Solicitors. You can find out more details about what EMG can do for you. No matter what legal requirement you have, they will be able to help.
Visit www.emgsolicitors.com for contact details as well as information regarding the services on offer at EMG Solicitors.