Long established Ballymena solicitors’ practice, Samuel Cumming & Son, has become the first practice in the town to receive the Lexcel Quality Standard Mark.

The firm, which is based in Linenhall Street, Ballymena, has four partners – Nicholas Cumming, Paul Livingstone, Peter Louden and Orla Hatt and deals with a wide variety of legal issues, including property matters, wills and probate, elderly client advice and personal injury claims.  The practice was awarded the Lexcel Version 5 Quality Mark in March 2012 after successfully completing the Practice Management Standards Programme which is administered by the Law Society.

Lexcel is the Law Society’s international practice management standard. It is awarded to solicitors’ practices who meet the highest management and customer care standards. Lexcel accredited practices undergo rigorous independent assessment to ensure they meet required standards of excellence in areas such as client care, case management and risk management.

The partners in Samuel Cumming & Son sought to improve client care within the practice, thereby helping ensure better customer service and, in turn, increased client satisfaction and retention.

The practice was assisted throughout the accreditation programme by Next Level Impact, a management consultancy and training company based in Belfast which provides a complete Lexcel support programme in conjunction with the Law Society.

The practice was particularly delighted to achieve the accreditation at a time of economic uncertainty. It is confirmation of the intention of the Partners in the practice to improve client care and customer service to all its clients in a bid to maintain the practice’s position as one of Ballymena’s leading firms.

Samuel Cumming & Son has been established in Ballymena for some 80 years, having been established by Samuel Cumming in 1932.  It has been at its current location in Linenhall Street for some 40 years when the current premises were acquired by Samuel’s son Billy.  Billy’s son Nicholas Cumming, one of the Partners in the firm, commented “We are very thankful to have a large and loyal client base which has stood us in good stead throughout this prolonged recession but we realise that the legal profession is evolving rapidly and that clients’ expectations are constantly changing.  Going through the Lexcel process has enabled us to assess how we do things in an effort to improve the service we provide.  Accreditation will hopefully mean that we are well positioned to look after the future needs of all our clients (both existing and new) and to respond effectively as and when economic recovery eventually arrives.”

The Managing Partner in the practice, Paul Livingstone, paid particular tribute to the work of all members of staff in the practice.  “All our staff within the practice worked extremely hard to improve our internal processes to the standard required by Lexcel.  The driving force behind everyone in the firm is to provide good quality legal services for our clients so that those clients will come back to us again and again and Lexcel is proof of our ongoing commitment to this goal”.