“I have no interest in lowering our standards or our quality. I want us to be the most outstanding law firm within a 60-mile radius, giving the best quality at the best prices, and quite frankly, clients wouldn’t think of coming anywhere else.”

A bold statement from Alison Dixon, one of the senior partners at Shropshire’s largest law firm.

And it was in response to a question about whether a new trend of “cheap” legal services available through the internet and from high street supermarkets would threaten the traditional legal establishment.

It appears, certainly from the viewpoint of the newly merged firm of FBC Manby Bowdler, that quality will out and no compromise will be made when it comes to serving clients.

“You will always find lawyers who don’t quite get the fact that they are there to provide a service, that’s what we are, service providers. And once you realise that, then you put yourself in the race.

“If you don’t realise that, then you’ll go to the wall, because clients have become ever more sophisticated,” added Mrs Dixon, a commercial property lawyer who pulls no punches when it comes to getting her point across.

Which is probably why she, and her fellow 38 partners in the firm, are well on their way to building on the reputation created by the impressive history of two long-established firms which believed earlier this year that they could do more together than apart.

Both Manby Steward and FBC were set up around the 1840s, originally in Wolverhampton, where they became two of the most dominant legal firms in the region.

With their success came expansion, with both firms

moving into Shropshire including opening up offices some 100 yards away from each other in Telford.

Two years ago, Manby Steward merged with Shrewsbury firm Bowdlers, giving a presence in the county town with an established client base and creating Manby Bowdler.

And earlier this year, the largest law firm outside the city centres of Birmingham and Manchester was created when FBC merged with Manby Bowdler.

Senior partner Gavin Southall explains: “Both firms, co-incidentally, mirrored each other over the years, they walked step in step. They were about the same size, became multi-locational at the same time, and to a degree there has been some duplication.

“But that duplication is nothing by comparison to the complementary aspects of both the firms. The firms fit together very well, there were certain disciplines that FBC had that were stronger than MSB and vice versa. The matrimony and family law unit of FBC was much stronger than that at MSB, and at MSB we had a planning department that FBC didn’t have. So together they made the firms much stronger.

“Also we have a strong commitment to quality which has been fused together, so our intention was that by becoming larger and stronger, we can give a greater depth of service to our clients and greater resources.”

However, it appears more mergers are not immediately on the cards.

Mr Southall said: “We need to consolidate, we need to be the regional player of choice. That is our aspiration and then when we have achieved that, we can decide, on a strategic basis, how to move on. We need to ensure that all the partners are comfortable with what they doing.

Comfortable

Mrs Dixon added: “The focus is also on the clients, we want them to be comfortable with merger, with the range of services. The merger itself has gone beautifully, better than we could have hoped.

“I now have a planning department and an agricultural department that I can refer work to, both of whom came into me through MSB. And MSB have commercial litigators, so the commercial property department now is an extremely strong department and my clients from FBC have already benefited from that extended areas of expertise. So personally I have seen nothing but benefit and so have my clients.”

Both partners believe the firm’s strength also comes from its geography, despite the original Wolverhampton roots.

“Because we were three local firms which have merged, Manbys, FBC and Bowdlers, we have strong connection here in Shropshire. The partners live here, we marry here, we send our children to school here,” added Mrs Dixon.

But the firm is not content to rest on its laurels and its increased size, believing the legal profession itself has work to do in the face of new online legal services and conveyer-belt-style legal advice available from supermarkets, including Tesco which offers conveyancing services though its “legal store” .

Mr Southall said: “We will always be interested in what our legal brethren are doing but it doesn’t mean we will be following trends. If lawyers want to operate like Tesco, then they will succumb to Tesco-like competition.

“The profession as a whole needs to ensure that it preserves quality, and its reputation and not to go down avenues where you can cut costs, where your word is not your bond.

“If someone wants to pay £20 for an online will and take their chance then that’s their right. If they want to spend a bit more, see someone face to face, then advice is always more significant in the flesh than remotely or digitally.”

Mrs Dixon added: “We don’t want to be a supermarket for bulk conveyancing, we want to be the most outstanding law firm within a 60-mile radius, giving the best quality at the best prices, and quite frankly, clients wouldn’t think of coming anywhere else.

“That’s what our aim is, that’s the top and bottom of it.”

Straight talking woman, straight talking lawyer, straight talking firm.