Hello there,
Welcome to this latest edition of the Ochresoft News & Views Newsletter, which I hope you find informative.
I’ve spoken in previous newsletters about the craziness of the last couple of years, how we have experienced new records in terms of volume fluctuations and how difficult (impossible?) it was for lawyers to adequately resource for. Our admiration for all customers who have managed to navigate their way through such a volatile period of trading remains strong. Whilst the recent rise in interest rates hint at potential future economic uncertainty, our stats are currently showing something we might be tempted to refer to as “normal”. We track instruction and completion numbers for all customers which gives us a pretty good representation of the industry as a whole, and the similarities between the first 4 months of trading in 2022 against the same period in 2019 (the last pre-Covid year) are uncanny. For example, April ’22’s completion levels were within 2% of 2019’s, whereas April ‘21’s differed by 18% and April ’20 by a huge 157%! How long this relative stability will last is anyone’s guess, but for now it is something to cherish, given the chaos which preceded it.
With Covid restrictions now a thing of the past, we look forward to seeing many more of our customers face-to-face once again, either during scheduled office meetings or at one of the many industry events being held throughout the year. Please look out for the Ochresoft stand at the BLG Summer Conference – we are silver sponsors of that event on 28th June – as it would be great to say hi to as many of you as possible.
Rob Gurney, Managing Director
