Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...
Founded just over 25 years ago (having been an in-house legal team at the NHS before that), this healthcare practice has been going national. A new office in Birmingham now has 13 fee earners in it, while a Leeds outpost opened in June 2011. The firm’s Wimbledon HQ remains the only location to host trainees at the moment, but Birmingham and Leeds hope to take on vac schemers by 2014. “Our strategy for the moment is to keep our attention and energy fixed on the three offices we now have. We want to build everything around the revenue emerging from our client base in those areas,” says partner Majid Hassan. That client base is made up of over 200 NHS, regulatory, voluntary and private sector healthcare organisations.
“Our finger is on the pulse,” stated a trainee, using a fitting turn of phrase to comment on the proposed reforms set to sweep across the NHS and public healthcare over the course of the next few years. “We are in the thick of it,” confirmed Hassan on the series of proposed changes that will potentially see Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and Strategic Health Authorities abolished by 2013, to be replaced by groups of GPs. The effect of the Health and Social Care Bill, introduced into Parliament on 19 January 2011, is yet to be seen. “We work closely alongside the decision-makers in healthcare and we know the general direction in which the changes are headed, which puts us in the best possible position to advise our clients.”
The NHS shake-up is bringing in new types of work for Capsticks, mostly from private companies in the health sector and leading medical malpractice insurers, but the firm also has about a dozen charities on its client list. An increasingly common type of work at Capsticks involves dealing with those situations where healthcare and social care overlap: “We need to be able to advise our clients in both of these sectors, on the wider implications of their decisions and the context within which these must be taken,” said Hassan.
Bringing out the ethicist
There are five possible departments for trainees to choose from: clinical law, dispute resolution, real estate, employment and commercial. Trainees said: “Most people come here expecting to do just clinical negligence work for the NHS, but when you get here you get a feel for the holistic service we provide, which covers all aspects of law – it makes work here diverse, interesting and important.” One added: “To say we are a niche firm would be an incorrect analysis,” so be careful what you write in your covering letter.
Given that there are five departments and six seats in the training contract, mathematicians among you will be able to calculate that it’s likely that trainees will repeat seats in one, if not two or three, departments that they have particularly enjoyed. “It’s best if you do a seat in every department, but of course you don’t have to.” A month before each seat rotation, meetings are scheduled with the HR department to allow trainees to discuss their preferences.
The clinical negligence team is central to Capsticks. Having been involved in some of the most high-profile and landmark cases in recent years – such as inquests into the death of Baby P and the London Bombings – the department has seen a staggering rise in the number of instructions received: from 333 in 2009 to 646 in 2010, an increase of 94%. Over 300 NHS and private sector health clients, as well as the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) and private health care insurers, instruct the team. Moreover, with the number of medical malpractice claims also rising, there is no shortage of work. “You’re really trusted and they push you,” commented a second-year, who had helped to write advisory reports to the NHSLA and attended conferences with counsel and expert witnesses in chambers. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the work is the opportunity to “be constantly learning. I don’t have a medical background,” said one source, “but you learn so much on the job and in the end can grasp quite technical and complex things.”
“It’s an amazing department but stressful at times, not in terms of the volume of work but the emotional stress it can cause.” Sources gave accounts of shocking cases and situations in which “you must strongly believe that you are on the right side” when defending the NHS in such circumstances. Another trainee added some perspective, saying: “People often have a perception that the NHS and the claimants are at loggerheads, but these issues are determined by medical experts, and it is they who decide whether there have been breaches or not: we are always sensitive to the patient as well.”
Dispute resolution is one of the largest departments. Split into regulatory law, property litigation and commercial litigation, trainees had worked on an eclectic mix of matters, ranging from cases surrounding NHS fraud to those delving into media law, in circumstances where production companies had filmed in care homes. Trainees in property litigation dealt with applications for squatter evictions, and advised NHS trusts that were facing an increased obligation to provide accommodation for homeless people. That involved “a lot of expectation on us to interact between the NHS and social services, in order to decide who would own the responsibility.” “With the political changes that are going on, contractual commitments can become compromised,” and commercial litigation requires creative thinking when disputes over contractual agreements are not cut and dried.
The disposal of surplus NHS properties looks likely to be a big source of work for the property team in the immediate future. One trainee joined the team just as the Health Service was selling off many of its assets in London. “They have loads of land, and selling it opens up many questions about what will happen to it.” Those in the closely related commercial department described “feeling like a fee earner.” “There’s much more autonomy in this seat,” and trainees can run their own files and work on small research projects.
Capsticks boasts the largest employment team in the country dedicated to healthcare employment law. Trainees spoke about the level of early responsibility allocated to them and regularly attended tribunals, “not to do advocacy, but to take care of clients who were giving evidence,” mostly in unfair dismissal cases. These provoked frustration for one source in a situation where “the claimant’s solicitors drove a public body through the courts with no evidence, and claimed every kind of discrimination under the sun.” Drafting responses and instructions to counsel are other common trainee tasks.
Lawyer thermidor
All of our sources knew from the beginning that Capsticks would be the right fit for them. A strong interest in healthcare is a must: “You’ve got to know the NHS and care about it – more and more, Capsticks is dealing with every aspect of the law but in a medical context, so you need to be up to date with the latest information on the Department of Health and the government reforms.” Everyone here is clearly passionate about their work and feel like they “are doing something really important. If I’ve had a hard day,” said one source, “it’s because I cared and wanted to get something right.”
Salaries are lower than you’ll find in the City but respectable nonetheless, and anyway, if you come here you probably “didn’t get into it for the money” anyway. A better work/life balance is the payoff. Trainees leave the office between 6.30 and 7pm on average, and “occasions where you work late are few and far between.”
The move from Putney to “swish” premises in Wimbledon has lifted spirits. The open plan layout means that there is “no divide” between trainees and partners, and “everybody has time for you.” Trainees regularly get together in the recreational area, Inside Out, and there is also a lovely roof terrace. “It’s our lunchtime sun trap: you’ll often see our lobster-skinned Capsticks workers up there.” Recent social highlights have included a summer party with karaoke, which the partners took especially seriously. “They took the time to pre-learn the songs. I walked in on my supervisor rehearsing the Pussycat Dolls and wondered what was going on.” The Alexandra is the new pub of choice in Wimbledon, attracting a crowd of trainees, partners and solicitors every Friday night, while the Christmas party reflects how Capsticks “has gone up in the world.” Last year’s was held in the 360-degree restaurant at the top of the swanky Millbank Tower.
And finally...
You’ll need an interest in healthcare to work here: if you have it, this is the firm for you. In 2011, five out of Capsticks’ six second-years stayed on qualification.