When David Higgs was admitted to the solicitors’ roll in 1963 Harold Wilson had not long been elected leader of the Labour Party, the Beatles were basking in the success of their debut Please Please Me album and the sordid details of the Profumo affair were just being revealed.
Fifty years on and Mr Higgs, now 73, is still practising in a profession which he says has been transformed by technology.
When he started out the photocopier was just in the process of being invented but he has gone on to see information technology revolutionise the way people do business.
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The fourth generation of his family to work at Black Country firm Higgs & Sons, Mr Higgs admits he has mixed feelings about technology’s unstoppable rise.
“The biggest change is the impact that information technology has had on us all, including our profession,” he said. “In the days I qualified when you did a conveyancing transaction solicitors used to meet and hand over the deeds.
“It doesn’t happen these days, you don’t meet the lawyers on the other side any longer. As a result of information technology a lot of firms haven’t been able to keep up to date with the changes and unfortunately a lot have disappeared, certainly many in the Black Country.”
Mr Higgs is a former senior partner at Higgs & Sons and retired from that role in 2003, though he continues at the firm as a private client legal consultant.
After being educated at Bromsgrove School he was articled to his uncle, George Higgs, for five years in 1957.
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The firm was founded by Mr Higgs’ great-grandfather, Joseph Higgs in 1875. His grandfather, Joseph, and father, also called Joseph, all worked there.
He added: “I have obviously enjoyed my years in the law – otherwise I wouldn’t still be coming in – though I don’t think I shall carry on too much longer.
“It was very much a family firm when I joined it but I am the last Higgs in the family working here now.”
Other changes that have impacted on the profession include the way people are trained and how lawyers now specialise at an early stage.
“When I started in the fifties as an articled clerk it was very different and training was different,” he said. “You started off doing practical things straight away and I was thrown in at the deep end by being sent to the local magistrates’ court.
“I also started in the enquiries office meeting people as they came in and even helped do the post up.
“Now people miss out in a way because they are not given the more menial jobs to do.
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“In my day you did a bit of everything – conveyancing, wills, trusts, probate, company formations – you name it we had a go at it.
“Nowadays you wouldn’t find a lawyer who would do it, you go to a lawyer who specialises. In training people pick the kind of law they want to practise and hope they can get a job to do that.”
The family firm Mr Higgs joined as a young man has grown considerably over the decades and now employs more than 100 lawyers and 200 people in total at its two offices in Brierley Hill and Kingswinford.
“When I joined back in 1957 there were about 40 people and it was obviously a very different place back then,” he said. “But you can’t stand still, you have to go forward and it is incredible the way the firm has grown.
“The firm has had to move forward and though we don’t do maritime or ecclesiastical law we do pretty much everything else.”
But as the corporate world developed, Mr Higgs does bemoan the demise of some of the ‘old ways’ of doing business.
“Obviously, clients are the most important people and you have to be prepared to give them the time,” he said. “Because of the commercial pressures put on firms now it is difficult to give clients the time and attention they deserve. In the days when I started you weren’t permitted to advertise, you sold yourself by doing a good job and being recommended by people you met when you were out and about.”
Mr Higgs said the height of his career was becoming the president of Birmingham Law Society, particularly as it meant following in the footsteps of his grandfather.
One of the changes he has welcomed though is the rise of women in the profession.
“When I started in 1957 there were hardly any women solicitors – now there are more women than men and I think that’s a very good thing for the profession.”
Despite the difficulties the profession faces with the rise of alternative business structures, changes in legal aid and ever-increasing regulation, Mr Higgs remains optimistic overall, though he says he sympathises with young people trying to forge a career in the law today.
He said: “I think it is harder for young people going into the law now because there aren’t the jobs.
“I think that is very sad, you have a lot of people coming through from university, taking exams going to law school and then finding there is nothing there at the end of the day.
“When I started in the law there were jobs all around and you never anticipated being without one. Also, once you got in you were there for life – that’s not the case now.
“I am sure the profession will survive but you have got to be good to do so. If you are doing a good job you will always have people coming back.
“Provided you do a good job at the right price and give clients time you will survive.”