The firm

How it began

Privy was established in 1997 by two attorneys who had left a large commercial firm in the same year. Four attorneys now, two paralegals, and the same set of chambers on Duke Street.

The practice has stayed deliberately small. A commercial and property practice of this size can give every client the attorney who took their first call, and that single fact does more for the quality of the work than any amount of scale.

How we work

Every enquiry receives a substantive reply within two working days. Not an acknowledgement, but a reply stating whether the practice acts in the matter, who would carry it and the likely cost.

Every engagement begins with a letter. Every hourly matter is reported monthly whether or not payment falls due. Every disbursement appears at the amount in fact paid.

The attorney named in the engagement letter is the attorney who does the work. Where a paralegal prepares a document that is recorded on the statement and charged at the paralegal rate.

What we do not take

Criminal defence, family proceedings and personal injury. Those require practitioners who appear in those lists every week, and a commercial practice that dabbles in them serves nobody.

We also decline matters where the cost of doing the work properly exceeds what is at stake. That is said, with the arithmetic set out, and you leave with a name rather than an invoice.

Clients

Owner-managed businesses, developers, landowners, executors and a number of families whose conveyancing we have handled across three generations. We act for no client whose interests conflict with another's, and the conflict check runs before the first consultation rather than after it.