Another agenda item, and some background information (a report to the meeting!)
Sally McMillan, the principal of McMillan & Co, the law firm who have acted for us and in which Helen Davidson used to practise, rang me during the week.
She confirmed that Helen has left the firm, after some difficulties including a conviction. She wanted to assure us that we remain a valued client of McMillan & Co, if we wish to continue using them as our lawyers. Simon Milne, the partner who does a lot of conveyancing, and Katherine Neville-Lamb, a solicitor, have both worked extensively with Helen and are familiar with our files and our project.
So far as Sally knows, Helen is now practising with Anja Klinkert, a sole-person practice in Hope Street. Sally is not aware that there is any administrative or secretarial support there.
Looking to the future, there is a lot of legal work that lies ahead of us at the end of the build, when it comes to unit-titling and the completion of the purchase process. Sally believes that this will require a large amount of administrative support as well as lawyers who know what we have done and what we are wanting to achieve. She believes that McMillan and Co are well-equipped to provide what we need and would be delighted to continue to work with us.
I told Sally that I would convey all this to UCOL when we next met. I also said that I thought that someone from the budget control group will need to to sit down with McMillan & Co to discuss with them the budget we have set for the remaining legal work on the project and whether it is realistic - I don't want to discover as we come to settle that our legal expenses blow the budget (and the purchase price) out of the water. She encouraged such a discussion.