The Government restrictions to try to reduce the spread of Covid19 have now been in place for 3 weeks, and throughout that time MCP have remained open for business and we are continuing to serve our clients as much as ever. 

We made the decision before the restrictions came into place that we would close our reception areas, in order to protect both our staff and the public by minimising face to face contact.  Since then we have arranged for most of our appointments with clients to be conducted by telephone, which has worked very well and many of our clients are reassured that they can still have “meetings” with us without having to put themselves at risk by leaving home. 

We are continuing to see clients face to face where this is absolutely necessary, for example to sign Wills.  Our Wills and Probate department are however coming up with some innovative methods of ensuring that Wills are witnessed correctly whilst minimising contact.  This is particularly important for those of our clients who are elderly or particularly vulnerable to the virus. 

Since the government restrictions we have moved many of our operations away from the office to the homes of our lawyers and support staff.  For many years we have operated a case management system, as well as running paper files, so documents and correspondence are held in electronic files.  Our lawyers and staff are able to access our case management system remotely from computers at home.  Telephones have been diverted to our lawyers and receptionists so that you can still reach whoever you need to speak by ringing the usual telephone numbers.  We do still have staff at some of our offices, but this is kept to a minimum and they observe the required social distancing. 

Our Criminal department continues to represent clients at the Police Station, and to deal with the Court system although the majority of criminal trials are being postponed at present.

Our Family department continue to conduct court hearings but in a very new way.  Since the restrictions have been in place Family Court hearings have been conducted remotely, by various methods such as telephone and video conferencing and our lawyers are able to conduct this as are the barristers we instruct. 

This is a challenging time for the whole country and indeed the world, but we are very proud of the way that all of our staff have risen to the challenge of continuing to provide the legal service that MCP have provided continuously for the last 236 years.  We know that our clients still need our advice and we are still here, ready and willing to help.