Hay & Kilner Law Firm has restructured its residential conveyancing department and added two new members to the team to help manage growing client demand.
Rachel Armstrong and Chantelle Oxley have joined the Newcastle-headquartered firm’s specialist team as paralegals, bringing different areas of experience and expertise with them.
Chantelle graduated from Northumbria University after completing both a Masters degree in Law and her professional Legal Practice Course qualification, and previously worked in the regulatory compliance department at one of the ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms.
After graduating with a first class degree in Spanish and Management, Rachel spent three years working for a real estate company in Spain, building up her knowledge of the property industry, before deciding to come home and pursue a legal career.
Hay & Kilner’s 11-strong residential conveyancing department holds the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation and now works in three distinct units.
One team focuses on general transactional work, a second provides bespoke services in more complex cases and the third specialises in plot sales for a national housebuilder specialising in the private rental sector and in purchases for individuals from a major regional housebuilder.
Established in 1946, Hay & Kilner is one of North East England’s leading independent law firms and provides a full range of legal services to businesses and individuals from both within and outside the region.
Paul Illes, partner and head of the Residential Property team at Hay & Kilner, says: “Sentiment in the North East residential property market remains positive, with the government’s Help To Buy initiative stimulating individual purchases and its ongoing drive towards increasing the number of homes available across the region encouraging developers to bring more new schemes forward.
“Reorganising the department into these distinct units means we have the structures in place to both give our existing clients the best possible service and work towards securing new ones, and the positive feedback we’ve had on the changes suggests we’ve made the right move.
“Both Rachel and Chantelle have experience and knowledge which enhances the service we can offer to our clients, and they are already contributing well to our continuing development as they start to develop their legal careers.”