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Paul Sams on legal integrity

By Paul Sams

Partner, Dutton Gregory Solicitors

Honesty, integrity, and teamwork are the moral principles Paul Sams has exemplified throughout his legal career and in his passion for the profession.

Deciding to become a solicitor at the age of seven, influenced by the lawyer drawing up his parents’ Wills and TV programmes about law, the sincere Geordie has since made his childhood dream a reality.

Having attended law school at the University of East Anglia, Paul was brought to the south coast alongside his girlfriend (now his wife with whom Paul has 11-year-old twin boys) to work for a legal firm where he became qualified.

21 years on, Paul is a Specialist Property Lawyer at Dutton Gregory and an expert in the niche areas of equity release mortgages and leasehold enfranchisement.

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You decided you wanted to be a solicitor at seven years old; what advice would you give your younger self today?

I would have told them that there will be knockbacks but don't take it personally. You've got to learn from every experience. I know it’s a cliché but I take every day as a school day; you learn something new every day. You've got to learn to adapt – any business should do that, but lawyers are particularly bad at changing.

How has the world of property law evolved since you started out?

Technology. Simple things like searches – which used to involve so much manual paperwork and sending a cheque by post to the council – can now all be done quickly and easily online.

With regards to legislation, everything's become more complicated. There's more legislation for everything. Mortgage lenders have changed all their criteria and continue to make changes on a daily basis. The provisions that are put on us to check people's money are really onerous now.

There’s huge legislation going through. The fact that we're using the law of Property Act which hasn’t been updated since 1926 shows how stable our system has been. But is also indicative that it really needs updating and the profession needs to adapt to change.

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"The fact that we're still using the law of Property Act which hasn’t been updated since 1926 shows how stable our system has been. But is also indicative that it really needs updating and the profession needs to adapt to change."

What are your observations of the UK property market in the post-covid landscape?

I think that the way the market’s looking is there’s still a lack of supply – and whilst there’s a lack of supply, prices will remain high. Although interest rates are going to go up, they’re still low compared to how they have been before.

Last year, we had a ridiculous amount of residential property transactions because of pent-up aggression from COVID, the effect of the stamp duty holiday, and interest rates being really low. There were 1.2 million transactions in England and Wales. My firm undertook about 0.4% of the number of property transactions that took place last year; I’d like to get that closer to 1%,

I think the market is fairly stable. I’m always reluctant to say we’ll be fine, but the fundamentals are there that people want to buy and own their own property and they want to have some office space or shared space.

What are your plans and aspirations for the future?

Professionally, I want to double the size of my part of the business by 2024. Our aim as a law firm is to have £24 million turnover by 2024 because it allows us to have better economies of scale and to be in control of our own destiny.

I like growing things. My personality is to always try and make things to be that little bit better, I’m always looking to make improvements. I’m a bit of a workaholic.

"Last year, we had a ridiculous amount of residential property transactions because of pent-up aggression from COVID, the effect of the stamp duty holiday, and interest rates being really low."

Paul Sams - Partner, Dutton Gregory Solicitors

You advise in a professional capacity, what principles govern your own self-guidance in life?

I’m a big believer in honesty. Honesty and teamwork.

When it comes to things like recruitment, I always look at people’s ability to fit in with the team over their actual technical ability. I believe in people who are honest and work hard as part of a team rather than in a silo mentality.

Talk to us about your volunteering work.

I’ve been a trustee at the Rainbow Centre for eight years, and I’ve been the Chair of the board of trustees for the past three years.

The children there are the happiest children you will ever meet in the world. They’re doing things like taking their first steps unaided. I always remember a day I went for a trustees’ meeting and there was a lovely lad who’d been told he wasn’t going to be able to walk – yet his mum couldn’t keep up with him as a ran with his walker. It’s those things that put everything else into context and keep you grounded.

Who or what was the last thing that inspired you?

I get inspired by people doing amazing things that you wouldn’t expect. People like the baggage handler who ran into danger to tackle suspects during the Glasgow Airport terrorist attack. I think it takes a certain type of person to do that, particularly when it’s individuals who do something that they’re not paid or trained to do.

I’ve always hugely admired the armed forces, the police, the fire brigade, the ambulance service, the coastguard – I think all those people are really inspiring.