Raising the profile: new PLA chair sets out her stall

Jess Harrold meets new Property Litigation Association chair Rebecca Campbell to discuss a time of change for property law and her drive to attract a wider array of talent into the field. When she was young, Rebecca Campbell’s sights were set on the ballroom, not the courtroom – which had more than a little to do with the bright lights of her home town. “I grew up in Blackpool, the Las Vegas of the North,” Campbell says. “The home of the Tower Ballroom and the Winter Gardens. So my passion was performing and dancing. My evenings and weekends and all of my holidays were spent performing in shows. I always thought I’d have a career in the theatre. I suppose that the highlight was when I was a backing dancer for Michael Ball back in the 1990s.” Little did Campbell know that her time basking in the glory of the beloved star of stage and screen was preparing her for her own success in the very different, but no less rarefied, discipline of property litigation. She is now a partner in the real estate disputes group at BCLP, with more than 14 years’ experience of handling complex, high-value disputes across a range of property issues. Campbell has been individually ranked as a leading lawyer for real estate litigation in Chambers UK and as a “next generation partner” in the Legal 500 UK. And now she has become the latest in a long line of distinguished names – including, most recently, Mark Reading of Mishcon de Reya – to take over the vaunted position of chair of the Property Litigation Association, the professional body that represents the views of more than 1,600 property litigator members. A ’non-traditional’ story As someone whose route into the law was unconventional, Campbell is passionate about encouraging people from a wide variety of “non-traditional” backgrounds into the profession. “I don’t think I had ever met a lawyer before I left home and went to university,” Campbell says. “My parents ran a pub. My grandparents ran a bed and breakfast in the centre of Blackpool. From an early age, I understood the meaning of hard work, long hours and the art of managing difficult customers. Reflecting on that now, that was a really good grounding for a career in the law.” Campbell cites a “brilliant and inspiring” history teacher at her state school, St Mary’s Catholic Academy, Blackpool, for encouraging her to study A-levels and think about going to university, and she benefited from a charity programme that enabled her to attend a two-week summer school at the University of Oxford. “It’s fair to say, that fortnight changed my life,” Campbell says. “I met solicitors, barristers, some amazing academics. I had two weeks to learn about reading case law, and that inspired me and made me think, ‘I could do this’.” Campbell went on to study law at Mansfield College, Oxford, and, in 2008, began her first training contract at Walker Morris in Leeds, where she had her first exposure to the PLA, attending its annual conference. In 2011, she moved to London to join what was then Berwin Leighton Paisner, prior to the merger that led the firm to become BCLP. She was elected to partnership in 2021, and alongside her busy case load, she has been extensively involved with the PLA for a decade, not least on its Education Committee. Practical support Campbell may have thrived in the big city, but she acknowledges that isn’t always true for everyone like her. That, she believes, is one of the next big EDI challenges to tackle. “It’s amazing the progress that’s been made from a diversity perspective across the industry,” she says. “So many of our member law firms are doing fantastic work. At the PLA, we’re doing well on gender balance as an organisation. Our executive committee is currently 70% women. And, from a social mobility perspective, in terms of non-traditional backgrounds, I am similar to Mark.” Reading described himself this time last year as being an “Essex lad born and bred”, and was the first person in his family to go to university. “We established our EDI Committee when Dellah Gilbert was chair [in 2023],” Campbell adds, “Over the past year, we’ve been looking at how can we support members with EDI challenges. The one thing we have noticed is the retention of talented lawyers and the reasons why lawyers may leave the industry. How can we attract and retain those from diverse backgrounds in the law? “The real estate industry is about building a network of relationships, and the PLA can give our members the platform to do that. We are also building our relationships with other organisations. Mark and I have worked together on collaborating with other bodies, such as the BPF, RICS and the BCO, sharing experience and knowledge. They are on their EDI journey, so what are we doing to support them and how can we collaborate with them? There’s more work we can do, and I think a priority for us over the next year is how we can offer tangible and practical support.” Initiatives will include a mentoring scheme and a bursary for current and prospective members of the PLA that will help widen the talent pool able to get involved. The bursary will be named in memory of the late Vivien King, one of the City’s first female partners in property litigation, who played an active role in the founding of the PLA. “We recognise that not all of our members are at law firms with huge budgets,” Campbell says. “Events can be expensive to attend, so we want to support members to ensure that they can access our training days and our conference. And we want to get engagement from paralegals, apprentices, people at the early stages of their career, to help them build those relationships in the real estate industry. With our mentoring scheme, we’re looking at how we can offer support and guidance to people at different stages of their career who may feel that the real estate industry is not for them, or who don’t have those connections. We think we can really help attract people to our industry, which is what we all want.” Shaping law reform The PLA is committed to providing that support alongside training and education to its members, but Campbell believes the organisation’s “engine room” continues to be the work it does in the arena of law reform – and the pistons will have to be firing in 2025. “Raising the profile of property litigation and being that public voice for property law is really important to us,” Campbell says. “And, given we’re just over 100 days into our new government, they have set their stall out in terms of their priorities for law reform. We’ve got some potentially significant changes to both residential and commercial property.” They include the Renters’ Rights Bill expected to become law late this year or early next, as well as the Law Commission’s consultation on reform of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, which launched last week. “The Renters’ Rights Bill is moving through parliament quickly and is unlikely to receive any significant opposition,” Campbell says. “So our members are going to be getting to grips with that new legislation and our Law Reform Committee, chaired by Paul Tonkin, will be doing what it can, with our relationships with the Ministry of Justice and the courts, to raise those practical implications of quite radical legislation coming through quickly. “There are some concerns about there being no transition period for the abolition of section 21 evictions, when we know that the court system is already overstretched. Our members are reporting huge delays obtaining possession orders already, so with an influx of new cases of landlords trying to seek possession, the concern is that there will be some unintended consequences. From a market perspective, landlords are already facing 12 to 18 months, even on a very simple possession case, to get an order from the court. If that’s going to take even longer now, we could see landlords exiting the market, which is a bit of an own goal for a government wanting to increase housing supply and provide good quality housing.” The PLA conducts biannual surveys of its members on the county court system, with another due in 2025, but the focus is on working constructively to help address the problems faced. “Our Law Reform Committee has been meeting with the county court, because we very much want to work with them and support them,” Campbell adds. “It is critical to our members and the real estate industry that the county court system is supported and works effectively.” When it comes to the 1954 Act consultation, the PLA will once again be asking its membership to help shape its own representations to the Law Commission. “What our response will look like is very much going to be informed by our members and we know that we can provide an invaluable insight into the project,” Campbell says. “We’ve got deep knowledge of the workings of the ’54 act from a legal and a practical perspective. But we very much support the government’s aims to ensure that the Act is fit for today’s commercial market. When it comes to net zero, the drive for green leases, making buildings more sustainable, do those objectives necessarily fit within the confines of legislation that is now 70 years old? “From our surveys and feedback from our members, we don’t think that we need to rip it up and undertake wholesale reform, but there are some practical changes that could be made to ensure that the relationship between landlords and tenants is fair, and disputes can be resolved quickly and effectively. Ultimately, businesses want to avoid litigation, so an Act that helps give tenants certainty and supports the move to a more sustainable property industry would be fantastic.” Major milestone During Campbell’s year in charge, the PLA will celebrate its 30th anniversary, and she is looking forward to marking the occasion along with her colleagues – which will continue to include Reading, who will be serving in a new consultancy role they have created together for immediate ex-chairs. “There are interesting times ahead, particularly for property litigators,” she says. “I think we’re going to be kept quite busy, and our focus really has to be equipping our members with the skills to deal with these fast-paced changes to property law and their practical implications for the property market. I’ve got a fantastic executive to work with. I’m excited to get started.” Who needs Michael Ball? The spotlight is quite rightly on Rebecca Campbell now. On with the show. Image © Alistair Veryard Photography