Ghosts, a fire, and a Royal Garden Party: Richard Hopkins’ 38 years at the Law Society

“I joined Law Society in 1987 as a carpenter. This was at a time when all the building repairs were done in-house. We had five in-house painters, two carpenters, two plumbers and five electricians. They later made a facilities team, and that was where I needed to be. I got more chance to make an impact there than I would have had anywhere else.”

Although Richard’s spent nearly four decades working in the building, he still hasn’t got completely used to the surroundings.

“I still say 'wow' when I walk into the building every day. The building is what I'm here for. The staff are a bonus. My favourite room is the Reading Room. It has that ‘wow’ factor, and it was part of the original building. It's a grand looking room, and it still makes me smile when I go in there.

“The building is so much more welcoming now than it used to be. And it’s more inviting than it ever was. When I joined, I never spoke to the president like I do now, and our CEO was called the 'secretary general'. The building used to have flats on the top floors for executives as well. We made the building more accessible to visitors in the early 1990s and we took the living spaces out.”

Taking a tour of Chancery Lane

As staff became keener to make the most of Richard’s extensive knowledge of our building, he started to take new Law Society employees on tours so they could get to know its various rooms and fun historical facts. It became such a popular tour that it was built into all staff inductions!

Beyond looking after and modernising our building, Richard’s been a part of shaping our culture too – he campaigned for paternity leave in our staff magazine.

“The year I started in 1987, my eldest daughter was born and there was no such thing as paternity leave here. It was happening elsewhere, so, I wrote an article sharing my opinion. Something was implemented really quickly after that, and I got paternity leave for my second child in 1989.”

Richard has become well-known for remembering the names of hundreds of Law Society staff, despite how much our team has changed over the past half century. So, how does he do it?

“When you see people on a daily basis, you get to talk to people. There’s no special secret. I'm getting older now, so it is getting harder than it used to be. When David McNeill, our director of public affairs, came back to the Law Society, it had been 21 years since he last worked here. When he walked into the building, I said ‘Hello David’, and freaked him out!”

Richard also has a knack for showing up right at the moment someone needs his help. It feels too often to be coincidence, but what is it?

"I think it's like the Candy Man. You say my name three times, and I appear! I do a lot of walking around the building, so when people see you more than once a day, you're likely to be there when needed. When there's a major event happening, I also make sure I'm around.”

Responding to crisis

As well as being around for planned big events, Richard’s had to be alert to unexpected crises as well. In 2002, he spent 48 hours trapped inside Chancery Lane, when a bomb threat occurred.

“There was a disgruntled businessman outside. The porters gave me a call, and I came outside and spoke to him. He told us he had a bomb in the van. I reported it, and police quickly created an exclusion area around the building. We did pizza runs in the building for staff who were stuck inside. We got a bit extra as the police were taking some as we came through. They took some food out to the gentleman. Eventually armed police came out and he called it a day.”

Thankfully, the threat turned out to be a hoax, and staff were able to leave safely. But crisis came again in January 2020, when an overnight fire spread across our building.

“I got a call at 2am on a Sunday morning to say, 'your building is on fire.' Before long, we had 27 fire appliances looking after the building. The fire started in 114 Chancery Lane, but the firefighters didn't realise that the power from 114 came from next door. I had to come in and help shut the power off.

“We lost the entire 5th floor and a lot of the 4th floor. But, in the end, the building had more damage from water than from the fire. There was so much water, and they were trying to make sure that it didn't get into the library. If it got in behind the panelling, there would be no stopping it. A lot of people lost their belongings, which was sad. We did our best to recover as much as possible – we had to enter the building in hazmat suits to collect things. We definitely couldn't save the plants.”

And of course, this was not the only unforeseen event that would impact Law Society buildings in 2020.

“In January we had the fire, and then March was Covid. I got a dispensation when building trade was allowed to resume, so I could travel into London to come in here and oversee the building works. The train was pretty much empty every day.”