Although I was born in Lincolnshire I have always had strong links with the local area and attended Keele University where I graduated in 1980 with a joint honours degree in Law and English. After a happy time at Keele I spent a further year completing my Law Society examinations at Chester before joining Knights as an Articled Clerk in 1982.
My approach to obtaining a training contract at Knights was direct – I had decided that this was the firm for me and I needed to do something different. My strategy was to simply walk into the old Ironmarket office and ask if there was a possibility of securing a training contract. I received an immediate interview with Derek Miller and subsequently was taken on. It is a little more difficult nowadays!
I qualified as a solicitor in 1983 and became a partner in 1986.
Well over 25 years from my start date I am definitely not planning to go anywhere else!
I have for the last 20 years specialised as a private client lawyer. I have covered a number of areas over the past couple of decades, and to some extent continue to do so, but more and more have focused on one of the key areas of the Tax Trust and Private Client Department which is producing solutions for clients to deal with issues relating to passing on their wealth and the preservation of property – with an emphasis on trying to reduce the impact of inheritance tax and other taxes.
I do act for a good many business clients in their personal capacities and I am frequently involved in dealing with issues relating to passing on family businesses to the next generation.
I do also very frequently take on the role of receiver or deputy for patients of the Court of Protection.
I am a member and Chairman of Newcastle College Business Advisory Committee which has the aim of enabling the College to work with local businesses and to ensure that there is a firm link between what the College provides and what the community requires.
I am a trustee of the Jack Leighton Charitable Trust which works closely with the University of Keele in providing assistance for local projects of research into the culture and history of the area.
I am extremely lucky to have been very happily married for over a quarter of a century and to have three lovely children and (the point when my luck ran out!) an unusually lively and naughty bearded collie who delights in eating television remotes and my dinner whenever my attention is diverted elsewhere.
I love reading, the theatre, cricket and football. I am also a keen fisherman which, as I am seldom called upon to move to bring in a fish, enables me also to enjoy my love of wildlife (sadly not wild life!) as all animals and birds quite rightly assume that they can come very close to the immobile figure sitting quietly by the waterside.