We shortlisted for Family Law Awards 2021: FAMILY LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR -SOUTH and we have opportunities to join our team.

The Family Law Awards 2021 -Shortlisted for Family Law Firm of the Year – South

What a year!

We are thrilled to have been shortlisted in one of the most prestigious categories in the prestigious national Family Law Awards.

Family Law Regional Firm of the Year

The winners will be the firm in each region that has demonstrated that it has provided outstanding quality of legal service for its clients and has displayed high levels of teamwork within its firm, with external lawyers and/or other professionals.

The Regions are;

• London 
• Midlands and Wales 
• North 
• South 

South – the category in which we have been shortlisted is everything below a line from and including Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, East Anglia apart from London – so a very large area!

The shortlist and winners have been chosen by a judging panel made up of the heads of the Family Law Bar Association, Resolution and the Association of Lawyers for Children, along with Family Law editors and publishing executives.

What this means to us

After the Law Society Excellence Awards (which are open to all Solicitors), the Family Law Awards are the most prestigious awards for Family Law Specialists and have various categories for both solicitors and barristers practicing family law.

This year we have been shortlisted twice in the Law Society Excellence awards, and to have been shortlisted in the Family Law Awards as well is amazing.

The Law Society Excellence awards (in which we have been shortlisted in two categories this year), are only open to solicitors, but there is no family law specific category. (Our shortlistings this year are for practice management and for Ian as a sole practitioner (technically)).

Ian Walker says:

I founded this practice approaching 9 years ago. For the first couple of years it was simply me and a computer. We started in a room in a business centre in Honiton, Devon. It was only in July 2020 that we moved to our own offices in Exeter.

We have grown by building a team of outstanding lawyers and by trying to be progressive and forward thinking in how we practice.

Our shortlistings in the Family Law Awards and the Law Society Excellence Awards this year are fantastic recognition of what we are trying to do. 

In the last 18 months our practice  has grown significantly – despite the challenges of the pandemic. We have also put in place a training pipeline, in which we are developing a disproportionately high number of trainee solicitors/legal executives (most state educated/non law backgrounds) – we have a very talented and committed cohort of future family law specialist lawyers. We have also introduced our innovative Divorce Support Club for clients and introduced monthly training and support for our team with leading psychologists – Psychology Associates. We have also built one of the strongest teams of family lawyers in the South West. 

We have a fantastic team. Everyone has worked incredibly hard. These shortlistings are incredible recognition of what we have achieved so far. I am really proud of everyone.

We also have some very exciting plans which we hope to roll out over the next 12 months or so. These are exciting times for our practice.

As it happens, we are currently hoping to recruit an additional solicitor:

Fast growing, Legal 500 Niche Family Law Practice seeks talented Divorce Specialist Solicitor 7+ Years PQE /early equity prospects if wanted

Ian Walker founded Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors in 2013. We have grown from being Ian and a computer, into one of the largest and strongest teams of family lawyers in the South West.

We have a strong team/mutually supportive culture.

We are very busy and are recruiting for further long term growth…

The role/candidate specification

• Divorce specialist
• 7+ years good PQE – ideally with legal 500 practice
• Commitment to Resolution Code.
• To be based in Exeter with responsibility for developing our Exeter-based divorce practice (with the support of our business development team)
• Possibility of early equity
• Full time
• Competitive salary
• Family law accreditation/collaborative law/mediation accreditation is desirable – but if currently lacking we would wish to support you in developing your overall family law expertise.

Us

• Legal 500,
• 2x short-listings in the Law Society Excellence Awards 2021
• Winners of the Modern Law Awards 2020 – Boutique Law Firm (11+ employees)
• One of the strongest Family Law Teams in the South West
• Legal Aid Contracts for children law and family mediation.
• We have a widely admired and good lead generating website.
• Family Mediation – we can provide a route to mediation accreditation.
• We have good IT / paperless working / everyone can work from home if we wanted.
• We are committed members of Resolution (Ian Walker is Chair of Resolution Devon Region, Lauren Preedy (Head of our Divorce Team) is Chair of Resolution Somerset Region.
• We are based in modern offices in Exeter and have a network of offices/locations from where we (normally) meet clients which is currently: Bath, Bristol, Dorchester, Honiton, Plymouth, Shaftesbury, Taunton, Torquay, Wells, Weston-Super-Mare and Yeovil.
• We are committed to being a friendly and inclusive practice and we have a pool table in our office.
• We are also Real Living Wage Employers.

All our work groups are very busy

We want family lawyers who are good at what they do and who enjoy what they do and who want to work with like-minded colleagues in a collegiate and supportive team.

You will be committed to the highest standards of legal practice and client care.

More information

For more information please visit our website   http://ian-walker-family-law.local/

How to apply

We look forward to receiving your application

Applications in confidence to: [email protected]