Now we are One… or Happy Birthday to Us… and Thank You

Family Law and Mediation Limited trading as Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors are One year old.

Well, sort of.  We started trading on the 1^st February 2013, but the Company had been set up a few months before to allow us to successfully bid for Legal Aid Contracts for Family Law from our Honiton Office and Family Mediation from Honiton, Exeter, Taunton, Cullompton, Okehampton and Torbay. But it was on the 1^st February when Ian turned up for his first day actually at work in the East Devon Business Centre in Honiton and set about putting together his flat packed desk.

It would take a few more weeks before we could properly start working. Time needed to be spent in writing content for our website and publicity materials. The basic branding and colour scheme had already been decided, but the website turned into quite a task; it is easier to imagine pages than to actually write them. Still we are glad that we did so, because we have had lots of great and diverse feedback about it. We owe a big thank you to Gareth at Dot Design in Totnes for all of his hard work in pulling things together.

Thanks

Thanks also to Solicitors Own Software (SOS) in Bath. We chose their cloud based case management system with cashiering support. The team have been brilliant and this was clearly a good choice.

10 years ago it would have been very difficult and expensive to set up a Solicitors Practice and Mediation Service from scratch, but the use of technology has made it much easier and cheaper than it would have been. The SOS system is particularly good, but we also have access to an outstanding law library and legal precedent bank. We have secure cloud based document storage and we have the means to accept payments through our website and card machine through Cardnet.

Further thanks need to go to Thomas Westcott Accountants in Honiton for their on-going help and the Business Banking team at Lloyds. Thanks to the team at the East Devon Business centre. And thanks to the teams at the South-West Business centre in Exeter and Prioryfieldhouse in in Taunton.

Specific thanks to Janet Walker and to my children and to Michael Bayley and to Natalie Jennings Anthony Robinson Laura Robinson to Mandy French Vicky Ling, Tim Mortimer Gareth Coxon. There are others who have been very helpful too, including those who have referred work to me or recommended me to others. There have been others who I bounced my early ideas off and others who have simply been encouraging and supportive.

Thank you to all of my clients. It has been a very full-year but a very positive one. Starting a new business is never easy but I’m very glad that I decided to set up Ian Walker family law and mediation solicitors and I’m very much looking forward to the next year and to all the years to come.