I joined Nockolds in January 2021 starting in an increasingly busy Wills and Probate department in Bishop’s Stortford. It was a welcome change from months of home working to be back in an office, even though much of the team was then still working from home. Reviewing original documents and witnessing of will signings – at times outside in clients’ gardens to comply with the then COVID-19 restrictions required at least some of us to be office-based. Sharing a large room with the Partner, Sarah Lockyer, I benefited from work on a variety of trust and probate matters including assisting with advice on succession planning; drafting letters of wishes to will trustees; dealing with an insolvent estate administration; and progressing a complex probate matter that had seen protracted litigation.
This experience got me up to speed ready to start my first seat in Dispute Resolution in April, as my workload here includes contested trust and probate matters. These required substantial legal research; for example into limitation issues in trustee claims, and protocols relating to the appointment of an independent administrator under s.116 Senior Courts Act 1981. Given a previous career in infrastructure finance, the wider commercial and property work of the Dispute team has naturally been of great interest. Under supervision, I have taken on and run with a handful of commercial, debt claim and consumer matters. In addition, I have assisted the team on more substantial property and commercial disputes. These relate to, for example, adverse possession, privacy issues relating to CCTV cameras and boundary disputes.
It has been almost nine months since I started at Nockolds. With high quality instructions and a healthy working culture, I feel like I’m making good progress each day, especially now that many colleagues are more often back in the office. This has the added benefit of being easier to arrange the occasional drink or lunch with trainees and other colleagues.
Whether you’re looking for a position as a solicitor, trainee solicitor, legal executive or business support, take a look at our current vacancies here.