When two friends and former colleagues met for a walk last summer, little did they know the next hour would change their professional lives.
Parissa Henney and Louise Turner had intended to take their children to the park, in the ongoing effort to fill the long summer break. But as they talked through their respective outlooks on work and the law, they realised they had lots in common, and the idea of starting their own firm together was born.
One year later to the day, Henney Turner was authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the acorn of an idea had grown into something much bigger.
‘We have always had conversations taking about life as lawyers and mums and juggling everything, and from working together we always tried to stay in touch,’ said Turner.
‘One day we went for this walk with our children and thought we clearly worked so well together, so why not set up our own firm?’
Henney added: ‘As we talked, we realised we shared the same vision of what legal services should look like. We both have a genuine passion for the law, but more importantly, we care deeply about helping people navigate some of the most challenging moments of their lives.
‘We wanted to create a firm where clients feel listened to, supported and confident that their legal problem is as important to us as it is to them.’
The firm was founded with the aim to provide specialist legal advice without losing the personal touch that clients need when dealing with difficult life situations.
Henney has been a family law solicitor for more than 15 years, while CILEX lawyer Turner is a specialist in criminal defence and education law.
They wanted to join forces after dealing with numerous clients in their careers who needed complementary services, and the idea is that those clients will benefit from having one point of contact who understands their needs.
The two directors worked together in a small office while they tested how they could run the business together and worked through the various administrative hurdles to becoming a law firm.
Now they have a permanent home on the picturesque Chichester Harbour, with clients encouraged to come in person and take advantage of a setting different from most office environments.
They said the response of the legal community had been overwhelmingly positive, with numerous goodwill messages, and the firm will gradually recruit in the coming months.
Henney added: ‘There have been so many nice comments from other lawyers in the local area, we’ve had phone calls from firms saying well done and everybody has been very supportive.’
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