Having studied Law at the University of Surrey, I joined a firm in Surrey and qualified as a Solicitor in 2012. I initially worked as a Personal Injury Solicitor, dealing with a high volume of both litigious and non-litigious matters.
After a few years, I took the decision to change specialisms and undertake Private Client work, namely matters involving Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney and Estate Administration.
What do you most enjoy about your role?
I enjoy building a rapport with clients and find a great sense of satisfaction in helping them to achieve their objectives. I have always found a sense of fulfilment in helping others, and being able to provide clients with peace of mind, especially in the most trying of times, it is both a privilege and a pleasure.
What are your strength and skills?
I listen intently to my clients in order to provide them with the advice that is best suited to their needs. The prospect of making a Will or administering an Estate can be daunting, but I am able to break things down in order to make them more understandable. I pride myself in being able to provide my clients with clarity and transparency in order to simplify matters and achieve the desired outcome.
Outside of work
I enjoy spending my spare time with family and friends. I am a sports fanatic and enjoy attending live events, particularly live sport and concerts.
What attracted, and keeps you in this area of law?
After completing my law degree at Staffordshire University, I qualified as a solicitor in 1997. During my career I have worked in many areas of the law, criminal, family, litigation, and a short time in conveyancing. I never thought that I would end up in Private Client but now I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I really enjoy meeting clients, getting to know them, and helping them.
I specialise in personal legal issues including the preparation of Wills and the administration of estates after someone has passed away. I love figuring out that facts and figures, making it simple for our clients to understand the processes.
I am also a member of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners. My Probate work ranges from giving relatives one-off advice to managing the whole matter through to the final distribution of very complex estates.
What do you most enjoy about your role?
What I like most about working in our Private Client department is that no two days are the same. Each client is different and each one’s circumstances are distinct. I love meeting new clients, helping them, and then getting to know them more over the years as they come back to change their Will, prepare Powers of Attorneys. And then meeting their children, who come in to do their own Wills.
It is such a diverse role.
What are your strengths and skills?
I am a good listener, compassionate, patient, and great at talking in plain English, helping clients to understand each step of their matter. I create comprehensive Wills for all sorts of situations including those that cover guardianship arrangements for children and Wills that cover complicated family structures.
Whilst mostly working from our East Grinstead office I regularly make home visits to clients who find it difficult to travel.
What would your colleagues say about you?
I think they would say that I’m approachable, helpful, always calm and gets on with the job. I think we all work well together as a team.
Outside of work
Outside work, I love to make the most of the beautiful Sussex countryside and enjoy long walks, and horse-riding. I also play netball in the East Grinstead netball league.
I am a paralegal in the Private Client team and have previously worked in the Residential Property Department.
I’ve achieved ILEX part 1
My main role is to provide support for our lawyers and assist in a range of Private Client matters including Lasting Powers of Attorneys, Wills and Probate and Estate Administration.
I am a strong team player who always strives to deliver an efficient and effective service to every client.
What do you most enjoy about your role?
I enjoy meeting clients and learning about their needs and finding ways to help them achieve their goals as smoothly and positively as possible.
My aim is to give a bespoke and friendly service to ensure the best possible outcome.
What are your strengths and skills?
I excel at being able to track down and obtain difficult information to enable a matter to proceed.
I am approachable and friendly, always ready to offer a listening ear and advice.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I have project managed the self-build of my home. I enjoy long distance running and have completed the London Marathon twice.
I am a Paralegal in the Private Client Team based at the firm’s Eastbourne office, where I have worked for over 11 years. Whilst I have experience in all areas of Private Client work, latery I have worked more specifically in relation to attorney affairs work within our specialist team.
My role is assisting clients with the running of their personal affairs in order to try and make their lives easier at a time when they are either unable to do so themselves or no longer wish to.
I enjoy helping people, building relationships with clients and understanding more about their lives, past and present. It also allows me to indulge my love of organisation.
I have three children and when I find some time for myself I enjoy a spa day or a West End show and cocktails!
I am a Partner who has worked in the Private Client department for 10 years starting as a paralegal. I am an Affiliate member of STEP.
I acts in the administration of estates and enjoy working on complex or out of the ordinary matters including estates including cross border matters. I have experience dealing with estates with assets in France, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Morocco, and Luxembourg.
I am Secretary for the Lewes & District Dementia Action Alliance and help promote Mayo Wynne Baxter as a dementia friendly firm. I work with those living with dementia and their carers to ensure that their Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney reflect their wishes and to ensure they have an advocate who can support then if they cannot do so themselves. I encourage carers and family members to prepare Wills for ensure that the person living with dementia is protected should their carer or family member die.
I pride myself on providing caring and understanding advice and I am a familiar face around Lewes. I ensure that those with additional needs are given bespoke treatment according to their needs and I really value building a relationship with my clients that extends from initial diagnosis to the end of their lives.
What attracted you and keeps you in this area of law?
I have worked for MWB since 2008 having qualified as a solicitor in 1994 and I spent the years in between working in the personal tax department of various accountancy firms.
I moved into private client work to have more regular client contact and to be able to engage with a wider area of practice which includes drafting Wills and creating Lasting Powers of Attorney, to the administration of estates including the final tax and estate accounts.
As well as being a solicitor I am a Fellow of the Association of Taxation Technicians and I am a Full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
What do you enjoy most about your role?
I like helping others whether clients or colleagues and I take satisfaction from a job well done whether small or large. I also enjoy talking to people about why they might need a Will or LPA and I have done some local talks on these important matters.
What are your particular strengths and skills?
I am naturally organised, and I also enjoy puzzle solving and untying problems. I am good at maths and organising figures and one of my roles is to assist colleagues with the trickier estate accounts. My background in personal tax compliance also gives me a good basis to assist my clients and colleagues with aspects of income tax up to the date of death and during the administration of an estate.
Tell me about a memorable time when you have helped a client?
It is a privilege to talk in depth with our clients about their affairs or those of someone they have lost. When at the end of a client meeting a client says that it was OK and nowhere near as stressful or difficult as they though it would be, I feel a good sense of having helped someone.
What would your colleagues say about you?
That I am kind and gentle and a nice person to have around the office. That I am a good listener both to them and to my clients. And that I am good at accounts and tax and enjoy helping them out with these.
Outside work….
I love being with family and friends, my garden and running by the sea. I am also a self-supporting Church of England priest licenced to the Lewes and Seaford Deanery which means I could pop up in a church near you on a Sunday morning.
I am the Chichester Diocese Bishops Advisor on Self Supporting Ministry and I am also a member of the PCC of St Leonards and St Lukes Seaford, the Deanery Synod of Lewes and Seaford and Chichester Diocesan Synod.
I graduated from Law LLB with Honours first class in 2021 from the University of Sussex, during which time I took part in the Mayo Wynne Baxter Junior Mooting competition, which attracted me to the firm and gave me an opportunity to meet people who worked here. I had been determined to work here since and subsequently joined the firm in 2022.
I have since qualified as a Solicitor though the SQE route whilst completing my qualifying work experience full time at the firm.
I am currently also studying for my master’s degree part-time at the University of Law.
What attracted you, and keeps you, in this area of law?
With a background in debt advice, I am used to helping clients experiencing difficult personal and financial issues. I was attracted to Private Client due to the personable nature of this area of law, and I being an empathetic character, I can really help our clients in navigating what are often very difficult times. My strengths include great organisational skills and a calm and cool manner when dealing with stressful situations.
What do you like to do outside of work?
Outside of work, I enjoy hiking and regularly train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
I was introduced to the world of law when I joined a local firm as a receptionist in 2015. I have worked in the Private Client Department since 2016, 4 years of which were spent specialising in Estate Administration matters. In January 2022 I obtained a specialist Paralegal qualification in Wills, Probate and Administration with the University of Law, and I am currently studying towards my CILEX Professional Qualification.
What attracted, and keeps you in this area of law?
By nature, the work we do in the Private Client Department is highly personal and can arise from very difficult circumstances for our clients. I love being able to help see clients through these matters and to make the processes easier for them. The confidence our clients put in us is a great privilege and makes the work we do all that more rewarding. I have personal experience with Dementia and am a registered ‘Dementia Friend’ via The Alzheimer’s Society.
What are your strengths and skills?
I understand how important it is for our clients to have trust in us, and I always aim to build those trusting relationships based on empathy, transparency, and dedication. I pride myself on being organised, and I love a good spreadsheet!
What do you like to do outside of work?
In my spare time, I enjoy going to the gym, cooking, playing video games and keeping up with the football.
Jessica qualified in 2007 and specialises in private client law, more specifically trust creation and structuring, succession planning and capital taxation.
She is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners which is the most comprehensive qualification in the trusts and estates field and enhances her ability to give holistic advice to clients as a trusted advisor.
Before joining the firm Jessica was head of the private client department of a West Sussex law firm, having worked previously in the City and training with a regional firm known for dealing with landed estates and Sunday Times Rich List clients.
She regularly advises a variety of high net worth clients on trusts and complex tax planning solutions, whilst putting clients at ease by making the meetings congenial and friendly.
Outside of work Jessica loves spending time with her family and, when she has the opportunity, having a good gallop over the downs on her horse.
I started at MWB in 2021 as an LSA, I then became a Paralegal in the Private Client team in June 2022.
Before starting at MWB, I worked as a manager for B&B hotels where I discovered my passion for helping people and I knew I wanted to work directly with people.
I also studied law at University of Kent, which I enjoyed. So, when I saw the opportunity to join MWB as a LSA I saw it as a perfect chance to progress my legal career path.
What do you most enjoy about your role?
I love working with my team and meeting new clients every day. I’m often the first contact a client has to the firm, and I love to see the matter through to completion. It’s really satisfying to help people sort through their thoughts and needs into a working plan for their future!
What do you like to do outside of work?
I love to work on classic cars, I have just bought a Toyota MR2 1996, and she is beautiful! I also like to Ski and snowboard whenever I get the opportunity!