Lucy Hollingsworth

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.