44 | Tees Business
PACKING A
PUNCH
WORDS: JOANNE BARRETT
PICTURES: CHRIS BOOTH
A
t 142 years old, some might say it is
about time to be slowing down and
taking stock. Right?
Wrong.
Especially when it comes to one of
Teesside’s oldest established law firms
which is enjoying a period of growth, both
in terms of turnover and client base, across
business and private client services.
Ask the team at Punch Robson why
and the answer is ready – they believe
in offering the highest standards of legal
services to the people and businesses of
Teesside and beyond, teamed with a desire
to develop and expand an expert team of
staff.
It is proving to be a winning combination.
The firm, based in Ingleby Barwick and
Middlesbrough, has five departments
– company and commercial including
commercial property; litigation; residential
conveyancing; family and mental health and
wills, probate and trusts.
The last one is by no means the least and
led by associate solicitor Pat Mellish is also
expanding.
Together with fellow associate solicitor
Andrew Steel, who joined the company
in June, the pair have a combined 50
years of experience. They are joined in the
department by newly-qualified solicitor
Hayley Bartram and Helen Snell who joined
the team in 2018.
Their job?
The wills, probate and trust department
takes care of what can be a very sensitive,
complicated and often emotionally charged
area of the law.
142-year-old Tees law firm is
enjoying period of growth
“We have always had a strong wills,
probate and trust department at Punch
Robson,” says managing partner Elaine
McLaine-Wood.
“There can be issues around recruitment
in our profession across the board but
we are not only taking on experienced
and talented staff, we are bringing others
through their qualifications and are
delighted they are choosing to stay with us
as a firm.
“Our team in this department also
undertake extra professional qualifications
which ensures they are very well equipped
to deal with all kinds of situations that might
arise.
“Going forward, growth will continue.
Our workload has been increasing
tremendously. We have many established
commercial clients who come to us and use
our expertise in this area of the law as well
as many long standing clients and families
who have used Punch Robson for many
years and continue to do so.
People value our work.
“The strength of this department,
compared to competitor firms of our size is
that that our team are true experts in their
field, working full time in this area of the
law. They are very much dedicated to it.”
The professional qualifications she refers
to are STEP qualifications – The Society
for Trust and Estate Practitioners – and
qualifications in private client law which
help to give the team greater understanding
of the issues their clients face and the
knowledge and skills to put that into
practice.
Pat Mellish has 37 years of experience
behind her. Working in the wills, probate
and trust department, she says, is
different every day. It can be complex and
challenging.
“Court of Protection work is also part of
our role,” explains Pat.
“This is an area of the law that covers
making decisions on financial or welfare
matters for people who can’t look after
themselves. We have a number of clients in
this area.”
“It can be a very difficult area to work
in – we don’t deal with any scenario
that is particularly happy, it can be quite
challenging,” adds Andrew.
“Part of our role involves being as
sensitive to a situation as we can be – and
our clients can be assured that we will do
that with the utmost professionalism.”