The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 43: June/July 2019 | Page 33

10 Minutes with Bower & Bailey’s Sarah Dureau Sarah Dureau has been a solicitor for almost 30 years. She is a partner and heads up Bower and Bailey’s Armed Forces Department from their Witney office. She uses her 16 years’ experience in the Royal Air Force to represent military personnel in many areas of law, particularly with regard to service issues. She also represents civilians and service personnel in Employment, Civil and Family disputes and liaises with other Bower and Bailey Solicitors if needed when they are dealing with other areas of law for military personnel. WHAT PART OF YOUR JOB DO YOU MOST ENJOY? DO YOU SEE MILITARY CLIENTS AT YOUR OFFICE? WHAT PRACTICE AREAS DO YOU COVER? Having spent 16 years in the Royal Air Force it is lovely to be able to continue to represent service personnel and to help them in all sorts of legal areas. I love working so close to RAF Brize Norton and other bases in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, being able to keep in contact with military personnel – and still seeing aircraft fly past my office every day! There is a bit less travel than when I was in the RAF, but it is nice to be in one place too. I am based in Witney but can see any client in any of our four offices at Banbury, Oxford Witney or Swindon. As I have lots of military clients who are overseas or might be away on exercise, I find I regularly use Skype or FaceTime to be able to continue to represent them even when they’re not in this country. Being flexible suits their lifestyle. WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS? I am slightly unusual because I was actually ‘called to the bar’ to be a Barrister (in 1989) and then I decided to become a solicitor and was ‘admitted to the Roll’ to be a solicitor in 1991. From there I worked in private practice for another five years and then I joined the Royal Air Force in 1996 leaving in 2012 as a Wing Commander. After 18 months as a consultant to a firm in Salisbury and one in Witney, I realised what a need there was for service personnel to have access to a specialist lawyer. I joined Bower & Bailey five years ago and they let me set up our Armed Forces Department, which just keeps on growing. I deal with litigation not just for armed forces personnel but also more generally in the areas of Employment law and Civil litigation. For my armed forces clients I can deal with very service specific matters like Service Complaints and disciplinary processes. I also deal with family matters, where most of my clients are military and I have found that my service background really helps when dealing with the very unique circumstances that armed forces personnel find themselves in. As well as civilian and military clients who are already loyal to Bower and Bailey for all of their work, I still keep in touch with many of my service friends and get lots of recommendations through them. It’s pleasing too that lots of my clients recommend us to their friends. We also hold a free legal advice clinic every other week at RAF Brize Norton and on an ad hoc basis in other bases throughout Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. I find that military personnel really appreciate that I know ‘their language’ and understand their lifestyle, which means they can quickly explain their issue to me without having to translate the acronyms! WHEN DID YOU QUALIFY AS A SOLICITOR? Sarah can be contacted via email: [email protected] or by telephone: [phone] WHERE DID YOUR SERVICE CAREER TAKE YOU? Germany; Gloucester; Northern Ireland; Cyprus; MOD, London; Naples and; RAF Northolt - in that order ! (and not including shorter trips to other parts of the world like Bosnia, Kosovo, other Balkan countries and to Gibraltar, the USA and Malaysia) – a really fantastic 16 years. WHAT DO YOU DO OUTSIDE OF WORK? I have three young children who keep me very busy on the side of football pitches, hockey pitches and taking them to various clubs. I try and do some sport, running or short tri-athlons, raising money if I can and I enjoy my book club that doesn’t involve a lot of reading! @BowerBailey Local expert legal advice for you, your business and your family • Accident and Injury Compensation • Commercial Property • Divorce and Children Matters • Employment issues • Company and Commercial • House Sales, Purchases, Mortgages • Consumer and Civil Disputes • Wills and Estates Bower&Bailey_TBE_Swindon_59x210mm_Ad_v3.indd 1 Cambridge House, 4 College Court, Regent Circus, Swindon, Wiltshire SN1 1PJ T: 01793 610466 F: 01793 511505 www.bowerandbailey.co.uk 06/11/2015 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019 08:23 33