The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 45: Oct/Nov 2019 | Page 22

LEGAL 10 Minutes with family lawyer Katie Went Katie Went is a Partner in the family law team at bower bailey Solicitors’ Swindon office. She has extensive experience in dealing with all aspects of family law with a particular emphasis on resolving finances in the breakdown of relationships. We met Katie to find out more about her career journey, how she helps individuals and families, and why she can be found freewheeling around Wiltshire. How long have you been a lawyer? Having qualified as a solicitor in 1996, I am now a ‘lifer’ having practiced law for over 20 years, most of which has been at bower bailey. I specialise in all aspects of family breakdown, with an emphasis on the financial consequences. I am Bristolian born and bred although I have lived in Swindon for all my working life. I fell into law having realised that my chosen career of accountancy was probably not for me. I qualified with a degree which gave me some exemptions from having to do further law study and sat my Law Society finals in 1993. I carried out my training in a firm with a sink or swim approach which served me well as I gained a wealth of experience at all levels. After joining bower bailey in 1998 I was made a partner in 2001. How do you help families? My main strength is being able to see the crux of the issues from the outset and finding solutions and settlements to the same. Much if not most of my work comes from recommendation. I am also a matrimonial property specialist which means that clients do not have to deal with another lawyer for this aspect of their case. Many find this helpful particularly given the emotional and stressful nature of relationship breakdown. Have things changed much since you started practicing family law? My role has changed very little over the years. At its most basic, dealing with relationship breakdown is navigating the emotional nature of people’s situations. I pride myself on doing that by providing practical, sensible and cost-effective advice. I enjoy helping people sort out the sticky situation of separation and it is nice seeing people who at the start of the process are sometimes in a bad place but are different individuals at the end. What do you enjoy out of the office? Outside of work I am a failed half marathon runner (knee injuries) but a lover of cycling; I have competed many challenges, not least a ride from London to Paris and the Devon coast to coast with my family. It is true what they say Lycra is a cruel mistress! After work I transform into a Stepford wife, I cook supper, help my teenage son with homework, wash, iron and embroider. Anyone who knows me is now laughing their head off. Actually, in the winter I am usually found watching TV and in the summer I am out freewheeling around Wiltshire and Gloucestershire on my bike. Katie can be contacted via email or by telephone: [email protected] 01793 610466 @BowerBailey Local expert legal advice for you, your business and your family • Accident and Injury Compensation • Divorce and Children Matters • Employment issues • Commercial Property • Company and Commercial • House Sales, Purchases, Mortgages • Consumer and Civil Disputes • Wills and Estates 22 Bower&Bailey_TBE_Swindon_59x210mm_Ad_v3.indd www.tbeswindonandwilts.co.uk 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 08:23