We live in unprecedented times. So says every email since March 2020. No one saw the pandemic coming or expected it to change the fabric of our day to day lives, interactions, friendships, shopping…and work.

The dust seems to be settling and we are tentatively moving forward. Shops are reopening, people can eat outside and those of you with hair can now get your lockdown cuts fixed.

Things are looking up.

That’s certainly the view from where we sit at southgate solicitors celebrating our four-year birthday. Though truth be told things never really looked down. Difficult? Yes. ‘Unprecedented’? Certainly. Inconvenient? No question.

While some firms may have found the transition from the office to home working to be a difficult and unwanted change, we have always seen the two as mutually compatible ways of working.

It didn’t take a pandemic to make us realise the benefits of allowing staff to work from home (or anywhere else).

Whether they’re in the office or trying to get the glare out of their screens from sitting in the garden, they are given all the facilities to work effectively from anywhere and we trust our people to get the job done.

Our new offices are still here, being used responsibly for those who want a change from working from home and it also allows us to make up for lost face time and camaraderie with our colleagues.

Shortly before the pandemic we recruited another finance solicitor (Chloë Rodway) who has also spearheaded the establishment of our Wills department.

Our Sonia Rola was recently promoted to senior associate solicitor and has helped expand our services into ADR with our mediation department.

By the end of 2020 we were able to further expand with another care solicitor (Ceylan Kahya) and our first paralegal (Lucy Frain) to support the team at the end of 2020, and they have both become integral members of the team.

Four years can certainly teach you a lot, however this past year has taught us more than we could have imagined, and certainly reinforced a lot of our firm’s vision for our team and our clients.

Watch this space for our belated office launch party which we hope comes sooner than our five-year birthday.

If you would like more information or advice about the issues raised in this article, or any aspect of family law please contact our expert legal team on 02080040065, by email at hello@southgate.co.uk or using the form below.

The contents of this article are general information only. The information in this article is not legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should obtain independent expert advice from qualified solicitors such as those within our firm.