We are delighted to announce that our Head of Family, Rachael Cole, has joined the partnership as of the 1st of July 2023.
Rachael has been a valued member of the Shentons Team since she joined as a Legal Assistant 15 years ago, completing her training contract and LPC simultaneously and qualifying as a solicitor in 2012.
Rachael has worked with vulnerable clients throughout most of her career, which started in family and housing legal aid. This opened her eyes to the complex issues that people face; be those issues with mental health, addiction or poverty.
She became a key member of the Family Team in 2015, running a fast paced, varied case load. Rachael advises on all aspects of Family Law including complex high net worth divorce, high conflict domestic abuse matters, private children cases and those involving care proceedings. She says “Working in family law is tough. We are exposed to the unimaginable traumas our clients have been through and as well as being lawyers, we are often the first confidant and shoulder to cry on. No day is the same; we often receive notice of hearings very last minute and it’s all systems go to get everything organised. It is rewarding being able to empower clients to escape unhappy and often unsafe situations, giving them hope for the future.”
Our Family Department does both private and legal aid work, allowing Rachael and her team to have wide reaching experience and provide the best possible service to every client that we have.
Rachael credits the pandemic with both the highest and lowest points of her career. Everything changed overnight; with a broken court system, large delays and the introduction of new digital systems, it became more difficult for the team to navigate and guide clients through the landscape. These challenges, however, also came with opportunity, Rachael stepped in to successfully lead our Family Department, training the junior members of the team and dealing with the influx of Domestic and Child Abuse cases that the pandemic brought to light. She says “Together with my team, we kept everything afloat, some other areas of work ceased but the need for protective measures was more vital than ever.”
Rachael joins the many lawyers past and present who have trained, qualified and become partners of the firm, she has worked extremely hard to get where she is today and we are thrilled that she has accepted our invitation to join the partnership. At Shentons we pride ourselves on helping our staff develop and progress in their careers in the way that is right for them and we look forward to drawing on Rachael’s experience and advice in the partnership.
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