Leamington lawyer celebrates 30 years with firm which held cake sale to raise funds for cancer cause

Paul England of Blythe Liggins in Leamington.

“I can’t remember a year like it” said Paul England who joined the Rugby Road firm in 1990.

“We have never been busier and are seeing a huge surge in the number of people wanting to write wills or update their existing ones.

“Coronavirus has brought us some completely new challenges. Wills have to be witnessed by two people present at the same time and this can be tricky at a time of social distancing. We had clients and witnesses signing wills on a car bonnet in our office car park or sitting on a bench that we have provided!”

Judging the bake-a-cake competition: head of family law Andrew Brooks with family lawyers Louise Sheasby (left) and Sophia Mellor.

Senior partner Richard Thornton, who has worked with Paul since he started at the firm said: “Paul is a real asset to Blythe Liggins. He is a first-class wills and probate lawyer with tremendous experience and knowledge but he is also very approachable and kind. He is very well liked by both his clients and his colleagues here at Edmund House.”

Paul has also organised the firm’s participation in the Two Castles run since Blythe Liggins first sponsored the event in 2006. Each year he gathers a large number of runners connected with the firm to join the Blythe Liggins team, including his two elder children Ryan and Zoe.

He is a very keen sportsman who cycles to work, takes part in local wolf runs and has completed the London and Birmingham marathons. In his youth, he swam for Leamington Amateur Swimming Club as far afield as Germany and France. He currently helps coach a junior football team in Leamington, in which both of his younger sons have played.

He also has an encyclopaedic knowledge of his beloved Coventry City Football Club, which he has followed both home and away since the days of Joe Mercer when he was first taken to Highfield Road by his grandfather.

Blythe Liggins entered into the spirit of Wear It Pink day last week (Friday October 23) to raise money for breast cancer care and research.

The Rugby Road solicitors ran a cake-baking competition and held games and quizzes to mark the day - Friday, October 23 - part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which has raised more than £33 million over the last 17 years.

Family lawyer Sophia Mellor, who organised the event with colleague Louise Sheasby, said: “It was a bit trickier this year as we had to socially distance, but everyone rose to the occasion and played their part.”