Leading law firm, Humphries Kirk, recently hosted its fourth annual communications day and presented the longest-serving employees with certificates to thank them for their continued loyalty.
Employees from the firm’s Dorchester, Wareham and Swanage offices were recognised for their service; Sandra Hutchins, Vanessa Steadman, Jacqueline Saunders, Anya Hall, and Caroline Dando.
Katharine Jones, senior partner at Humphries Kirk, commented: “We are so proud of the continued excellence service that our employees provide both internally and to our clients. Each of these fantastic ladies have made a real difference to the way in which we work during their time with the firm and we look forward to this continuing.”
Sandra is currently a paralegal in the Wareham office’s Private Client department, where her work involves dealing with administration of estates. On her time with Humphries Kirk she commented: “I first started at our Swanage office at the age of 17, when it was known as Slade and Co., as an office junior and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Vanessa is based in Humphries Kirk’s Dorchester office and works as the personal assistant to Howard Yarnold, Head of the firm’s Land Law department. Commenting on her role, Vanessa added: “There have been many changes in working practices over the years, but ultimately, it’s the people that matter and fortunately as a department we have built friendships, forged positive and reliable partnerships, and are able to depend upon one another. All of these ingredients are essential in what can be a very demanding office environment.”
Jacqueline began working as an office junior at the former Slade and Co. in Swanage during the summer of 1988. As with Sandra’s career progression, Jacqueline is now a paralegal in the Land Law department and the office manager. Jacqueline commented: “I am proud of my career at Humphries Kirk. Things have changed vastly over the past 30 years; when I began, we had carbon paper in our drawers, wrote on typewriters and had one very old, large word processor printer that would shake the table. It’s all very different now!”
Anya has been employed at Humphries Kirk in Wareham, then Neville-Jones and Co., since March 1999 as a secretary dealing with Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney. Anya said: “When the two firms merged, I worked as a paralegal for one of the consultants in the Private Client department doing a variety of different tasks. More recently I have been working with one of the solicitors on the administration of estates which I really enjoy.”
Caroline Dando started her career with the firm in the summer of 1967 when the Swanage office was trading under the name of Slade and West. She was an office junior before being offered a promotion to the position of secretary to John Armstrong. For the last 18 years she has worked as PA and secretary to Robin Rowland. Caroline added: “I have been lucky to work alongside a number of our partners during my time with the firm which has provided me with valuable experience and knowledge.”