Curtis Whiteford Crocker solicitors have merged with one of Tavistock’s longest established firms, Ann Pointer Solicitors.
All five members of staff at Ann Pointer will make the transition to CWC and move into their offices in Ridge Grove, Russell Street, in the market town on the edge of Dartmoor.
CWC office manager Michelle Handley says the only difference clients of Ann Pointer will notice is the new location and a change of letterhead.
“Ann Pointer’s clients will receive the same excellent standard of service and they will enjoy continuity of care as the team joins CWC in our offices in Tavistock. We’re really excited about the expansion and looking forward to welcoming new clients,” she says.
Ann Pointer qualified as a solicitor in 1980 and started practising in Tavistock in 1988. She set up her own firm in Lydford in 1993 before relocating back to Tavistock in 2006. Joining her in the move to CWC are colleagues Lesley Dingle, Sue Jones, Sally Rumsey and Hannah Lamb.
Ann says a lot has changed for solicitors since she started work 25 years ago. She’s seen the introduction of the electric typewriter, typewriters with daisy wheels and then computers, dictation machines have got smaller and documents are now produced and stored electronically.
“Everything is done online now,” says Ann. “When everything was done on paper you couldn’t get through as much work. But we still are keen to meet clients and deal with people in person. That’s how we work and how we will continue to work. Over my career I have dealt with grandparents, mother and father and children; and I’ve done conveyancing on the same houses several times. I’ll get a big bundle of deeds and see my signature from 15 years earlier and see that it’s changed quite a bit!”
Ann says she and her team have been made very welcome at CWC. Michelle Handley says Curtis Whiteford Crocker is committed to Tavistock and growing the Tavistock office, creating more jobs and broadening their approach. Curtis Whiteford Crocker can trace its origins back over two centuries and this merger brings the total number of staff to 53 in offices in Plymouth, Torpoint and Tavistock.
“Five years ago we only had 18 staff,” says Michelle. “This is really good news – we’re here to stay and doing the work people need.”
“We can offer a wider spectrum of services and cover a bigger area. We already have a lot of clients in areas like Okehampton because we have specialists in agricultural matters. Ann has a really local client base in Tavistock and the surrounding areas, providing conveyancing and wills and probate services. The merger will mean her clients have access to a wider range of services,” she says.
Ann is reassuring clients that they will still see one familiar face who is popular with all her clients – Gossip, her six-and-a-half-year-old “legal beagle” who will still accompany her to the office.