Nub News aims to be supportive to EVERY element of the community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and is desperate to get back to normal.

We have been profiling local businesses and groups regularly over the past weeks and calling this feature called UP CLOSE.

This week we have been talking to our Nub News sponsor Thatcher + Hallam and the Managing Partner there Will Weller about what makes the legal firm unique, what he would have done if he hadn't gone into law - and why you shouldn't take advice from that bloke in the pub.

Will - firstly on the Thatcher + Hallam web site the company is described as 'A firm fit for the 21st century, innovative and progressive, but never losing our identity as being a strong part of the local community.'

What does that mean to you?

Since I qualified as a solicitor, the legal landscape and what the public now expects from their lawyers has changed completely. On the technical front, as a leading law practice we have to be right on top of our game. Our earlier investment in state of the art technology really paid off on the arrival of the pandemic. Precisely because we had already invested in the best IT and telecommunications available, all of us were able to work just as efficiently from home as we were in the office. We have also changed the way that we now 'speak' to both our clients and the wider community, investing extensively in digital communication. In the New Year we will be announcing further innovations that we shall be making on the digital communications front. We may well be seen by many locally as solicitors leading the way forward in the 21st century, with the best technology, innovative ideas and great client care, but being part of that community is key to our past, our present and of course our future.

Thatcher + Hallam and the community - explain a little of your involvement in that community?

As many of you readers will already know, as a firm we have always been keen supporters of local sport, backing sports clubs in places from Paulton to Midsomer Norton and from Frome to Chilcompton. We are also extremely proud to sponsor both the Radstock Museum and the Somerset Farmers' Markets. There are also other organisations and events that we have supported over many years. However, perhaps one of the most prominent examples of how we are involved in the community is our free Legal Surgery. We started our surgery 35 years ago, during which time we have given advice to more than 12,000 clients. All of our lawyers are committed to the legal surgery, particularly as legal aid has now ceased to become available for most people. It is no good talking the talk about how great our legal system is if fewer people can afford to use it. We help provide at least some access to skilled legal advice.

We had to suspend our weekly Thursday surgery earlier this year because of the pandemic, but we immediately ensured that through our innovative Virtual Legal Surgery, local people were still able to speak to a lawyer. The Virtual Legal Surgery has and remains an extremely successful free service to the community.

Why is it important to be involved?

This year has been one that no one is likely to forget. However, for us as a firm it is also a very special year, as 2020 is our 250th birthday celebration (although the actual celebrations themselves have had to be put on hold). The reason why we as a firm have survived and prospered over two and a half centuries is because we have never forgotten that we are reliant on the local community choosing to instruct us as their solicitors.

As lawyers we work and live in the local community. It is vital to become involved in the community because we are all part of that community. If a local business does not support the town and its people, then why should that business expect the townspeople to knock on their door giving them their work?

Have you detected a change in the time you have been partner (1993) in the way clients approach legal work?

Absolutely. Clients now expect quotes and costs estimates as appropriate and want to be kept well informed on what is happening to their case. This is absolutely right. If I was hiring a plumber that is exactly what I would want. There is also now a shift back to personal and local specialist services. In my own field of Personal Injury for example, there was a time when in response to blanket advertising, clients were choosing to instruct the big warehouse style claim farmers to pursue their claim. Now, clients want someone local that they can actually speak to (or even have visit them at home or in hospital) and not someone anonymous in a call centre in Yorkshire. Since the pandemic arrived, we are also now detecting a move from businesses now instructing ourselves rather than travel to see someone in a regional centre or even London. Perhaps it is now more of a global trend that business wants to instruct local solicitors with both local knowledge as well as the expert legal skills.

If someone is hesitating about asking for legal help what would you say to them?

To be blunt, speak to us. In my specialism of Personal Injury, the first interview is always free. We can then explain how the No Win No Fee system works. On all the other areas of legal services that we provide, then anyone can today contact our Virtual Legal Surgery (visit our website at www.th-law.co.uk) or call us on 01761 414646). The service is free. Anyone not sure whether they have a case or not can then speak to one of our specialist lawyers. Definitely ignore what the man down the pub has to say (at least when it is now open). Until you have taken expert advice you are never going to know whether you have a good case or not.

Tell our readers one of the things about yourself and your work that they probably do not know

One of the things that perhaps is especially unusual about Thatcher + Hallam is our relationship with other law firms and professionals. For other solicitors that may not be specialist claimant lawyers themselves, it is a huge compliment that many of them choose to refer on their own clients to ourselves to take on the case. It is not only other solicitors that we have work referred from, but also barristers and doctors. We have even acted for judges and members of their family. I am extremely proud of the reputation that we have managed to build. I believe that it is all down to trust. Trust in the knowledge that we are going to do an excellent job and for solicitors that send us their own clients, absolute trust that we will in turn refer the client back to their 'own' solicitors once we have dealt with their client's specific Personal Injury claim.

On a personal level you have a particular specialism in rail and marine disasters as well as catastrophic injuries. Are there any cases of which you are personally proud on how they were handled?

Yes, I have worked on several high profile national maritime and rail disasters. I became involved as unfortunately local people were involved and injured in these events. I have built up a particular expertise in catastrophic and complex high value injury claims involving tetraplegic, paraplegic, spinal and brain injuries. However, to me, every case is special to the client and that is exactly how I treat every client regardless of their injury.

If you had not decided to become a solicitor what would you have been?

I would have become a history teacher! I come from a teaching family and that would have been the natural course for me to take. I feel very passionately about all children having an equal opportunity in education. Too many children are 'written off' at an early age. In a turn of fate my own son James is now a trainee solicitor at the firm, so it may well be that the old family background of teaching is changing to that of the law.

What is the best part of your job as a Personal Injury lawyer?

Have no illusions, the job is very adversarial and attritional. You are not working for a common purpose with the other side, but instead working against an opponent, fighting for the best result for your client. If a client's life has been shattered by an accident, it is not only important that we win the case (we have an extremely high 'win' threshold) but also that the client gets the compensation to which they both deserve and are legally entitled. However, perhaps the best part of the job for me is actually working alongside the client, treating them with kindness and care and compassion through the whole case, helping them to get to an end result so that they can then start to piece back and get on with their lives again. That is why I enjoy the job so much. Of course winning the claim and getting financial compensation for the client is important. I enjoy that part. However, it is also all about people. Today I would not want to swap my job for anything, even being a history teacher!