Race for Life!

Gwyn Pritchard is not FDC Law's only athletic staff-member; Norton Receptionist, Tess Harvey, was one of the 33,000 women who joined  Cancer Research UK's  'Race for Life', successfully completing the Bath 5K on Sunday.

Tess and friends

Tess raised over £100 from sponsors within the office, and is threatening suggesting that we field and entire FDC Law team next year!

We'd like to congratulate Tess, and all the other participants in  the event.

New Kit, and Tournament Success for Flying Fox

Following on from our recent post we are delighted to see that the team from HMS Flying Fox have now received their new training kits.

The  football team recently attended the Royal Naval Reserve football tournament, hosted at HMS Eaglet in Liverpool. 

Hopes were high and the team felt quietly confident as they embarked on their adventure. 

Adorned in their new kit and with their sports jackets showing FDC Law as sponsors they truly looked the part. But would they be able to perform when it counted?

The first game was something of a cagey affair as they battled to a draw against their local rivals HMS Cambria of Cardiff.

However, from then on matters progressed fantastically with HMS Flying Fox taking on an beating all comers! They even managed to beat the favourites and hosts, HMS Eaglet. Benjamin Parry was on fire all tournament and  walked away with the tournament's top scorer award, and our own Gwyn Pritchard, of our Keynsham office managed to notch up a tally of 5 goals all together (two of which, he modestly claims, might be considered as 'a bit of a fluke')

Coming up to the final game all they needed to do was win and their first attempt at the tournament would be a real success with silverware aplenty returning to Bristol. However, it was not to be and although the team threw everything, including a number of kitchen sinks at the opposition they lost their last game.

Despite this disappointment, their earlier success resulted in a very respectable third place overall.

Although the team was a touch disappointed with the final result (being so close to absolute victory) everybody was very pleased with their overall performance and how well they jelled as a team. We here at FDC Law as the team sponsor are very proud of their achievements.

The team are very confident that they will be back next year and will be better than ever ready to once again take on all comers.

Well done to you, HMS Flying Fox and we are confident that the top spot will be yours next year!

Sponsoring the HMS Flying Fox sports teams

We recently announced that we would be sponsoring training kit for the sports teams of HMS Flying Fox.  HMS Flying Fox is a Naval Reserves Unit, based at Ashton in South Bristol. 

Our new Private Client lawyer, Gwyn Pritchard, of FDC Law Keynsham,  himself a Royal Navy Reservist and member of HMS Flying Fox’s football team, told us more about the team’s current plans.

“We are about to embark on a voyage of adventure up to HMS Eaglet in Liverpool to take part in the Naval Reserves football tournament. The football squad is made up of a blend of some young fresh faced recruits and some less fresh faced salty ol’ sea-dogs.” Gwyn declined to comment on which category he feels he falls into, but explained that he will be taking part and is  hoping that his enthusiasm toward playing may in some way make up for any apparent lack of skill on the pitch!.

However, we are informed that there are one or two real Ronaldo and Messi like players amongst their numbers.  The team has been training in their spare time in order to be as match fit as possible. There are high hopes that HMS Flying Fox can bring back some silverware this year although competition will be tough with Naval Reserve units attending from all over the UK.  We understand that HMS Flying Fox hopes also to be playing some high spirited friendly matches against other reserve units from the Army and Air Force in the future.  They are shortly to receive their playing and training kits so they can really look the part both on and off the pitch.

We at FDC would wish all members of the team and indeed the ships’ company all the very best of luck, and are looking forward to seeing them in their new FDC Law sponsored training kit in the near future. 

Milestone for Senior Partner

Several of our news stories recently have related to new faces joining the firm, this one is to celebrate one of our longer serving colleagues; Our senior partner, James Hollis, is celebrating completing 35 years of service with the firm!

James joined what was then Faulkners, in Frome, on 6th May 1980, as a newly qualified solicitor.

James recalls that when he arrived at Argyll House,  he was met with a scene that probably had not altered much for decades.  The secretaries were working on manual typewriters, repeatedly re-typing work as it passed through stages of approval to final forms for signing, and all records were kept on cards maintained by hand.  Everywhere, there were bundles of papers wrapped in red tape.  In a tradition retained  from the days of paper shortage, envelopes were  sliced open to become the next day’s notepads.

Prior to joining the firm, James did his training as an articled clerk  in a small office in the heart of the London legal world, a stone’s throw from Chancery Lane.  Having qualified, James and his fiancée Jane decided to move out of London to the West Country to pursue their respective careers in law and teaching.  Frome seemed ideal.  This was confirmed when, on the very first weekend  after starting work,  James  walked around Frome town centre  and had the pleasure of bumping into clients he had met during the week – something that had NEVER happened in London. Much has changed in Frome and the surrounding area in the past 35 years, but James confirms that he still enjoys meeting with clients and local colleagues, and feeling  that he, and FDC Law,  are both part of the local community. James has also been very involved in the firm's sponsorships, and sponsorship of the Frome Carnival, in particular

James initially worked with long serving senior partner, George Creswick.  George worked for two more years on a part time basis after James joined the firm,  and in that time introduced James to his clients and allowed James to witness first-hand how a solicitor should properly conduct himself or herself, with utmost integrity, always in the best interest of the client, showing care to all staff and gentlemanly respect and good grace to all, including those with whom you may be crossing swords.  James hopes that his practice has reflected these qualities, as well as the legal expertise he learned from George.

James following a recent success at the Nunney Flower Show

It is a platitude to say that so much has changed since then. James himself has developed from being a newly qualified solicitor to becoming the firm’s senior partner, and the firm itself  has grown and developed, now having three offices in Frome, Midsomer Norton and Keynsham, serving much of North Somerset.


James comments that George might  find some  parts of today’s legal world surprising, perhaps even disappointing, but the core values and  principles that for George were second nature are still a vital part of FDC Law’s  daily practice – service to the client, professionalism,  care and understanding,  courtesy and  respect to all. 

James treasures the fact that many relationships with clients and other professionals forged early in his career still remain strong and hopes that this can continue for the years in practice still to come.

FDC Law has old fashioned habits of thrift, but given his long service, we did agree that James could celebrate with the acquisition of a new stapler – even though his current one, given on his first day of work, was still trying to do its job!

Expansion in Keynsham - New Lawyer Joins FDC Law

As a result of the expansion of our office in Keynsham,  made possible by the move to our new premises at 64 High Street, we have been able to expand our Private Client department. 

Gwyn Pritchard, who is an experienced Private Client solicitor has joined us, and will be based at the Keynsham office.

Partner Ben Whelan with Gwyn Pritchard

Gwyn has many yeas of experience dealing with all types of private client work, including Wills and Probate, Estate and Inheritance Tax Planning, Powers of Attorney and Court of Protection work, as well as dealing with Trusts and related issues. 


Like department head, Darrell Collins, he is a member of S.T.E.P (The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) - he explains  "membership requires a lawyer to have undertaken additional training and assessment, and to maintain that expertise through regular additional training. I take my membership very seriously, and am proud to have attained this additional qualification"

Gwyn is available to met with new clients, needing advice or information about all aspects of wills, estate planning, trusts and probate. Call in, or contact him at our Keynsham Office.

Personal Injury Expert Joins FDC Law

We are very happy to announce that John Kilmister has joined FDC Law. John is an experienced Personal Injury solicitor and will be replacing David Gazzard in the Litigation department, and will be based at our Frome office.

John has over 20 years experience as a litigation lawyer,  he has been a member of the Law Society’s Personal Injury Accreditation Scheme  since 2000.  Accreditation as a panel member means  that his expertise in this field  has been verified, and his accomplishment is recognised, by the Law Society.

John  specialises in civil litigation, in particular dealing with  personal injury claims, clinical negligence and professional negligence, and has undertaken a wide variety of claims from road traffic accidents, accidents at work, tripping and slipping, occupier’s liability, product liability, industrial disease  such as asbestos related diseases,  Vibration White Finger , deafness etc.  and travel/holiday accidents.

Head of the Litigation Department Ben Whelan says “We are delighted that John agreed to join the firm. His expertise make him an ideal person for the role.”

John  has a Masters degree in Law,  and as well as dealing with clients he has published a number of articles and regularly presents talks and seminars for other lawyers .

If you have suffered from an injury, accident or believe that you are the victim of clinical negligence, contact John to discuss your options.

Expanding in Keynsham

We are moving into bigger premises in Keynsham to expand the services we offer to the town and the surrounding area. After opening a small office in Keynsham in 2011 we have seen huge demand for our services, and are pleased to announce that we shall be moving into larger and more convenient offices, at 64 High Street, Keynsham.

The new office will be open from 8^th April.  We shall be welcoming new staff member Gwyn Pritchard, to our Private Client department. Gwyn will join Partner Ben Whelan (Head of our Litigation Department) and Conveyancer Jayne Wells who are already based at the Keynsham office.

Marion Fisher of our family department will be in Keynsham each Wednesday morning and appointments can be made if you need advice about divorce or other family issues, at other times if necessary.

Partner Ben Whelan explains “We already offer the full range of our legal services from the Keynsham office, but the new premises will allow us to have more staff here full time, and to provide quicker service and easier access for our local clients”

We shall of course continue to support our local community in Keynsham. Over the past year this has seen us providing sponsorship for Keynsham in Bloom and for the Winter Festival.

Until 8^th April, we can still be found at our current location – 60a High Street, and both before and after the move can be contacted via our website or by e-mail at Keynsham@fdc-law.co.uk