Welcome to the first edition of Lawtalk 2022. This is a special edition celebrating Wessex Justice Week.

We wanted to celebrate our work here in achieving justice for our clients in all manner of different forms.

Whether we are securing protection for a victim of domestic abuse, representing vulnerable people being accused of a crime or assisting someone to make their Will in difficult circumstances; upholding people’s rights and the freedom to make their own choices is an integral part of a lawyer’s job.

In this edition you will read about some of our clients and the difficult situations in which they find themselves. Often they are facing one of the lowest points of their life; bereavement, divorce or even incarceration, and the legal side that goes along with it can be extremely distressing and difficult for them. Our job is to guide them through that process with compassion and try to achieve an outcome that is fair and right; in other words to achieve ‘justice’ for them.

We hope the articles here will show how these principles operate in everyday life for everyday people. Real Justice of course relies on everyone being able to have access to it. It cannot be a fair system if you are able to secure legal advice when you have money but not if your finances are lacking. As a firm Shentons has always supported and undertaken legal aid work. Over the last 20 years there has been a huge decline in the number of firms undertaking legal aid work due to the lack of fees.

It has remained a vital part of the ethos of this firm that there is no justice without access to justice.