Faith Williams Law

A bright and ambitious 8-year-old thought to herself, ‘I want to be a solicitor when I grow up’, and sure enough, Faith Williams climbed the ranks to become a litigator, opening up two very successful law firms in Lincoln and Plymouth. This is the story of Faith’s rocky journey which never stopped her from achieving her goals. We also learnt more about the law firm and why Faith chose Plymouth to set up her second office.

Invested in law from a young age, Faith would be seen watching TV programmes and reading stories from legal cases. She was a particularly hyperactive child therefore, she always liked to be doing something to distract her brain, this meant learning and educating herself on the topic of law. Faith was blessed with her Catholic primary school as everybody was treated as individuals and the teachers would focus on what each student wanted to do.

As a high achiever, Faith got into a good secondary school and maintained A* grades until she discovered boys… At a similar time in her life, Faith was diagnosed with ME, a chronic fatigue syndrome that meant she had to leave school at the age of 14. Whilst struggling to battle this illness, her brother Arran was badly injured in a car incident after they were all walking back from an afternoon of bowling. Her brother was in RESUS for 5 hours and suffered life-changing injuries which halted his career in the circus forever. The family pleaded their case to claim some money from the crash but due to there being no skid marks on the road, the solicitors had no evidence to suggest the driver was speeding. In rage from the result of the case, influenced Faith’s desire to pursue Personal Injury Law and help others defend their case.

A year later and things became a little easier with her ME diagnosis but then she fell pregnant with Olivia making things more complicated for her career. Luckily, Faith had a very supportive mother who said to her, ‘Stay at home with me, have that support and you will still achieve everything you wanted to before Olivia was born.’ With her mother’s aid, Faith went back into school at 16, just 6 months after Olivia was born and achieved the grades to be able to study English, Maths, History and Science at Lincoln College.

Faith Williams

Focused on Olivia but determined to get her qualifications, her mother helped look after Olivia so that she could study for a law degree at the University of Lincoln at the age of 21. Her mother helped fund her postgraduate diploma (LPC) so she then went on to study at the College of Law York for 1 year.

In a bid to help her mother out and earn some money, Faith took on a temporary job as a receptionist at a law firm in Lincoln and after just 5 days at this job, she showed her interest in the legal industry and was offered the role as Administrative Assistant for the conveyancing team. 3 years later she worked up to Technical Manager at the age of 27. Through the same law firm, Faith completed a 2-year training course and by the age of 30, she qualified as a solicitor. She then worked for various other firms across the county and Yorkshire until 2014 when she suddenly fell out of love with law.

Lost and confused, Faith escaped to the sea where her relatives lived and sat on the beach nearly every day for three months to clear her head. She came to the realisation that it wasn’t law that she fell out of love with, it was the legal industry that she disagreed with. The legal industry can be incredibly money driven with less care given to the individual client and their needs. Faith always enjoyed giving a personable response to her clients and never wanted to give that up.

After three months of headspace, Faith worked in a law firm in London where she could work from home. She connected very well with her boss at the time and they spoke openly about her emerging thoughts on starting up her own law firm in Lincoln. Her boss gave her brilliant advice and tips for starting out and when the time was right, he allowed Faith to take the case she was working on with her to her new business.

Plymouth office

After investing everything she had, she was left with £5 in her bank, one office and one case which made things particularly scary for her. Faith ventured off on her own with the ambition to grow it into a very successful law firm. Luckily, she was never on her own, she had full support from her family, her previous boss as well as lots of other local law firms and the local press to help get her name out.

1 year later and she was already able to move into a larger office a few streets away. The new premise used to be a bathroom shop which resulted in Faith ripping out tiles and turning it into a conventional office space all by herself to save money. Year 7 into the business and the Lincoln office is thriving.

You may be asking yourself, what about Plymouth? 1 year ago, Faith was thinking about opening a new office along the south coast. Lots of her family are living along the south coast from Portsmouth to Exeter which meant she spent lots of childhood holidays in Devon and Dorset. Faith picked up a few clients in Plymouth from word of mouth and it just so happened that Olivia was thinking of moving to Plymouth with her boyfriend at the time.

Faith Williams Law’s ethos is all about making the process as relaxing and stress-free as possible and to Faith, the ocean and animals are the ultimate stress reliever. You may have noticed in their logo, that they have incorporated a dolphin within a wave for the ‘A’ and as soon as Faith saw that the Dolphin Building in Queen Anne’s Battery was available to rent, it all seemed to fit perfectly.

The first few months after opening the Plymouth office felt like starting from scratch again to Faith but it is gradually picking up through word of mouth.

Faith is very flexible with her work; herself and her team are able to practice the same cases in the Lincoln office and the Plymouth office or they can work remotely. If Faith isn’t in the office, you will always be greeted with a smile by their receptionist who is happy to help you.

Faith says, ‘It’s like being in Spain here. I love watching the boats whilst having my morning coffee.’

Plymouth office with sea view

Due to the location of the office in Plymouth, they focus on private clients whereas their larger office in Lincoln can cover a more varied array of clients.

Faith Williams Law offers all types of legal services apart from criminal law and employment law, however, with a new solicitor, they may be able to begin practising employment law. Faith is a qualified Litigator and specialises in Conveyancing as well as Family Law, Civil Dispute Resolution, Negligence Cases, and Wills and Codicils.

There is no doubt that Faith is a hard worker to have been through so much and to still be where she is now. She has since cut her hours down from working 7 days a week and barely any holidays to a more regular 5 days a week with weekends off. With both offices growing, she is happy to distribute the workload and eventually grow the team so that she can step back to be able to enjoy her free time.

The approachability of the firm is something they are proud of and was felt when Myles, the Managing Director and I walked in. They love to be seen as a friendly team of people who truly care about every individual client and what they can do to help them, even if that means just having a chat if they’re feeling a bit lonely. Faith tells us that none of the team are on targets and that is because it’s always about the quality of service rather than the number of clients.

Everybody is entitled to a free consultation where they can receive initial advice without the pressure of a time limit. If they feel that their clients would be better off financially by dealing with it themselves then they will give them the information needed to pursue the issue, and if it’s a complex case, they will then take it to the next step. They are always fair and honest with their clients and do their best to instruct them through the whole process.

The most rewarding case that Faith has won was a battle between the dog rescue centre and the owner of the dogs. Faith felt very dedicated to this case as an animal lover and dog owner herself and she knew that if the rescue dogs went back to their owner then the dogs would be in danger. It was a very complex case but Faith managed to win the battle and save the dogs.

Dogs are welcome in both of her offices if the client needs some comfort and therapy. Faith often brings her Chow Chow into the office from time to time. Her passion for dogs doesn’t stop there as she has charity pots for Guide Dogs for the Blind in both of her offices.

Reception

In 5 years, Faith would love to see both offices thriving and be able to expand the team to keep up with the workload but she still wants to maintain the close-knit, family atmosphere that is currently present in the offices.

Her fees for Litigation are £240p/hr which will remain stable for at least 3-4 years giving her clients peace of mind that they won’t rise with inflation.

Faith’s life hasn’t been smooth sailing but after all of the hardship, she has achieved her childhood dream and brought it to new heights that she never thought possible. With the loving support of her mother by her side and everybody who supported her journey in starting a new law firm, she has been able to make her 8-year-old self very proud.

www.faithwilliamslaw.com
Call them on: 01752 749473
Send Faith an email: faith@faithwilliamslaw.com