As he retires from legal practice after four successful decades, one of Yorkshire’s leading family lawyers, Stephen Root, reflects on a distinguished career, the value of collaboration and the advice he’d give to anyone in the profession.

The day I walked into the Harrogate offices of J. Peter Myers and Co. I was greeted by what was, by the standards of the mid 1980’s, the height of modernity. Amidst the then-familiar manual models sat not one but two electronic typewriters, their space age chic let down only by the fact that, wherever an error was made, it required the use of either Tipp-Ex or a complete rewrite.

Much has changed since then but, while the clatter of typewriters may now be a thing of the past, many of the lessons I learnt early on in my career have remained with me over the past 40 years.

All clients great and small

As was the norm, I started off with a wide remit, covering most non-contentious work. On any one day I could be drafting a Will, reviewing a commercial lease or drafting a partnership agreement. Conveyancing was a big part of those early days, too. A typical Friday could involve a dozen completions, something that usually meant meeting the solicitor on the other side, one of you handing over a client account cheque and the other the deeds – there was a lot of trust and when telegraphic transfers became the norm several older conveyancers were very put out.

Within two to three years my repertoire had grown to include family work, licensing, debt collection and civil litigation, much of which was drawn from the firm’s farming connections. A never-ending source of interesting cases, I became a (temporary) expert on topics such as pig rearing, haymaking, turkey farming and the construction of farm buildings. I also met some wonderful people – I can remember one farmer providing me with an enormous lunch with several homemade pies and another made my Christmas cakes for a number of years.

Becoming Berwins

One thing I have learnt though is that change is constant and, in 2002 that came in the shape of a conversation with Paul Berwin. The outcome was that, within about four months our two firms had merged. It was definitely a case of the sum being bigger than the parts and, inevitably another technological leap forwards – Berwins had word processors.

While I continued to complete a wide variety of legal work, I began to drop areas and, within a few years I was concentrating on family and contentious probate work. I had found my niche.

Focusing on Family

Originally, family work was a Cinderella area of work for the firm, but I was determined to make it grow. Professional experience showed me that working together was often the key to finding a resolution, so when collaborative practice emerged as a way of working, I jumped at the opportunity to qualify as a collaborative lawyer, giving me the impetus to get heavily involved in the collaborative scene.

Since then, the Family team has gone from strength to strength and is now capably led by Danielle Day. I’m proud of the fact that we are highly rated in the legal directories and have an excellent reputation across the region. All our lawyers are collaboratively trained. The team is left in the best hands.

Being a people person

As I look at the profession today, it all seems a far cry from the one I joined back in 1983. The growth in technology has been a great boon and made us all more efficient – everything is much quicker today – but at the heart of it, people remain.

I’m often asked by young(er) lawyers the secrets of a successful career. The thing I always come back to is people. Whether clients, colleagues or contacts, strong relationships with those we work with are what allow lawyers to put those things we learn at law school into practice in such a way that they make a genuine difference.

That, and a piece of advice I was given early in my own career – pick your business partners carefully as trust and respect are essential. That has been given and received and, almost without exception, I have been lucky with the people I have been in business with.

40 years on, there’s little I’d want to white out with Tipp-Ex or ask to be re-written.