Rosie Bracher Solicitors is celebrating 20 years since opening its doors. Since 2005, the specialist family law firm has grown from two members of staff to an 18-strong team, earned numerous awards and opened a second location in Okehampton.
We talked to owner and founder, Rosie Bracher, about the firm’s beginnings, its milestones along the way and what the future holds.
What inspired you to start your own firm 20 years ago?
At the time, I had been in a firm for 10 years and I just felt that I was banging my head against a brick wall in terms of trying to effect change and modernise the practice.
North Devon, at the time, was really quite parochial. When I started to look around at other firms, I found them very male top heavy.
There was that feeling of “what idiot would set up a new law firm with a 14-month-old baby when they'd been talking about dismantling legal aid for the last ten years” and it turned out that idiot was me.
It was daunting but I thought, “I can do this. I know I can do this. I understand the figures, I've got a really good business head on me. Why not just go it alone?”
As the only family legal aid provider in North Devon, why was this important to you to maintain as the firm grew?
For me, going into law was about welfare, social commitment, and doing good in the world. legal aid was vital to restoring the community and ensuring people have equal access to the law.
It’s important that we are a society that looks after the most vulnerable and for me, legal aid is the bedrock of that. It might not be perfect, but the fundamental principle of the right to access to the law for every human being is, to me, just absolutely pivotal.
Do you have any particular moments or achievements that stand out from the last 20 years?
Winning the national Law Society Award for Client Service in 2010. It was an incredible moment. I hadn't actually known that my colleagues were applying for it too. There were only five or six of us in the firm at the time, so to win - it was quite incredible.
It's certainly put us on the map in terms of “here's a small firm doing great stuff,” and now, all of the things that I worked for that were considered completely innovative, are now mainstream.
Can you give us an example of this?
I did a huge amount of research into learning disabilities, and as a lawyer, I've always had a very holistic approach to my work.
I remember when I asked to assess clients for their support needs or for guardians, the courts, local authority solicitors would look at me as if I was crazy. I was one of the first solicitors to start bringing in intermediaries, and that's now the standard.
Every bit of training in the firm was and is around the family law agenda, around supporting family law clients, around supporting people with learning disabilities.
With a growing team, a new location and numerous awards, what’s next for the firm?
When I started the firm, I was thinking of succession. Finding Ramin [Shamsolahi] was critical and this was a really pivotal moment for the firm.
My strategy was to find somebody who was as good as, if not better than, me and he is. He's an amazing lawyer and has a business head on him. We've got a good mix of skills and that's what works.
We'll want to open more offices if the opportunity arises, I strongly believe that clients in rural locations are entitled to have city quality lawyers. It's also important that we are seen as a responsible employer and encourage young people to stay within North Devon by showing them that there are good employment prospects for them.
Is there anything you would like to share with those who have supported you and the firm over the last two decades?
I love the fact that we've gone from Rosie Bracher to a firm that people know. Ramin and I - and everybody - we've built that reputation by our joint effort over the last 20 years.
My team is absolutely the bedrock of the firm, every one of them. I'm really proud of their development, we support them, but they give back massively. Everybody's got everybody's back and for that I'm immensely proud. We're a business, I know, but, fundamentally, I think we are a family too.
And I love the fact that we're serving our local community. That we're giving them a legal aid service and we can still offer it face to face. For some of our clients [this] is still important.
Lastly, I think about the journey. Taking on that building - spending far too much money doing it up - and then the new premises where I was absolutely over the moon that there was already a big board at the front and I could just whack my name up… it does make me smile. I think about my dad and how proud he would have been.
I have a nephew, bless him, who says to me how it makes him smile to come into Barnstaple and see his name, or our name, above that door and how it makes him really proud.
I didn't do it for that reason at all, but when he says that… sometimes it takes somebody like him to say something like that for me to realise what I've done.
Congratulations, Rosie Bracher and the team, on 20 years since opening!
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