News
2nd May 2024
Gilbert Stephens Solicitors offer new & improved client options with the development of their East Devon Legal Hub.
Gilbert Stephens is determined to keep its high street offices in Budleigh and Sidmouth open as usual, but at the same time they want to offer better client facilities. So, they’ve taken the bold step of combining their back office operations from 3 of their offices – Budleigh, Sidmouth & Ottery and created a new East Devon Legal Hub on the Finnimore Trading Estate, Ottery St Mary.
The move to the new location is part of a wider strategy by Gilbert Stephens to improve its customer service and make it easier for clients to access services. The new East Devon Legal Hub is larger, with plenty of parking. It is more modern, has superior facilities for clients, including disabled access and amenities, a larger waiting area, better conference rooms, and cake, lots of cake!
Our high street offices in Budleigh and Sidmouth remain open as usual though because Gilbert Stephens is determined to remain available and easily accessible on the high street for those clients who don’t drive, or who like to just pop in to sign documents, have local meetings on the doorstep, or for those clients who simply want to stop and chat.
Vicky Thompson, the CEO at Gilbert Stephens said: “Our clients were asking for two things from Gilbert Stephens, to remain accessible on the high street, but also for better overall facilities and most importantly, they were asking for easy parking. Our love for the local communities within which we work drove a renewed approach to strategy. We could see that by giving the clients what they wanted we could at the same time provide better and improved facilities for our own staff. Our renewed commitment to ‘people’ both inside and outside our organisation allowed Gilbert Stephens to reaffirm its traditional foundations and move forward with renewed innovation and pride.”
She went on to say,
”We understand that choosing a lawyer can be a daunting task, and we wanted to find a way to make it as easy as possible. We are thoroughly committed to providing clients with the highest quality legal services, and we were looking for new ways to improve our services, we believe the East Devon Legal Hub does just that. We are extremely proud to be a part of the East Devon community and to offer our services in this new convenient and innovative way. We would like to thank all our clients and the local community for supporting us and we look forward to sharing this new journey with you all and to welcoming you to the East Devon Legal Hub, even if it’s just for a cuppa and slice of cake!”
Our legal hub brings together a full spectrum of bespoke legal services, with a team of experienced lawyers who are passionate about helping their clients achieve their goals. Whether you’re an individual, a business, or a charity, Gilbert Stephens can provide the legal advice and support the community needs. Legal services include: Property, Commercial Property, Wills & Probate, Agriculture, Family, Civil litigation, Personal Injury, and Employment law.
3rd April 2024
Last Thursday, we also celebrated a remarkable milestone as we bid farewell to Julia Powell, who is retiring after 18 years at Gilbert Stephens, starting at our Exeter office and later journeying with us to Budleigh.
Throughout her time here, Julia has been the welcoming, friendly face at the heart of our offices. Over the years, Julia has shown kindness, willingness, and dedication in every interaction. Her commitment to ensuring our clients and colleagues feel valued and supported has left a lasting mark on our workplace culture.
As Julia embarks on this new chapter, we want to express our appreciation for the years of wonderful service. Julia will be immensely missed by all!
3rd April 2024
Last week, we wished Ian Penny farewell as he left Gilbert Stephens to enjoy his very well-deserved retirement!
For over 50 years, Ian has been an integral part of the Veitch Penny team and continued to be after we merged. Ian brought not only expertise and professionalism but also a warmth of character that has endeared him to colleagues and clients alike.
Ian will be truly missed at Gilbert Stephens, but we wish him all the best for his very well-earned retirement!
15th March 2024
This year, we were honoured to be able to sponsor Women in Property South West’s International Women’s Day Panel Discussion 2024 in Bristol.
Antonia D’Alessio, Sarah Heath, Emma Webb and Tracie Bowden from our Conveyancing Department all attended the day to hear from a panel of inspiring women, talking about their journey, success and motivations in the industry. Chaired by Maddie Difazio-Wright, the panel consisted of: Morwenna Hall, Priya Aggarwal-Shah, Pooja Agrawal, Laura C Aiken and Olaide Oboh who shared their personal experiences and spoke about inclusivity and diversity in the industry.
A very big thank you to Women in Property South West and the Bristol Property Agents Association (BPAA) for organising such an insightful day!
4th March 2024
We are delighted to be able to share that Antonia, Partner in our Residential Conveyancing Department, is now the Branch Chair of Women in Property for Devon and Cornwall!
This is an incredible achievement for Antonia who says “I am very much looking forward to taking the reigns and leading such a great team. There are so many opportunities in Devon and Cornwall and it’s fantastic to see so many empowered women come together to share ideas, inspiration and opinions.”
Women In Property is about creating opportunities and expanding knowledge for women working in property and construction.
Click here to read more: https://lnkd.in/ehR4iB9B
21st February 2024
Last week, we hosted our first ever ‘Wellbeing Week’, raising an incredible total of £460 for Childrens Hospice South West. This brings our total to date, to £880!
To kickstart the week, we had a Valentines themed bake off, where all offices participated in baking some delicious cakes for everyone to buy on Monday! Thank you to Henrietta at CHSW for coming to crown the winners. Claire Gubb won with her delicious white chocolate and raspberry cake, Ava Hill with her red velvet cake-sicles and Debbi Egan with a gorgeous heart shaped Victoria sponge.
On the Wednesday, Claire Strickland (former yoga instructor), kindly offered to host a lunchtime yoga session where we did 45 minutes of stretching and breathing exercises, leaving us all feeling energised and ready for the afternoon ahead!
Thursday’s activity was a lunchtime quiz – a battle between all offices! After 5 rounds of general knowledge, love, guess the lyrics and more, scores were totalled and ‘Team Hubbers’ (East Devon Private Client Team) and ‘Team Okehampton’ claimed victory!
Finally, on Friday we hosted an afternoon tea at our Financial Services office, where we had delicious scones, tea and fizz! As always, the order in which you should put cream and jam caused a divide in the room. However, the ‘cream first’ team outnumbered the ‘jam first’ crew!
We would like to extend our immense gratitude to Antonia and Laura for organising the week and for everyone who continued to donate along the way. We are all feeling incredibly fortunate to be able to continue to give our support to Childrens Hospice South West, who are such an inspiring Charity.
19th February 2024
It was great to see Sidmouth Mens 1st XV take the win in an exciting match against Chard this weekend.
Despite the wet weather, spirits were high and after Sidmouth scored their first try in the first 15 minutes, the game was very much on their side, leading to an incredible 29-0 win!
Ava Hill, Marketing Assistant, went along to show her support and said ‘Despite not knowing an awful lot about rugby, it is clear that Sidmouth have a very strong team, making it a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch!’.
Thank you very much to Sidmouth Rugby Club for inviting us along!
13th February 2024
Wellbeing week 2024
Love is in the air and so are the sweet smells of our Valentines Bake Off in the kitchen!
To kick start our Wellbeing Week, in aid of Children’s Hospice South West, we started the week with a Valentines themed bake off!
A huge thank you to everyone who participated. We have some very talented bakers amongst the team, making it a tough decision for Henrietta at CHSW, who kindly agreed to come and crown the winner!
We are pleased to announce the Exeter winners are as follows:
1st place: Claire Gubb with her mouth-watering white chocolate and raspberry cake
2nd place: Ava Hill, who had made delicate red velvet cake-sicles
3rd place: Debbi Egan, with the gorgeous Valentine’s Victoria sponge
Thank you to our East Devon Hub and Crediton for also cooking up some delicious treats too!
Now the winners have been crowned, it is time for everyone to tuck in!
2nd February 2024
Members from our East Devon Hub: Tracie Bowden, Emma Webb, Claire Strickland and Sue-Ellen Lee thoroughly enjoyed attending a networking breakfast, hosted by Children’s Hospice South West, at THE PIG Hotel last week!
Children’s Hospice South West have been our chosen charity of the year, so it was great to show them some support whilst learning more about the wonderful work they do. Thank you to THE PIG Hotel for a delicious breakfast too!
21st December 2023
Gilbert Stephens was delighted to sponsor the Okehampton Round Table Christmas Santa Sleigh drive by, for the fourth year running, this year.
This event runs annually throughout the festive season and is organised by the Okehampton District Round Table. It is a much enjoyed part of Okehampton’s Christmas Celebrations, which sees Santa and his busy elves travel across the town and surrounding areas, spreading cheer and delivering treats to children (and even our 4 legged friends!)
The sponsorship money, provided by Gilbert Stephens, went towards the Christmas Sleigh event and towards the maintenance of the sleigh itself. Okehampton Round Table also support the local Food Bank, which is a support line for many in the community, especially at Christmas time.
You can keep up to date with the Sleigh and future events on the Round Table’s Facebook here.
