Sandra Sutcliffe, child proceedings partner at Linder Myers Solicitors in Shrewsbury, will be retiring from the practice on Friday 3 July following a 35 year career.
Admitted as a solicitor in 1980, the family law expert moved to Shropshire four years later where she initially worked in private practice interspersed with having her two children. She returned to work full time for Shropshire County Council and then moved back into private practice at Sprott Stokes & Turnbull, which merged with Garrard Mitchell to form Turnbull Garrard in 2000, and then merged with Linder Myers in 2012.
Commenting on her retirement, Sandra Sutcliffe, child proceedings partner at Linder Myers Solicitors in Shrewsbury, said: “I specialised in family law, and child proceedings specifically, at a critical time shortly after the introduction of the Children Act which came into effect with the objective of speeding up the process to allow vulnerable children to be safeguarded and if necessary, placed into care more quickly.
“Much has changed in this area during my many years in practice with the courts showing increasing transparency in child proceedings and local authorities encouraged to work hard with families to try to keep more children at home with their birth families.
“I am of course sad to be leaving the profession and will continue to watch developments in this area with much interest. I will miss the camaraderie in the office and the relationships built with local children’s guardians and many clients for whom I have acted for a number of years, but am very much looking forward to having time to travel, both in the UK and abroad and to spend more time with my partner and children.”
Richard Ashton, regional partner at Linder Myers Solicitors in Shrewsbury, said: “It is always sad to say goodbye to a long serving colleague. Care proceedings are a highly emotive area of law and throughout her career Sandra has worked hard to achieve the best outcome for the children involved in her cases. We wish Sandra the very best for the future and are pleased to welcome Diane Cogan to our local team who will be following in Sandra’s footsteps.”