Gillian went to Parkstone Grammar School, just outside Poole, and then read law at Birmingham University, graduating with an Upper Second in 1977. She qualified as a solicitor in 1980 and worked for a few years in Fordingbridge, in conveyancing and probate, before starting a family. While her children were under school age, Gillian qualified as an antenatal teacher with the National Childbirth Trust and learnt valuable skills which have since been useful in helping individuals and families plan for the future and achieve best quality of life  in the present.

She returned to part time work in the law in 1991 and began specialising exclusively in areas of law which are usually most relevant to older people and their families, although she also advises younger people with the good sense to put their affairs in order, or who have particular needs.  For example, she has advised many people who are in an unmarried or same sex relationship and who need carefully drafted wills, as well as powers of attorney and sometimes living wills, to ensure their ’significant other’ is not sidelined at the critical moment. A second marriage can often throw up difficult balancing decisions and she can help with structuring Wills, protecting individuals and assets and reducing inheritance tax.

As well as the usual areas of wills, probate, trusts and (avoiding) inheritance tax, Gillian has also developed specialist knowledge on the Mental Capacity Act, including powers of attorney and the Court of Protection and on the rules to do with means tested care as against free NHS funded care.  She is active in the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE), having been a founder member of both local branches. After 18 years spent at a senior level with Williams Thompson in Christchurch and then Ellis Jones in the Poole area, she decided that, to provide her clients with the service she wanted for them and to achieve the life balance she wanted, she needed to establish her own practice. You can find out about her philosophy here.