Cartmell Shepherd Wrapped 2025

Managing Director Joanne Stronach reflects on a successful 2025 at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors

Like many businesses, the run up to Christmas at Cartmell Shepherd is a busy time, as our teams work to meet deadlines and plan for the year ahead. Amidst the Christmas rush, it’s easy to forget to pause and reflect on progress made over the past year, so in this article, I’d like to do just that.

During the past 12 months, our teams across the business have worked hard to deliver for our clients and communities, while picking up some brilliant achievements along the way. Below you’ll find a summary of our 2025 highlights…

Events, Charities and Community Engagement

Our events programme brought networking opportunities and insights to our community, including the popular Hexham and Tyne Valley Ladies Lunch and seminars on legislative changes for commercial landlords.

We also supported some fantastic local events including the in-Cumbria Business Awards, the People First Awards, International Men’s Day, International Women’s Day, as well as agricultural shows, festivals, and sporting events.

Our staff racked up many hours of volunteering with local charities including Cash for Kids, Hospice at Home and Oak Tree Animals’ Charity and we were proud to have our marketing manager, Terri Hope, participate in the Cumbrian leg of the Baton of Hope tour, the UK’s biggest suicide prevention initiative.

A total of 68 blog posts were published on our website and social media, as part of our commitment to demystifying the law and helping clients stay ahead of changes in areas including employment and landlord and tenant law.

Client feedback remained an integral part of our process for continually improving the client experience. This year we received a total of 50 online reviews, contributing to our outstanding 4.9 out of 5-star rating on Review Solicitors.

National Recognition for Our Teams

Our Agriculture team was named as one of the best in the country for the sixth consecutive year in the Chambers UK Legal Guide and retained its Band 1 rating in the Legal 500 Directory. They were joined in the Legal 500 rankings by our Wills, Probate and Inheritance team who were recognised for their expertise in the Personal Tax, Trusts and Probate category.

We were proud to have three of our teams (Wills, Probate and Inheritance, Family and Dispute Resolution) named as finalists at the Northern Law Awards, alongside our talented apprentice solicitor, Joseph Halvorsen.

Later in the year, our Will and Inheritance Disputes team was shortlisted at the 2025 British Wills and Probate Awards and our Residential Property team was ranked in the top 10% of firms in the UK for Housing and Property Law by Review Solicitors.

To see so many of our practice areas recognised at such a high level is testament to our shared commitment to striving for excellence at Cartmell Shepherd.

Standout Cases

Our Commercial Property team played a key role in restoring brewing to the iconic Jennings Brewery site in Cockermouth, acting for local couple Kurt and Rebecca Canfield who purchased the site. It’s fantastic to see the brewery – which was previously closed – now thriving again as an asset for the community.

Our Dispute Resolution team achieved an impressive victory when Rob Winder successfully represented a widow in her battle with tech giant Apple. Rob was able to help the client secure access to her late husband’s password-protected account and recover precious family memories.

Investing in Our People

2025 saw staff promotions across the business and several of our trainees progressing successfully through their exams, including Sam Fawcett who qualified as a solicitor in our Agriculture team. We also welcomed new faces in Private Client, Family, Dispute Resolution and Marketing.

Final Thoughts

Our teams will soon be logging off for a well-deserved break, before coming back refreshed in January. We’d like to wish all of our clients and our network of valued colleagues and partners a very Happy Christmas and New Year. As always, we’re here to help if you need us.