It’s all relative for top family law specialist

Aug 13 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

LESLIE CHEESMAN is senior partner with Cheesman and Company Solicitors – the Liverpool-based family law and conveyancing specialists.

Leslie has been a well-known lawyer in the city for the past 35 years, and Cheesman and Co, based in the city centre’s North John Street, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

He has handled high-profile family law and divorce matters for solicitors, judges, barristers, actors, celebrities and most important of all, according to Leslie, “the man in the street”.

The Cheesman and Co practice is a family affair, with Leslie’s son, Christian, and daughters, Samantha and Andrea, all working for the firm. Christian and Andrea are both partners, while Samantha is operations manager for the whole practice. Here is Leslie’s working day:

8am: After the usual slog through traffic into the office, I arrive to find blood stains to the office entrance, indicating a potential non-molestation injunction. I follow the crimson trail to my office, where this morning it is a husband who has a black eye and a swollen nose that is bleeding.

He has been assaulted by his wife and/or wife’s boyfriend and needs an immediate injunction. We get him one within two hours. This involves issuing an application for injunction and obtaining an emergency order from any judge that is available.

10am: Later in the morning, I have several court hearings to deal with the usual array of residence, children contact and matrimonial finance matters.

The law courts are within easy walking distance, so once I’m done at court I can be back in the office pretty quickly. Sometimes I’ll have a lunch scheduled with colleagues and friends that work in the city’s legal sector, but today it’s lunch at the office, as I know there are lots of cases waiting for me.

Noon: I get back to the office to a barrage of phone messages. One client has called to say her husband has moved a substantial amount of money from the joint account and wants to stop him dealing or spending it. Another application for an emergency injunction is issued.

1pm: Another client calls to say his wife has said she is taking their children to America, where she intends to live with her boy- friend. Yet another call to the judge and another injunction is issued to prevent this from hap- pening, pending a court hearing.

3pm: Thinking the day can’t get any more frantic, an existing client comes in very distressed. His wife has left him, but his panic is caused not by her leaving, but by her taking the two family dogs. He wishes to make an immediate application to the court for “custody” of the dogs. Firm canine advice is given.

4pm: A client comes in saying he wants to marry his former daughter-in-law (she wishes to marry him also) and wants to know if this is allowed. Previously they would have been within the “prohibited degrees” preventing them from marrying.

This is now, however, permissible under the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Act 1986 so they can proceed and marry.

The rest of the afternoon is spent preparing cases for clients both new and existing and again involves the usual array of financial, matrimonial, and family matters.

6pm: Christian pops in to my office to say we have been contacted by the Land Registry to be told we are among the top 100 firms in England and Wales for new Land Registry applications.

The Land Registry is going paperless, and in future will be conducting all correspondence electronically. Because we handle such a high volume of work, the Land Registry tell us we need to have a dedicated account manager within the practice.

Considering there’s some 50,000 law firms in the country that offer conveyancing, this surely puts us among the top practices in the North West for transferring title of property. It’s great news to end the day on, and I go home happy.