Member Article

Experienced solicitor drawing on family law expertise in agriculture and property brief

AN experienced lawyer will be making the most of living down on the farm when she helps her practice develop its agricultural department.

Emily Crick, who lives on her partner’s family farm, in Brafferton, near Darlington, takes up a new challenge with regional practice BHP Law.

A seasoned solicitor, she will now specialise in commercial and agricultural property as well as family cases.

“I am looking forward to working with practice partner Peter Blackett developing further the agriculture caseload, which has always been a strong element of BHP Law’s work,” said Emily.

“I have been working in family law building up a lot of experience with divorce, which can be complex in the world of agriculture. Also, living on the farm exposes me to a variety of issues the industry faces. There is a great deal of European law associated with agriculture which is set to change with Brexit leaving farmers needing advice on changes to the laws surrounding subsidies, grants, wildlife conservation and potential disputes.”

Emily’s interest in law was sparked when she was just 15 after completing work experience at a firm in Eastbourne, East Sussex where she attended client meetings and shadowed a barrister in the courts.

She studied A Level law, then a degree at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, during which time she also spent a year in Sweden conducting a comparative study of law in an alternative European legal system.

An interesting aspect of the law in Sweden is the legislation which has been put in place to protect the ancient way of life of its indigenous Sami population.

“This was fascinating,” she recalled. “The people of the far North of Sweden have special laws to protect their way of life. They can fish and hunt in areas prohibited to others and regularly cross borders within Scandinavia and Finland as they live ’transnationally” across Northern Europe. .”

At university Emily was inspired by her lecturer to pursue family law and she also completed work experience with a district judge.

She took a legal practice course at the College of Law, Bloomsbury, London, then trained with the Co-op Legal Services in London and Manchester in the family and probate departments. She qualified into family law in 2012, before working in Stockport and Richmond, North Yorkshire.

A member of Resolution, Emily has previously worked pro bono at Law Centres and volunteered for Street Law, a programme designed to spark an interest in the law in children.

Her article on Social Media and the Associated Pitfalls was published in the Family Law journal with her comments referenced in a Sunday Times article “Social Media is Spying on You” published in 2019.

Outside work, Emily assists her partner George Swinbank and his family in breeding sheep and tends an organic vegetable garden.

Keen walkers, Emily and George have done the Coast to Coast walk and completed the 100-mile South Downs Way in eight days. They are currently tackling the length of Hadrian’s Wall in sections.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah French .