Committee

The Committee is made up of a diverse range of representatives from local firms, bringing a variety of skills and expertise across the full spectrum of legal practice.

Carrie Laws – The Family Law Company

Jennifer Phillips - Plymouth City Council

James Walsh - GA Solicitors

James has been the Plymouth Law Society Treasurer since 2012. James was also elected President in 2020 and as a consequence of the Covid pandemic became the first President to serve an unprecedented (since Mr Snell in 1932) second term in 2021.

James is one of the South West's leading industrial disease litigators with more than two decades of experience, and a specialist focus on high value asbestos claims. James is recognised on a national platform for his experience in asbestos disease claims, in particular those related to mesothelioma victims. He has also developed a formidable reputation in industrial deafness litigation, together with securing significant damages in public and employer liability cases. James is ranked by both Legal 500 and Chambers and an accredited occupational diseases and asbestos disease specialist with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). James was the second individual to be appointed and is one of only two lawyers west of Bristol to hold the accreditation.

Email: james.walsh@GAsolicitors.com
Phone: 01752 203536

Rhodri Davey - Kitsons LLP

Rhodri Davey is Managing Partner at Kitsons LLP.

Rhodri studied law at Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham Law School before returning to the South West where he trained and qualified with Nash & Co. In 2000 he joined Ashfords (then Bevan Ashford) where he specialised in employment law before joining Kitsons Solicitors as partner to build an Employment Team in 2007. He has undertaking the Managing Partner role at Kitsons since 2018.

Email: rhodri.davey@kitsons-solicitors.co.uk
Phone: 01752 236712

Luke Fisher - University of Plymouth 

Rebecca Wood - Woollcombe Yonge

Rebecca is a Solicitor-Advocate and Head of the Criminal Litigation department at Woollcombe Yonge Solicitors in Plymouth.

She undertakes a variety of criminal cases across the whole spectrum of offences, representing clients through the entirety of their cases from investigation stage to the Higher Courts. Rebecca is an experienced advocate with a passion for this area of law. She is also on the Local Criminal Justice Board for the South West, and Chair of the sub-group ‘Working in Partnership for Women in the Criminal Justice System’. Rebecca is a wellbeing champion at Woollcombe Yonge and is keen to encourage a better understanding of mental health support inside and outside of the workplace.

Rebecca joined the Plymouth Law Society committee in January 2020 and represents Plymouth at the Devon and Somerset Law Society’s Education sub-committee. Her passion is to support a legal path for justice for all.

Steven Hudson - Gard & Co Solicitors

Steven has been heavily involved in Plymouth Law Society since 2010 and was president in 2012. He is the past president of ASWLS which comprises Bristol Law Society, Cornwall Law Society, Devon & Somerset Law Society, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire Law Society, Monmouth Law Society and Plymouth Law Society.

 Steven is senior and managing partner of Gard & Co. He qualified in 1983 and has since that time practised in Plymouth. In the late 1980s Steven gravitated from general property work towards specialising in commercial property work and in particular in business transfers. During the last 25 years he has been involved in the legal work associated with the transfer of most types of business, acting for sole traders, partnerships and limited companies based in different parts of the country, but particularly in the south west peninsula.

Email: sjh@gardandco.com
Phone: 01752 668246