Solicitor takes over firm to continue late mother's legacy

A solicitor who took over her late mother’s firm has spoken of the overwhelming response she received when she announced that she was going to carry on her mother’s legacy.

Camilla Greenwood’s mother, Lynda, set up Greenwoods Solicitors in Knaresborough in 1991, when Camilla was six months old, so she could balance her career with being a single mother. Lynda died in a house fire in April. She was 67.

In a moving post on LinkedIn in September, her daughter Camilla, 32, announced that she had left Irwin Mitchell and decided to carry on her mother’s legacy by taking over Greenwoods Solicitors. Camilla’s post attracted more than 8,000 reactions and 352 comments.

Camilla Greenwood told the Gazette today that she did not expect the ‘overwhelming’ response.

‘One of the lovely things is I’ve had people email or message me on LinkedIn who did work experience at Greenwoods when they were just starting out in their career. My mum was a big supporter of helping budding lawyers to progress and gain experience. Obviously I knew my mum was great. She was my mum. But I didn’t realise how many people’s lives she touched.’

Law firm Switalskis told Greenwood the firm considered Greenwoods as a neighbour, not a competitor. ‘How lovely is that? I have such an amazing support network.’

Greenwood says she felt partly raised by the firm. The school bus would stop outside her mother's office. She did her homework at the office while her mum was working. ‘I spent the school summer holidays within the walls of the firm I have now taken over. There is really something comforting about that.’

Greenwood says law was not something that was offered to her as a school module. ‘I did not know if I would be good at it at all. When I got to law school, it made sense. I hadn’t studied it before but I thought, “this is my place, this is what I should be doing and I’m doing the right thing”. I must have been inspired by my mum. But I also wanted to pave my own path in my legal career.’

It was with a ‘heavy heart’ following lots of soul searching that she decided to leave her job at Irwin Mitchell, where she had worked for 18 months, to take over her mother's  firm. ‘Irwin Mitchell is a fabulous firm. Colleagues there are still my friends. They have been incredibly supportive. They could not have done more to support me and I’m still in touch.’

Prior to her death, Lynda Greenwood began the process of making Greenwoods a limited company – a process her daughter has now completed. Camilla Greenwood and Dawn Hudson, who joined the firm 22 years ago as a receptionist, are directors.

‘Under mum’s supervision, Dawn qualified as a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and she is now a director. Dawn’s career has grown really organically side by side with my mum. The two of us are now directors of the firm and we will do whatever it takes to carry on Greenwoods.’

Lynda Greenwood's old office has two desks. Camilla says she cannot sit at her mother’s desk so she sits at the other one. ‘It feels like we’re working together in the same room.’