About us

History of the firm

The firm can trace its history back to 1984 when Brian Southern established Brian Southern & Co as a sole practitioner based in Felling. Ian Stewart joined Brian in 1986 to establish the firm Southern & Stewart operating from offices in Felling and Prince Edward Road in South Shields. The firm merged with Walker & Co in 1995 bringing Frances Walker into the partnership. The firm then operated from 3 offices including the Beach Road, South Shields office. In 1997 the firm merged with Small Hindson bringing Geoff Hindson and Richard Small into the practice. The Felling office closed in 2002.

Since then there have been other Partners, including John Langers who became a partner in May 2012, Nina James in 2014, Derek Logg in 2018 and Joanne Blackwood in April 2019.

The firm undertook legal aid work and obtained a Franchise in 1999 and thereafter obtained Crime and Family contracts in 2000. The firm withdrew from Crime work in 2006. The firm has been Lexcel Accredited since April 2012. It achieved the Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation in July 2012 and has been successfully reaccredited each year. In May 2018 the firm withdrew from Family law work.

The current Partners are Geoff Hindson (Managing Partner), Gavin Mills and Fiona Lamb. The firm now operates from one office at 15 Beach Road, South Shields, NE33 2QA.

Business Aims

The firm is strongly committed to excellent client service and using the civil justice system to defend and protect clients’ legal rights. We aim to offer access to justice to all seeking the firm’s services. The firm continues to strive towards providing the best in legal advice, assistance and advocacy for those having recourse to the law. The firm endeavours to undertake all work to a high standard while exercising excellent client care whilst consolidating a reputation of client and professional respect for the firm and its work.

Services offered

Our core services are as follows:

• Residential Property: We deal with residential conveyancing and other property transactions.
• Wills, Probate and Elderly client including Court of Protection: We deal with the provision of Will writing services to our clients as well as dealing with Probate and estate matters following death. We also assist clients in the creation and registration of Lasting Powers of Attorney and Deputyship appointments.
• Personal Injury: We deal with a range of Personal Injury cases.
• Other services: Drafting change of name documents, administering oaths, affidavits and statutory declarations and certifying ID and other documents.