In this series, we introduce some of the people that make up Stephens Scown. We learn about their expertise, what drew them to join the legal profession and find out a little bit about who they are outside of the workplace.
Here we introduce Sarah Walls, Partner in our Family Finance team.
Can you share with us a little bit about your role and a typical day?
Each day is different and that’s one of the things I love about my job. I work with an amazing team, and I love supporting them. As I head up the Family Finance Team in Exeter, this means I’m responsible for morale and team specific development and support. I currently have a trainee and two paralegals directly under my care and day to day I enjoy answering their queries and sharing my learnings with my team. Training the team and spending time together is really important to me because they are the next generation of Scowners, and our Partners of the future, and we all work together to develop each other.
Why did you specialise in Family law?
Before settling into the Family team, I tried property law and private client, but once I tried Family I never looked back. I find helping people really rewarding, and I personally find this line of work less procedural, and enjoy the more holistic approach to supporting one person, working out what is right for them and what matters to them most.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
I like to see the development of my clients. Many begin their journey with me by making what can be the hardest phone call, the first one. Acknowledging a divorce can be a very emotional process and it’s a very rewarding part of my job to support my clients during stressful and emotional times and watch them come out the other side so much stronger and ready to embrace a bright future.
If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you be and why?
When I was growing up what I really wanted to be was a volcanologist, so, the study of volcanoes! I’m really interested in our planet and I’m fascinated by this natural phenomenon, and all the questions surrounding it such as how and why they erupt, predicting when they are going to erupt, and I’m also interested in the crystal formations. This is obviously very different to my chosen career and I’m quite relieved as I think I would miss all my colleagues too much!
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I spend most of my spare time with my family. I have two children who have reached the age where they want to be driven everywhere so I spend a lot of time being a taxi driver for them! It’s lovely to see them enjoying their sporting pursuits and activities. My whole family are big Plymouth Argyle supporters and regularly go to watch the football. I enjoy spending time in my garden and tending to my vegetable patch – with varying success! We also love to take staycation holidays when possible, mainly exploring Devon and Cornwall and sometimes when we are feeling brave we even go camping! My Husband and I are both celebrating a big birthday this year so we recently had a very special family holiday to Disney World and Universal Studios.
What does it mean to work for Stephens Scown, what makes us different?
I have Stephens Scown running through my core! I think this is the best place to work. I love my colleagues, and I think this is a really fun place to work with a brilliant culture. The Family Team have been top ranked for more than 25 years in Legal 500 and Chambers so we have always delivered high quality work and it’s a joy to be surrounded by such a brilliant team who derive such joy in working hard for our clients, and all while living in the beautiful South West, which is really important to me as I’m from the South West and have lived here for almost my entire life. The firm has evolved to become employee owned which I think really demonstrates how much value is placed on developing and caring about the people who work here. Now, Stephens Scown is also a Certified B Corp™, which means we balance people, planet and purpose with profit, so it’s great to work for a firm that really cares and is driven to do good.