Meet The Team
Working for Forrest Williams is not easy. We are very selective about the people we employ. We understand that our clients expect the best and so do we. Our main criteria for selection is personal skills; we can teach the law but we can’t teach vital personal skills. Our team need to be able to make quick decisions, use initiative and work well under tremendous pressure. They need to care about their clients and provide extraordinary client care every single day.
We have a work hard, play hard mentality and we encourage our team to utilise all of their wide and varied life experience in their current roles.
We are a very close knit team, and all staff have unlimited holiday, and work flexible hours and often work from home. Typically we see members of staff who are meant to be off work emailing or calling clients, or arranging to take statements late at night if that is what suits the clients. All of our team love working with us, and our work ethic and staff benefits are famous and have won us awards.
We are confident that any member of staff who takes your call will give you their best every time.
OUR DIRECTORS
Forrest Williams was established in 2009 by Directors Steve Williams and Katie Forrest.
Steve Williams is a highly acclaimed solicitor and advocate, and is featured individually in the Legal 500. He has over 25 years’ experience as a criminal defence advocate and was one of the first solicitors to qualify for Higher Rights of Audience, allowing him to appear in all Higher Courts and not just magistrates courts. He has appeared in over 200 courts across England and Wales as well as appearing in Courts Martials internationally.
His recent successes include R-v-M, a complex sexual assault case where the defendant was found not guilty at trial.
Katie Forrest is a non-solicitor Director of Forrest Williams. She is focused on full case preparation across all areas of criminal defence and is particularly interested in serious sexual offences. She has worked in the legal field for over 10 years and is passionate about providing clients with the highest level of client care.
Her recent successes include R-v-C, a case involving allegations of sexual assault made against a teacher by a former pupil, and R-v-L, a case involving allegations of sexual assault made against a vulnerable client. Both cases were withdrawn before trial thanks to her skilful and proactive case preparation.
CASE WORKERS
Upon instructions to Forrest Williams, you will be assigned a case worker experienced in your area of law. This case worker will be your day to day point of contact and will handle all preparation of your case.
Our case workers have a wealth of knowledge, experience and backgrounds that help them provide excellent service, and achieve great results, for our clients.
Helen Newman joined Forrest Williams in 2012. She has successfully completed all of her legal studies to become a solicitor and is now a trainee solicitor and will qualify as a solicitor in 2020. She particularly enjoys serious crime. Her recent successes include R-v-G, a Crown Court sexual assault case involving intoxication and consent.
Kirsty Day joined Forrest Williams in 2015. She has a varied caseload but particularly enjoys working on sexual offences and serious crime cases. Her recent successes include R-v-L, a case of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. This client pleaded guilty, as per our advice and his own desire, and achieved an excellent sentence thanks to in depth preparation of his mitigation.
Julia Coffin joined Forrest Williams in 2014. She has a varied caseload and particularly enjoys serious crime cases. Her recent successes include R-v-M, a case involving a serious allegation of unauthorised access to computer equipment, where the client was found not guilty at trial.
OUR SUPPORT STAFF
Our Directors and case workers are only able to perform their roles because of the excellent work done by our support staff.
Nigel Johnson joined Forrest Williams in 2012. He is our Accounts Manager.
Oliver Pinnick-Cook joined Forrest Williams in 2016. He is our Accounts Assistant.
Hayley Ginniver joined Forrest Williams in 2016. She is our administration assistant and is normally the first voice you hear when you call us.
Our Barristers
We are also supported by a team of barristers. As you might expect we are very selective about the barristers we use.
We will always make sure we choose the best barrister for your case and benefit from having that close bond. We will normally give you 3 options with different levels of experience and pricing structure.
If you need help with a criminal matter and it is too important for Legal Aid
call us on 01623 397200.