ENOCH
EVANS
weakness in the knees. As National Service was coming to an end I played on my knee problem and the medical board failed to pass me fit for National Service! As a matter of interest, at the time when I met Sylvia she was living with her parents at ―Kippen,‖ Crown Lane, Four Oaks. This house was built by Joseph Leckie, who had the biggest saddlery business in Walsall at the turn of the century. He built the house in 1907, when wealthy business men were moving out of the town, and, being Scottish, named it after his home 20 miles west of Stirling in Scotland. He was mayor of Walsall five years after Enoch. As another prominent Walsall councillor, even though he was Presbyterian and Liberal, whereas Enoch was Wesleyan/Methodist and Conservative, it is surely conceivable that Enoch would have visited him at Kippen. The house Kippen was pulled down in about 1964 and flats were erected in the grounds and my father Norman lived in one of those flats for many years after the death of my mother and before he had to move to a residential home. I have digressed. So, I joined The Firm as a qualified solicitor on the 1st February 1958. Terms were to be agreed. I worked as an assistant solicitor for six or seven months on my final articled clerk‘s pay of £500 per annum, and eventually had to say to Norman and Jack that I did not think that was good enough! It was sorted out, pay backdated. I was in the Partnership! I paid Jack £2,434.16.8d. for a quarter of his share in the Partnership. An initial £934.16.8d was paid and the balance was loaned. Copy of initial receipt and th Promissory Note signed on the 30 June 1958 are set out on the facing page. Have I managed to make any impression within The Firm? I would hope so. When I joined the Partnership Laurence Edward Skan, who had been an assistant solicitor for six years or so was also made a Partner. Four solicitors in The Firm and a total including Partners of, I think, sixteen on the payroll. One of the first things I noted about The Firm was that it only undertook convevancing, wills, probate and trust work and whatever commercial work that might happen to come through the door. Criminal litigation and civil litigation was sent either next door to Hodgkinson & Benton or along the road to Tony Cotterell at A. Cotterell & Co. The Firm was turning away good work. So I decided to have a go and very quickly found that court work was not too difficult to undertake. Before too long I was in need of assistance and that was when John Platt joined The Firm. He took over my Magistrates Court workload and built up that side of the practice. Soon the Civil Court work load was getting too much for me and Jack and Norman were wanting more help with the work they were undertaking on the management of The Firm and the conveyancing, and in particular the probate and trust side of the practice. They thought that an Evans should be there to assist them, and that I should spend more time managing the growth of The Firm. So, over the years I dabbled in most types of work- master of none. To-day in nearly all Partnerships one has to specialise from the time one qualifies, and I am one of the last around who can say that he has undertaken most types of work, from defending a murderer to floating a public company and dealing with divorce, all types of matrimonial work, accident claim work, debt collection and of course conveyancing and probate and trust work. I would not have liked to have had to make a decision when twenty four or so, as to what type of legal work I wished to spend the rest of my working life doing.
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