Pickup leaves Vincents for Royal appointment

Allan Pickup

Peston-based Vincents Solicitors has said goodbye to family lawyer Allan Pickup who is to take up a new role as a District Judge.

Mr Pickup – now to be called District Judge Pickup – has received his Royal appointment from The Queen and left the Lancashire law firm for a new role in Northampton.

District Judge Pickup has been a solicitor since 1984 and a deputy district judge in the North West region for 17 years.

Now he has been selected as a full-time District Judge for the Midlands circuit, and will be based at the Combined Court Centre in Northampton.

As a District Judge he will deal with civil and family cases, having specialised in children and family law for most of his career.

The appointment is the culmination of a long-held ambition to serve on the bench.

He said: “I am very much looking forward to the new challenge this role provides, particularly having to resolve the competing arguments of all parties justly, rather than presenting a particular client’s case as with my previous advocate’s role.

“Although I have been a deputy district judge for some time, this new role will allow me to deal with more complex and challenging cases than previously.

“The judge’s role is very different to that of a solicitor, and on occasions it can be a lonely one as they must usually come to decisions by themselves.

“I am assured the combined court at Northampton has a very collegiate atmosphere, nevertheless I will miss my friends and colleagues at Vincents and the banter of the advocates’ room.

“I will also miss the satisfaction of doing a great job for my clients, particularly when representing children, and I hope to retain some of that by delivering fair and considered decisions for those appearing in my court.”

Mark Mosley, head of family law at Vincents, said: “We’re incredibly proud of Allan for his achievement, it’s not every day one of your colleagues receives a Royal appointment.

“The Vincents team, and the clients Allan has served so well, will certainly miss him, but he deserves all of his success and we wish him all the very best in his new role.”

Fellow Children Panel solicitors Val Shaw and Sarah Davis will absorb Allan’s caseload into their own, with the assistance of newly-arrived trainee solicitor, Curtis Booth.

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