On 1 June 2006 Solicitors – England Stickland and Neale – commenced practising in Erdington Birmingham it is a new venture brought about by the merger of the existing Practices of ESH Solicitors Limited and Neale & Co. ESH was a traditional High Street Practice occupying the land mark Bank Chambers building on the Six Ways roundabout in Erdington and the firm offers a range of legal services to its clients and to the community. Neale & Co was a specialised Criminal Defence practice representing those who have been arrested or prosecuted by the Police, and other public authorities.

The new Practice is based at Bank Chambers and now employs in excess of 40 experienced solicitors and specialised support staff. The Practice forms the largest firm of solicitors between Birmingham City Centre and Sutton Coldfield and will continue to provide legal services for thousands of people within that area.

The firm’s clients include many individuals and businesses both large and small. It is an integrated departmentalised Practice and is able to offer assistance in almost every area of law and each department has a team with specialised knowledge of its own area. The firm can provide legal services to just about everyone whether you are unlucky enough to have got into trouble with the Police, whether you have lost a relative, whether you have fallen out with your partner or had an accident at work or whether you want to move house.

The new Practice has been awarded a Franchise by the Legal Services Commission to offer Public Funding for criminal matters, matrimonial and domestic matters., and child care.

The three Principals of the Practice are Adrian Stickland and John Sumner, and Laurie Neale.

Laurie Neale has been a practising solicitor for 25 years and has specialised in the area of criminal defence work. He has defended a number of high profile cases including in excess of 50 murders. His reputation as a Criminal Lawyer was marked in 2005 when he was nominated in the Birmingham Law Society Annual Awards as one of the three finalists for the Defence Criminal Lawyer of the Year and he is this year to be Chairman of the Legal Services Commission’s Regional Area Committee. In addition he has this year been appointed a Peer Review Auditor for Crime for the Legal Services Commission reflecting his experience in this area.

Adrian Stickland is one of the areas most prominent Commercial Lawyers and has handled many multi million pound transactions. He can assist all businesses no matter how large or small and his clients include PLC’s , family run companies, large and small partnerships and sole traders covering a range of businesses including Publicans, Shop Keepers, hot food outlets and Taxi companies to name but a few. Most recently his portfolio of work has including the disposal of company assets in the sum of sixteen million pounds and the sale of companies for values beween one million and three million pounds. He is also a member of the Law Society Professional Negligence Lawyers Association and has assisted many Claimants to pursue claims for compensation where professional advisors have let them down.

John Sumner has 25 years experience of helping thousands of people to obtain compensation for injuries they have suffered as a result of road traffic accidents, accidents at work or accidents in the High Street. He can also deal with any dispute that you may be involved in whether you are owed money by somebody who has not paid your invoice or whether you feel you are being charged for something you should not have to pay.

The merger now provides a larger and stronger Practice to serve the community’s needs, a fact recognised and encouraged by the Legal Services Commission.

The Practice aims to concentrate on the clients needs to ensure that clients interests are treated with paramount importance and to meet and to exceed expectations and to provide an efficient and memorable service to its clients.

Civil Procedure Rule 6.2 Service of documents by facsimile or electronic communication is not accepted.