The Johnson Partnership Office Update!

It is quite rare nowadays to find law graduates choosing to work in criminal defence. It is particularly hard to attract people to base themselves in market town offices as opposed to cities. At The Johnson Partnership we have been very lucky in finding an enthusiastic raft of trainee solicitors to work in our Chesterfield and North Derbyshire office.

When The Johnson Partnership opened in Chesterfield back in 2010, we had top floor high street offices which were flexible but a little isolated. Sadly, after 8 years our landlord decided that it would be more profitable to convert our building into residential accommodation and so we had to bid it a fond farewell.

 

When choosing our current offices on the marketplace, we knew that we had more space than we could fill and hoped that we might be able to recruit some new talent to support our existing advocates over a period of time.

 

In fact, we have been amazingly fortunate in recruiting Beverley Lawrence, Jamine Blackwell and Bradley Gubby, all of whom are amazingly hard-working and enthusiastic recruits. Bev qualified in 2025 and is now making significant headway in the magistrates courts of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire. Jasmine and Brad will qualify in the Autumn of 2026 and both show considerable potential.

 

Brad worked with The Johnson Partnership in the Nottingham office as a placement student from Nottingham Trent University. He became an accredited police station representative and returned to us on the completion of his degree. We were delighted to be able to offer Brad a training contract which we hope will persuade him to remain with us in years to come.

 

Jasmine was recruited as a clerk on the basis that she would become an accredited police station advisor. In fact, Jasmine did that at speed and again was rewarded with a training contract. Not only has Jasmine performed beyond all expectation in a local advocacy competition, she is also a regular advocate for all matters ‘criminal defence’ on her TikTok channel; j_blackl

 

Brad and Jas along with our Chesterfield Partners, John and Kirsty, and our Senior Assistant Solicitor, Nadine, along with young Solicitor, Brad Maw, will all be involved in supporting the staff at our forthcoming Manchester Office. Some of the work from Buxton and North West Derbyshire area is already finding its way to police stations and magistrates courts in Stockport and Tameside. Both magistrates courts feed into Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court. It is hoped that our Chesterfield team will be able to provide prompt and experienced support to anybody in the criminal justice system in North West Derbyshire and the nearer parts of Greater Manchester.

 

When opening new offices, we have always been keen to ensure that clients can rely on good support, not only from their local team, but also from solicitors and clerks at our other nearby centres.

 

We hope to be able to provide further details of our specialist Manchester criminal defence service within the next couple of months. Watch this space!