History
2016 – Bates & Wallis Prance
Bates acquired Wallis Prance, a long established solicitors practice based in Basingstoke, Hampshire. They specialise in providing legal services to local individuals and families including property transactions and all private client services.
2012 – Bates & Crellins Carter
Bates acquired Crellins Carter, a solicitors practice based in Weybridge, Surrey. Crellins Carter was created in 2007 by the merger of two long established Weybridge practices: Bryan Carter & Co and Crellins, both of which were set up in the 1960s.
2008 – Brunel
2008, Bates acquired the online conveyancing practice Brunel, and the acquisition enabled the practice to expand its services in the property sector with on-line clients having the opportunity to carry out their business wholly electronically.
2003- Bates Solicitors
Ian MacDonald joined Bates Son and Braby in 1969, and became a partner in 1973, and subsequently senior partner in 1993. Gwyneth joined Bates and Partners in 1983 and was made a partner in 1989.
In 2003, Ian and Gwyneth had the opportunity to achieve a merger which amalgamated the London and Leigh-on-Sea offices of Bates and Partners, with the Hampshire practice of Nash Vann Hooker, who practised in those parts of the law that interested them. Their objective then, and now, still continues to be the pursuit of a legal practice which specialises in all aspects of the law relating to real estate, private client, commerce and the family.
The Hampshire Practices
Nash & Vann was established by Mr Ernest Nash in 1913, and he entered into partnership with Mr Herbert Vann who had moved to Hampshire from Sheffield. The two sons of Mr Vann joined the practice after the Second World War and for many years Derek Vann and Peter Vann practised in Fleet.
Roger Wasem moved from Bates and Partners’ Essex office to Nash & Vann in Fleet in 1984, embracing and continuing the legacy both of Bates and Partners and of Derek and Peter Vann with the emphasis on traditional courtesy and service to clients and the community.
Malcolm McD Hooker practised in Fleet for many years from his premises in Kings Road. In 1996 he merged with the firm of Nash & Vann to become Nash Vann Hooker.
Thomas & Co was primarily a conveyancing practice in Fleet for many years. Barbara Thomas, the Principal, and Anthony Thomas, a conveyancing executive, merged with the Bates NVH practice in 2002.
Alice Grant established her own sole practice, Grant’s Solicitors, in 2002. Specialising exclusively in residential conveyancing, she grew the firm over the next 7 years to become one of the most successful sole practices in the Fleet area through a combination of outstanding client care, client accessibility and business efficiency.
Recognising the benefits of the full service, that a multi-disciplined practice can offer, Alice merged with Bates in 2009, bringing a wealth of experience to the property team, a wide network of clients in the Fleet and Farnborough area and a thorough appreciation of how a legal practice operates as a business.
Initially Clifford Cowling came from Wales (and incidentally both Ian MacDonald and Gwyneth Jones grew up in Wales) and established an office as Clifford Cowling & Co in Farnborough in 1950. Christopher Hodgson joined Clifford Cowling in 1996, as a litigation solicitor in the Fleet office, becoming a partner in 2000. In April 2011, Bates Solicitors incorporated Cowling Hodgson into the firm, with the Cowling Hodgson team joining the Fleet office, to continue to offer all their clients the same efficient and friendly service as part of Bates.
1930 – Bates & Partners
The firm established by Sidney Bates in 1930 in Leigh on Sea and soon became Bates & Son, and his growing reputation as a commercial lawyer enabled him to open a second office in London. Sidney was a man of public affairs, becoming Mayor of Southend twice, Chairman of the Anglia River Authority and finally Chairman of the England and Wales River Authorities. In 1947 Jack Braby joined as an articled clerk, and after he qualified the practice became Bates Son & Braby, and this practice name remained until 1979 when the practice became Bates & Partners.