How we started
Elaine Hartwell set up on her own above a bookshop on Eastgate Street in 1994, having spent nine years at a larger firm in Birmingham and grown tired of billing targets. Daniel Vance joined in 1998 and the name has been the same since.
We’ve had opportunities to merge, and turned them down. A firm this size can afford to spend twenty minutes on the phone telling somebody they don’t need a solicitor. A larger one usually can’t.
How we charge
Fixed fees wherever the work allows it, quoted in writing before anything starts. Where a matter genuinely can’t be fixed — contested family or employment work — we agree an hourly rate and a cap you approve in advance. We don’t exceed the cap without asking first, in writing.
Most firms round up. Over a long matter it makes a real difference, and it’s the sort of thing clients only notice on the final invoice.
What we don’t do
Criminal defence, immigration, personal injury and commercial litigation. We’d rather refer you to someone who does that work daily than take it on and learn at your expense. We keep a list of local firms we trust for each.
Our people
Eleven of us, four of whom are partners. Everyone here is contactable directly — there’s no switchboard and no case-handler roulette.
Elaine Hartwell
Senior Partner · PropertyFounded the firm in 1994. Handles complex property and still takes the Saturday morning calls.
Daniel Vance
Partner · EmploymentTwenty years acting for both employers and employees, which makes him good at predicting endings.
Priya Raval
Associate · Family & ProbateTrained mediator as well as a solicitor. Known for keeping difficult conversations calm.
Tom Reddish
Solicitor · PropertyJoined from a Stoke firm in 2021. Handles most of our new-build and shared ownership work.
Nadia Okonkwo
Solicitor · FamilyQualified in 2019. Particular interest in arrangements for children.
Gerald Finn
Consultant · EstatesSemi-retired after 34 years. In two days a week for the more involved estates.
The building
Two Eastgate Chambers is a Georgian townhouse with a lift, a ground-floor meeting room and, unusually for the town centre, four parking spaces at the rear. If getting here is difficult, we do home visits across Staffordshire at no extra cost.