In the week of International Women’s Day, which this year has the theme of equal opportunities, Patricia Allen speaks to one of the region’s most senior female lawyers about being a trusted friend to hundreds of North-East families.

HELEN BIGLIN leads the biggest fee-earning department in one of the North-East’s largest legal firms. She also part-owns the business as one of the few female equity partners in a major legal practice in the region.

So you might be forgiven for assuming that she is a high- flying corporate type embroiled in court room battles over hostile takeovers and multi-million pound litigation cases.

But Helen’s typical day involves much more basic matters that affect us all – matters of life and death in fact. As head of the wills, trust and probate team at BHP Law, she and her colleagues have built a regional reputation for helping clients plan during their lifetimes what will happen after they die.

Some of it is complex tax planning and trust work, but for the most part it is supporting ordinary people to ensure what they have acquired during their life reaches the people they want it to after they have gone.

It includes straightforward wills, setting up trusts, helping people plan for someone else to make decisions on their behalf if they lose mental capacity, or helping people protect themselves against vulnerability in old age. This is a currently high on the political agenda as electioneering politicians clash over who should pay for care for the elderly, and how.

Far from battling in the court room or board room, Helen is more likely to be found at a residential home or hospital. It is one of the few areas of law where confrontation with other solicitors is minimal in favour of direct interaction with the client or someone on their behalf.

Helen graduated in chemistry and then completed a law conversion course at Leeds Polytechnic. While doing her articles with her first employer she found wills, trusts and probate was an area of law she both enjoyed and felt she had the right personality for.

“Many of the clients I come into contact with are elderly or have suffered bereavement, so you have to have empathy with them. Being a good lawyer is not in itself enough,”

she says. “You are dealing with people at a very stressful time. They need someone they can talk to on a personal level – someone they can practically call a friend.”

A member of Solicitors for the Elderly and Step, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, she says: “We often get involved in matters where probably you don’t need any legal qualifications, just a general understanding of people, but it’s all part and parcel of the job and the reason I enjoy it. Elderly clients in particular often just want someone to talk to; someone to offer guidance and set their minds at rest.”

A former pupil of Longfield School and Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, in Darlington, Helen left her home town to study chemistry at King’s College, London in the late Sixties.

‘DOING chemistry was not something I set out to do, it was more just something I fell into,” she says. “However, I enjoyed it and I guess at that stage I saw myself becoming a “Quincy”-style forensic scientist. While doing my third year project, I had an opportunity to work in Australia on a gold extracting process but in reality I had already decided to move into law. Science was not very fashionable then and the opportunities were not great.”

Returning home, Helen joined Newbys law firm on Teesside and, on qualifying, joined Walton Hardy and Clough, Darlington, as an assistant solicitor. She was quickly made partner at age of 29. In 1998, the firm merged with Blackett Hart & Pratt – now known as BHP Law.

Four years later, Helen made a financial investment and commitment to the firm. She is the only female equity partner in BHP Law and the only woman on the management board. For Helen, being an equity partner gives her a major input in the future of the firm, especially in relation to discussions on its private client services. She leads the busy wills, trusts and probate team, which generates more than 15 per cent of the firm’s income.

Trusts may be part of Helen’s day job, but being trusted by her clients is an unwritten qualification without which she could not operate.

Blink but don’t miss it

BEAUTY therapist Joanne Thompson has devised a selection of treatments that will leave us looking groomed, gorgeous, and ready to go, but her main focus is on eyes.

She has recently launched her salon, Blink Beauty, in Northallerton, where eyelashes are a speciality.

Her treatment list is extensive and can at first sound quite complicated, but Joanne explains the choices and, aware that not everyone wants Sixties-style, long vamp lashes for every day, she is happy to help clients decide which look is best for them. First she insists on an allergy patch test 24 hours before having the lashes done.

“People just don’t have the time any more to sit around for an hour and a half, having something done to make them look better. With the Blink and Go lashes, clients can be in and out of the salon within 20 minutes,” she says.

Starting with a basic framework of ten lashes on each eye, Joanne builds the lashes up and thickens them. Costing £40 for a full set, they last for up to two weeks.

Another option, if you have more than an hour to spare, is the Nouveau Lash Extension, which lasts for up to two months and costs £60. These lashes are individually bonded to your own.

But for those who really do want a quick-fix, the third option is best.

This is a strip of lashes that is custom-fit, glued on and be removed afterwards.

As well as a selection of Matis facials, starting at £35, Blink Beauty also does body treatments, tanning using Fake Bake and Vita Liberata, waxing and make-up. Packages for mums-to-be, holidaymakers and brides are also available.

SPECIAL OFFER ■ There is ten per cent off any lash extensions throughout March.

Joanne’s Mother’s Day package is a manicure, pedicure and eye treatment for £45 (normally £61).
Christine Fieldhouse