Charities and Commercial Property lawyer Dennis Eyriey will celebrate a career that has spanned 50 years at Clifton Ingram Solicitors this April.
Dennis qualified as a Solicitor in 1960, and joined Clifton Ingram (then a small, one partner solicitor firm in Wokingham) as an Assistant Solicitor in April 1965 . He worked his way up to Senior Partner, before becoming a consultant with the firm in 2007. Today Clifton Ingram has 100 staff and an additional office in Reading.
Dennis said that the law, the way it is practised, and its impact on clients has undergone massive changes during the 50 years he has worked as a solicitor, "Technology as we know it was in its infancy in 1965 – no email, mobiles, internet, even photocopiers. Also in those days most solicitors were “jacks of all trades”, where now specialisation in the law is essential, especially with increased legislation and frequent amendments making the law ever more complex.”
Back in 1965 Wokingham’s telephone exchange was a manual one and the town still had a department store in the Market Place – Heelas. One of Dennis’ earliest memories was as a terrified young solicitor having to propose a toast to Lord Denning, one of the country’s foremost judges, at the Reading & District Solicitors’ Association’s annual dinner, an organisation of which he later became Chairman. Dennis also remembers the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon but he couldn’t break away from the office to watch it. He was always a work-a-holic!
Clifton Ingram Solicitors Chairman Jonathan Davis paid testament to Dennis’ experience and loyalty, "Dennis has been a superlative solicitor and his knowledge of the local business community and environment is unrivalled. On behalf of the firm I would like to thank Dennis for his hard work and high standards which has help contribute to our success as a firm”.