With a nearly 30-year legal career under her belt, Dawn Oliver is looking forward to a strong future at Cheltenham-based law firm, Lodders, where she uses her extensive experience to head up the private client offering. Dawn joined Lodders in October 2024 and has since been promoted to equity partner, too.
We caught up with Dawn on how her first six months at Lodders has gone and heard all about the firm's new partnership with Hartpury University and Hartpury College.
Dawn, congratulations on your promotion to equity partner! What does this new role mean for you and the business?
Thank you! I am honoured and excited to have joined Lodders’ equity partnership. The firm’s Cheltenham office is really important to Lodders’ strategic growth as well as to our wider wealth management offering across the region and beyond.
We have a massive opportunity to develop our private client offering, building on the fantastic reputation the team already has in the market. Therefore, I will focus on expanding our private client offering from our Cheltenham and Stratford offices, where we provide a discrete and bespoke service for all our private clients.
Having the opportunity to get involved in the firm’s development and identify new ways to enhance our service provision is truly exciting and a challenge I am going to relish.
Will it change your day-to-day role at Lodders?
My day-to-day role won’t change significantly, as I got very stuck in as soon as I arrived at Lodders last year. However, it gives me the unique opportunity to shape our private client offering and to participate in and influence the future growth and direction of Lodders more generally.
What experiences have you had in your professional life that have guided you towards where you are now?
I spent 27 years at another regional law firm, with 20 of these as an equity partner. The firm grew exponentially during this time and I was pleased to lead the private client team from very small beginnings to a team of 100. I have brought this breadth of experience and learning with me to Lodders – and it is helping to guide my approach to driving further growth.
What developments would you like to implement at Lodders?
I would like to see us continue to bring together the different disciplines across the firm that look after private clients — from private client and family law to town and country homes — to build a bespoke service designed specifically for private clients.
We have plans to build a full-service offering from the Cheltenham office, maintaining our private client focus and heritage, but bringing in a business services element, introducing dispute resolution and corporate and commercial services.
Are you working on anything exciting at the moment?
We have recently announced our strategic partnership with Hartpury University and Hartpury College which I’m particularly excited about. As part of this, Lodders will sponsor the Hartpury Agri-Tech Centre — an independent support service for farmers and agri-businesses that are dependent on agriculture-based technologies.
Our legal expertise, particularly in agriculture and rural affairs, will complement Hartpury’s world-class education, research and industry-facing facilities – and will be made available through six jointly hosted workshops covering a range of pressing rural sector topics.
The first session will look at how the farming community in the region can manage the tax changes announced in the budget, providing advice and insights on succession planning. In addition, Lodders will provide careers and mentoring support to Hartpury’s students.
I was also delighted to be involved in Hartpury’s Dragons’ Den-style competition alongside other local businesses. Students from Hartpury pitched their innovative business ideas to our panel. It was fascinating to hear from the agricultural leaders of tomorrow — and a fun opportunity to channel my inner Dragon for the day!
If you could offer one piece of advice to anyone in any field or stage of life, what would you say?
Never look back, always look forward.
