Southampton: Eric Robinson Solicitors appoints first female managing partner

To usher in a new era of change and oversee its plans for growth in the forthcoming months, Southampton law firm Eric Robinson Solicitors has made the strategic appointment of Catherine Maxfield as managing partner. 

At the start of the year, the decision was made to create the position of managing partner to take overall responsibility and management of the firm’s activities and Maxfield was voted into the position – making her the first female managing partner of Eric Robinson, and the only one in Southampton and the county of Hampshire.

Maxfield studied English at The University of Bristol before going on to complete another degree in law at the University of West London and her LPC at the College of Law in Guildford. After qualifying in 1994, she was offered a position in civil litigation, but was also given cases in family law. It was at this point that she showed her first signs of wanting to make her mark on the legal profession.

"Before taking those cases, I had been resistant to family law," she recalled. "I knew it was female-dominated and part of the attraction of civil litigation was standing out from the many men, but something just clicked and I knew that was what I wanted to do, so I overcame my own prejudices and started to look for a job in family law."

In 1998, Maxfield joined Eric Robinson as a matrimonial solicitor in the firm’s Chandler's Ford office. Three years later she became a non-equity partner, and in 2007 she bought into the firm becoming its first female full-equity partner.

Commenting on her promotion to managing partner, she said: "Of course this is very exciting for me personally, but I also feel a responsibility as a woman. I want to show younger women that is it possible to break boundaries, that they should keep pushing forward and that the philosophy supported by The Equality Act, for example, is not just an ideology, it is actually happening. Of course, the partnership and staff at Eric Robinson Solicitors have been very positive and supportive, but so has the reaction from the people I meet and friends I have from outside the legal profession.

"I will be dealing with finances, banks, budgets, accounts and overseeing operations and working with the heads of departments to set objectives, agree target and create strategic proposals for partner board meetings.

"Once in those meetings, I shall be just one of the five equity partners and we will make decisions as a team. Without their support, confidence and, ultimately, faith in me I would never have agreed to take on the role. We have some great ideas as a firm and I am delighted to be the person responsible for driving them forward."