Business | Posted on February 27th, 2026 | return to news

Dorset law firm celebrates senior partner’s 50-year milestone

Senior Partner Simon Nethercott has worked for Harold G Walker Solicitors for 50 years.

A Dorset-based law firm is celebrating a major milestone as Senior Partner Simon Nethercott has completed 50 years with the business.

Nethercott joined Harold G Walker in 1976 to begin his training. He qualified in 1980 and was made partner in 1984, specialising in commercial property. Now he is senior partner and head of Business and Commercial at the firm.

Football played a key part in his decision to join the business. Nethercott had received another offer from a different firm in 1976, but he chose Harold G Walker because is passionate about football and the firm’s founder, Harold Walker, was then chairman of AFC Bournemouth.

Reflecting on his early years, Nethercott said: “I am the only one left at the firm who met Mr Harold, as he was called in the Practice. When Mr Harold finally ‘hung up the quill’ in the early 1990s, he proposed me as his successor as honorary solicitor for both the Bournemouth Football Association and the Hampshire Football Association, a role I still hold today.”

Alongside his commercial property work, Nethercott also acted as a duty solicitor attending the local magistrates’ courts and police cells on behalf of clients. He said: “I enjoyed criminal advocacy and was sad when the government changed the Legal Aid regime.

“By far the greatest satisfaction in the job has been maintaining long-term relationships with clients and other professionals. I am now acting for the grandchildren of clients I represented 40 years ago. If you had told me in 1976 that this is going to be your career for the next 50 years, I would have been delighted!”

Nethercott has worked across several Harold G Walker offices, including Bournemouth, Parkstone, Wimborne and Broadstone, and is now based at the Verwood office.

Fellow partner at Harold G Walker, Nicola Lowe, said: “Congratulations to Simon for an extraordinary 50 years in the profession, marking a truly remarkable chapter in our firm’s history.

“On behalf of everyone past and present who has worked with us, I want to thank him for his dedication, friendship, and the legacy he helped to create. It has been an honour to share 26 of those years together.”

Harold G Walker Solicitors provides legal services across Wimborne, Broadstone, Verwood and Christchurch. The team specialises in commercial law, wills, trusts, probate, residential and commercial conveyancing, family law, employment advice and dispute resolution. For more information, visit https://hgwalker.co.uk.