In Memoriam

In Memory of Janet Knott LL.B. (Hons) Solicitor

Janet first joined us at Towns Needham well over 31 years ago in 1977, starting as an articled clerk. She was articled to Elsie Gilliland, who was quickly impressed by Janet, with her good sharp intellect, her enthusiasm, attention to detail, willingness to learn and sheer hard work. Janet clearly enjoyed her work and her enthusiasm could be infectious.

Her articles were a success and she duly qualified as a solicitor. Having qualified, she did not move on, but stayed with the firm as an assistant solicitor, initially at our Manchester office at John Dalton house. She moved down to the Levenshulme office, after a period of time, to work with Hartley Oldham in that busy practice, dealing with a wide variety of non-contentious legal work. She worked with conveyancing, probate, trust, charity and commercial work. She stayed at Levenshulme until we eventually closed the office in 2003, when she moved up to our present premises in central Manchester.

There were two sides to Janet. Firstly, there was the professional side as a solicitor, but also a humorous and very human side to her character. With regards to the professional side, Janet was straightforward, with no airs or graces, no false pride, not an ounce of pomposity and no hidden agenda. She was very hard working; she was frequently the first into the office and the last to leave. She was consistent, reliable and clear headed, able to analyse problems efficiently and provide sensible and practical advice.

At the Levenshulme office she dealt with all sorts of clients with empathy and understanding, particularly the elderly and vulnerable. She was always prepared to put in the extra work than was required; she would not hesitate to visit clients at their homes and would go out of her way to spend time to understand their problems and concerns.

A typical example of the sort of care and concerns she showed was that, on one occasion a client had died who appeared to have neither family nor friends. The funeral had been arranged but Janet realised that there was likely to be no one attending, so she asked her secretary, Teresa Stones, to accompany her to the funeral. Janet was correct and the only other people attending the funeral were the funeral directors.

During her time at Levenshulme she began to take on more charity-based legal work, which in many ways was very different from the work she was used to with her private clients. There was no doubt that she would be capable of coping with the more complex legal issues this involved, but Janet’s view was that “Legal problems don’t just exist for there own sake in isolation but, at the end of the day, they are grounded in real people”. She thrived on this work and became an integral and valued advisor. The measure of the respect in which she was held can be gauged by the warm and generous tributes which have been received since her death.

Janet having gone, has left a certain emptiness in the office. She was well liked and well loved.

We will miss her always.

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