Behind the scenes at Wigan's Faircloughs Solicitors: 'It's all about being fair and honest'

Established in 2001 by Ken Fairclough, who left school without any qualifications and worked in industry for three decades before qualifying as a solicitor in 1999, Faircloughs is a personal injury attorney with offices in Earlestown, Golborne, Pemberton, and Ashton-in-Makerfield.

"I'd worked in industry for many years so I have a great understanding of it and I knew there wasn't a solicitor in Golborne, so I decided to open the office," said Ken, who is now 72 and lives in Newton-le-Willows. "I find the work interesting and rewarding; insurance companies generally try to settle as cheaply as they can, so I find it satisfying to act on a claimant's behalf and get justice and a good sum."

Liverpool-born Mark agrees. "We work on a no-win, no-fee basis and we don't do work for insurance companies, we just do work for claimants so there are no conflicts and we're as independent as we can be," he said. "I've been a personal injury litigator for near on 40 years now and it's very cut-and-thrust.

"You've got to not only do your best to succeed in the case but also get people the just amount of compensation."

Covering accidents at work; slips, trips, and falls; construction industry accidents; clinical negligence; cosmetic claims; and a number of other areas of litigation, Faircloughs deals with what can be highly stressful situations for people, making Office Secretary Jo Taylor's role even more crucial.

"I'm out front of house so when clients come in, I'm the first person people speak to," said Jo, 35, who has worked at the company since 2017 and lives in Wigan. "I think a lot of the time people can be quite scared to come into the solicitors', so we're friendly and approachable. I really enjoy the job, it's so varied."

Faircloughs can be contacted on 01942 665 700