Walk down Southernhay, the Georgian terrace a few minutes from Exeter Cathedral, and the brass plates tell you what the street is for. Several of the largest law firms in the south-west are based in Exeter, alongside dozens of smaller practices across the city and in the market towns around it, and the Combined Court Centre at Southernhay Gardens is a short walk from most of them. Exeter is the county town of Devon, home to County Hall, the University of Exeter, the Met Office and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, and its legal profession has grown with the city's professional and technology sector.
Where cases are heard
Exeter Combined Court Centre houses the Crown Court, the county court and the family court, so a criminal trial, a contract dispute and a children case may all be running in the same building on the same morning. Exeter Magistrates' Court sits on Heavitree Road, and employment tribunal hearings for Devon are held in Exeter as well, though many are now by video. Devon and Cornwall Police have their headquarters at Middlemoor on the east of the city, and HMP Exeter is in the city itself. Larger commercial claims go to the Business and Property Courts in Bristol.
The work Exeter generates
Exeter's property market moves faster and dearer than the rest of Devon. New estates at Cranbrook, Monkerton and Newcourt, period houses in St Leonards and Pennsylvania, student shared houses around Mount Pleasant, and the villages and commuter towns from Crediton to Exmouth keep conveyancers busy, and the Exe brings flood-risk questions for buyers in St Thomas and Exwick. Employment work comes from the university's fixed-term research contracts, from the NHS, the Met Office and County Hall, and from the airport, where the airline based there failed twice and showed how much insolvency and redundancy law matters. Families separate here as everywhere, with pensions from public-sector employers and the Royal Marines at Lympstone often the biggest asset after the house. East Devon's retirement coast makes wills, lasting powers of attorney, care-fee planning and probate a large share of the work, and Mid Devon's farms need succession and tenancy advice. The science park and the university's spin-outs bring intellectual property and investment work that would once have gone to London.
Choosing and paying
Choose a solicitor for the problem, not for the size of the firm: a large Exeter practice may be right for a business sale and wrong for a simple will. Fixed fees are usual for conveyancing, wills, lasting powers of attorney and undefended divorces; disputes are charged by the hour, usually with an estimate per stage. Legal aid still covers criminal defence, domestic abuse, care proceedings and some housing cases, and a number of Exeter firms hold contracts. Insurance policies sometimes include legal expenses cover, so check whether you can get legal help for free. All listed firms are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority; featured firms have also passed the site's own verification.
From this page
Each area of law has its own Exeter page below, with the firms that practise it. To find a solicitor near a specific address, use the Exeter search, or widen it to the whole of Devon. Plymouth has its own landing page, as does Truro for Cornwall, and the legal insights section explains common legal problems before you commit to a fee.
