Lancashire is governed from Preston. County Hall, the headquarters of Lancashire County Council, stands a few minutes from the Combined Court Centre, the county's police force has its headquarters just outside the city at Hutton, and the Crown Court here takes the most serious cases from the whole county, including the Lancaster and Morecambe cases that came south when the castle courts closed. Preston's law firms grew up around that concentration of public institutions, and most still sit in the streets between Fishergate, Winckley Square and the courts.
Where Preston's cases are heard
The Combined Court Centre houses the Crown Court and the county court, with the family court for central Lancashire sitting alongside; the Edwardian Sessions House on Lancaster Road also hears Crown Court trials. The magistrates' court deals with the first appearance in every criminal case and the bulk of motoring and minor offences. Employment tribunal claims from Lancashire workplaces are listed by the tribunal's north-west region and are often heard by video.
The work of a Preston solicitor
Two industries set the tone. Aerospace, through the military aircraft sites at Warton and Samlesbury and the engineering supply chain around them, brings well-paid, unionised and security-cleared employment, and with it redundancy consultations, restructures and defined benefit pensions that dominate the finances in a divorce. The public sector, in the shape of the county council, the city council, the Royal Preston Hospital and the university in the city centre, until recently known as UCLan, is the other big employer. Housing ranges from Victorian terraces in Deepdale, Plungington and Ashton, many of them let to students or families, through the comfortable suburbs of Fulwood and Penwortham, to the new estates spreading across the north-west of the city, where management charges and planning conditions keep conveyancers alert. Preston's long-established Gujarati and wider South Asian communities bring cross-border questions in family law and probate, from marriages conducted abroad to property in India. Farms in the Fylde and the Ribble Valley need rural specialists.
Fees, legal aid and insurance in Preston
Conveyancing, wills, powers of attorney and uncontested divorce are usually offered at a fixed price; disputes run on hourly rates with a budget agreed for each stage. Criminal legal aid is widely available through Preston firms, and several hold family and housing contracts. Household insurance often includes legal expenses cover for employment, contract and neighbour disputes; it is worth reading whether you can get legal help for free before committing to private fees. All firms listed here are regulated by the SRA, and the featured firms have passed the site's verification of their SRA record, contact details and reviews as well.
Using this page
The areas of law below each describe how that work runs from Preston and list the firms that do it. Use the Preston search for solicitors near a particular address, the Lancashire search for Blackburn, Blackpool, Chorley and the rest of the county, the Best Solicitors in Lancaster page for the north of the county and the Best Solicitors in Manchester page for the city down the M61. The legal insights section explains the common problems before you make a call.
