LATIMER Hinks solicitors in Darlington has celebrated the retirement of its longest-serving member of staff.

In 1963 Mary Everitt joined the firm based in Priestgate on a three-month trial. “They never did tell me if I passed!” she says – and 49 years later she has seen major changes within the way law is practised and has been involved in cases which have been of importance to the local area.

Having arrived as a junior secretary, Everitt worked alongside some of the town’s best known lawyers, including Charles Hinks, Eric Marsham and, for 21 years, Tony Little.

When Anne Elliott joined the firm in 1976 Everitt helped her to promote and expand the already well established Latimer Hinks’ private client department, which Elliott still heads. The two worked together until Everitt’s retirement and will continue to have a close working relationship, as she acts as Elliott’s personal assistant in connection with her role as Under Sheriff of the County Palatine of Durham.

Everitt admitted that it would be a wrench to leave: “Latimer Hinks has always based and prided itself upon the personal service that continues,” she said. “It is very much a family firm in the context of serving several generations of families.”