Barcan+Kirby Managing Partner retires after 27 years

Bristol-based law firm, Barcan+Kirby’s Managing Partner, Bill Willcocks, is retiring after 27 years.

Bill will step away from the partnership in April 2025 and will move into a Consultancy role. He will be handing over the reins to current Executive Partner and family lawyer, Anna Wilson.

Since qualifying as a solicitor in 1994, Bill has specialised in Personal Injury and Dispute Resolution. As a newly qualified lawyer, he worked primarily on employers’ liability claimant work for union members, crossing both employment and personal injury law.

Bill joined Kirby Simcox in 1998 continuing employers’ liability work for union members as well as a general mix of personal injury and dispute resolution cases including acting for clients who had suffered accidents and injuries at work, road accidents and accidents in public places and defending civil claims for businesses and individuals in areas such as breach of contract, building disputes and where a former advisor is alleged to have given wrong advice.

In 2001, Bill became a Partner and was made Managing Partner in 2010 following a merger with local law firm Kirby Sheppard. In 2013, Bill entered negotiations with Partners at Barcan Woodward on behalf of Kirby Sheppard about merging the two firms. In 2015, Barcan+Kirby was born, and Bill became the Managing Partner in 2017.

Under Bill’s leadership, the firm has flourished, not just commercially, but culturally, providing a more diverse place to work with a 67% increase in the number of Partners at the firm and a 2% rise in the female to male Partner balance. The number of employees has surged 34% from 139 staff members in 2015 to 186 in 2024. A true reflection on the plausible work he has achieved.

The firm will hold an internal party to celebrate Bill’s retirement and the wonderful work he has achieved throughout his working career and personal life.

Bill commented “It has been a privilege to have been entrusted with the leadership of Barcan+Kirby and before that, Kirby Sheppard, for the last 13 years. Thinking about how the firm has grown since 2001 when I was first appointed as a partner at Kirby Simcox amazes me.

I have worked with some great colleagues over the last 30+ years since I qualified as a solicitor, sadly not all of whom are still with us. I have learned from all of them and hope that I may have left a positive mark on others I have met along the way. I leave the firm in very good hands as I retire and I am sure that the culture of the firm will continue. Caring and respect for each other (clients, colleagues and the wider community alike) lies at the heart of everything we do, and I am proud to have played some part in that. Most of all, though, I am looking forward to not setting my alarm clock.”