The firm
A small firm, kept small on purpose.
Founded in 1998 by Helen Ashford and Daniel Vale, we have never wanted to be the largest firm in the region. We want to be the one you call first and the one you still call twenty years on.
Ashford & Vale began with two lawyers who had grown tired of billing sheets and of clients they met twice a year. They rented a single floor on Quay Street in Halden, hired one assistant, and promised each other that the first call from any client would be answered by a lawyer.
That promise still shapes the firm. We now have 7 lawyers in two offices, but each client has a named partner and a second person who knows the file. We do not rotate juniors through matters, and we do not take on more than a partner can supervise personally.
Most of our clients are owner-managed businesses: manufacturers, distributors, software companies, service firms. Many of them also come to us, or to our Marlowe office, for the personal side of the same decisions: a will, a family trust, a plan for handing the business on.
- 1998
Two lawyers, one rented floor
Helen Ashford and Daniel Vale leave a large firm to open an office on Quay Street. The first clients are a printing company, a family of vineyard owners and a landlord who wants his lease read before he signs it.
- 2004
Employment joins the firm
A third partner arrives to build an employment practice, after a run of clients asked who they should call when a key hire resigned. Fixed-fee advice on contracts and exits begins here.
- 2011
A second office
Linden Square opens in Marlowe to serve family businesses that had been driving to Halden for every meeting. Private client work, wills and succession, takes shape in this office.
- 2017
The fixed-fee menu
After two years of tracking time against estimates, the firm publishes a fixed-fee schedule for recurring work and stops billing small matters by the hour.
- 2021
A change at the top
Daniel Vale retires and Helen Ashford becomes managing partner. The name stays, because the clients had come to read it as a single word.
- 2025
Plain-language engagement letters
Every engagement letter is rewritten to fit on two pages. Scope, fees, who does the work and what we will not do are set out before any work begins.
What clients can hold us to.
- Precision before volume
- A short agreement that says exactly what the parties meant is worth more than a long one that covers everything badly. We cut drafts as often as we add to them.
- Candour about odds and cost
- We tell you what a matter is likely to cost and what is likely to go wrong, early, in writing, and again when the picture changes. Sometimes the advice is to do nothing.
- One lawyer who knows your file
- You will not be passed between juniors you have never met. A named partner stays responsible for your matter, and the person who drafts is the person who answers the phone.
- Discretion as a habit
- Most of our work never appears in a court list or a press release, and that is how clients prefer it. We keep files tight, and we do not discuss clients, even in general terms, outside the firm.
How a matter runs, from the first call.
A first conversation
Up to thirty minutes, free, with a lawyer, not an intake clerk. We listen, check for conflicts and say plainly whether we can help.
A written proposal
Scope, who will do the work, how you will be charged and what we will not do. Two pages, signed by a partner.
The work, with news
A short update at each milestone, and one whenever the picture changes. No silence between invoices.
A closing note
What was done, what remains for you to do, and when to come back. Files are returned or stored as you prefer.
Beyond the matter
Each lawyer gives forty hours a year to unpaid work: advice sessions at a local advice centre, trustee roles for small charities, and an annual clinic for first-time founders. These hours are scheduled and recorded like client work, because intentions without diaries tend to lapse.
We also invest in the people who join us. Trainees sit with a partner in each seat and attend client meetings from their first month. Everyone at the firm has a development plan that is reviewed twice a year, and lawyers are encouraged to take the time they need for study and family.
Tell us about your matter in three short steps.
Matter, a few lines of detail, how to reach you. We check for conflicts and reply within one business day. The first conversation, up to thirty minutes, is free.
Sending a request does not create an attorney-client relationship.