Josiah Hincks was first registered to practice law in 1927 and initially Mr Josiah Hincks practiced alone. In 1948 he was joined by his son – so the addition to the name ‘Josiah Hincks & Son’. Later in 1958 they formed a partnership with Mr John Bullough and hence the firm of ‘Josiah Hincks Son & Bullough’ was born.
Mr Josiah Hincks died in December 1957 and his son took over the running of the firm. Over the years other partners were added but the name was retained. Mr John Bullough sadly passed away and there are none of the founders now alive. In October 2008 Josiah Hincks rebranded reverting the firm’s name back to ‘Josiah Hincks’
The building which houses our firm also has a history. The building we are in, The Manse, along with the church next door, St Stephen’s, was originally sited on London Road in Leicester. However, both of the buildings were moved, stone by stone, to their new site on De Montfort Street in the late 1880’s to facilitate the construction of the Leicester Railway Station.
90th Anniversary: 1927 – 2017
Throughout 2017 Josiah Hincks celebrated its 90th anniversary as a law firm and held several events throughout the year to celebrate this, the largest of which was a black tie dinner at the Marriott Hotel in September 2017 when over 260 people comprising current partners and staff of the firm and including clients and professional connections came together to celebrate this milestone in the firms history.
On the evening there was a timeline chart where the firm was able to show how it had grown from a single solicitor, Josiah Hincks, practising from one office in 1927 to the five offices and total of just over 50 staff we have today.
Senior Partner Andrew Eagle said “it’s really fantastic that we can celebrate in this way and note not just the growth of the firm in terms of its legal work but the other aspects we have developed such as the Neil Head memorial prizes at University of Leicester and DeMontfort University as we try to encourage aspiring young solicitors to excel in their studies. We are also proud to be Club solicitors to Leicester Tigers and to sponsor a player each year. Our association with the club and players has grown over the years”.
The firm has a strong connection with De Montfort University not just in terms of the memorial prize but in helping would be solicitors with their training. Since 2006 Josiah Hincks have had 12 trainees who studied at DMU and have undertaken a training contract with them and they currently have 2 more who are waiting to start their training.
Our offices
In recent years the firm has opened more offices around the county.
Here you can see when we opened each of our branch offices.
1999: Coalville
2006: Blaby
2014: Syston
2016: Market Harborough
2023: Enderby
2024: Stamford
2024: Hinckley
Our history with the NFU
The firm is particularly proud that in December 2015 it was appointed as panel solicitors for the National Farmers Union for Leicestershire Northamptonshire and Rutland. Former partner Neil Head, who sadly passed away in 2013, had sought to build up the agricultural practice of the firm over many years in various ways, including spending many a cold winters morning standing at the counties cattle markets talking to the farmers. The recognition of our expertise in acting for farmers was much appreciated. The Firm was re-appointed to the NFU Panel again in 2018.
In 2018, the Firm was also delighted to be awarded the Leicestershire Law Society Small Law Firm of the Year award, which independently recognised the Firm’s achievements and commitment to excellence in customer service.
In 2020 the firm was awarded the NFU’s Tim Sells Legal Panel Excellence Award.
The firm has always looked for ways to support charities and encouraged its staff to be involved in fund raising. The firm acts for a number of charities and also personally act as Trustee on two charity boards, one of which is Rainbow Africa which provides education and medical care in Livingstone Zambia. The firm has sponsored 2 London to Paris bike rides for that charity.
In 2007 Josiah Hincks held a fund raising event for Matt Hampson as part of its re-brand and raised over £7500. Every month Josiah Hincks holds a dress down day for charity and since 2008 they have raised over £21000 for various charities including Hope Against Cancer, Leicestershire County Air Ambulance, Help for Heroes, Sparks, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research, LOROS to name but a few.