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The Academic Board

Academic Board Members

RICHARD GOULDEN

Richard is an experienced businessman and managing director of a successful willwriting business situated near Bristol. His company, Heritage Law, specialises in will drafting, tax planning and associated activities.

In thirteen years the company has built up an enviable reputation for providing high quality advice and support for a wide range of client needs. The company enjoys a position of strength in the market by securing most of its referrals by word of mouth from satisfied clients. Richard prides himself on ensuring the services his company provides are timely, cost efficient and effective in satisfying client need. Richard says, ‘Clients are individuals with individual needs. The services we offer are bespoke and tailored exactly to the needs of the client. We aim to exceed client expectation.’

Richard believes that the industry would benefit from regulation. Whilst his company operates high standards of client care and client provision, he is aware that some operate in the market with less than desirable credentials and business ethics. Richard adds, ‘Whilst most willwriting companies offer excellent service, there is nothing to prevent rouges from setting up business and giving the whole industry a bad reputation. Meeting certain minimum standards should not worry legitimate, honourable businesses and can only enhance client confidence and ultimately business opportunities.’

By joining the Academic Board, Richard believes that he can add his experience to the development of training programmes, professional development courses and training materials to ensure they are fit for purpose in the willwriting industry.

TEHSIN ASLAM

Tehsin Aslam, is the founder and Managing Director of Abacus Will Writers UK Ltd, based in Leicester, she came into the Will writing industry 12 years ago. Tehsin comes from having a successful career of 15 years in Social Work.

Tehsin set up her own business, Abacus Will Writers UK Ltd 7 years ago. Tehsin’s company now prides itself as being one of the leaders in the field of Will writing and Estate Planning nationally. Although the majority of Tehsin's clients are from the English community, she soon realised that around 95% of the Asian community; and within the Muslim sector around 97%, had not written their Wills yet. She has successfully and is still continuing to raise awareness in the Asian community of the importance of writing a Will and putting their affairs in order to make sure their loved ones have financial security and avoid family disputes when they have died; therefore helping her clients to achieve peace of mind.

Tehsin then started to raise awareness in the Asian communities by writing articles in leading Asian newspapers and magazines, giving presentations at seminars and conferences.

Whilst running her own busy and successful business, Tehsin is also committed and actively involved with charities, as well as being a dedicated committee member of The Halimah Trust. Due to her vast experience in Social Work and now in the Will Writing industry, Tehsin is also a Stakeholder of the Office of Public Guardianship, which is a Government department that deals with Powers of Attorneys and vulnerable adults.

Tehsin will be bringing practical experience from within the industry to the Academic Board, especially in relation to Muslim wills. Tehsin firmly supports the need for regulation of the will writing industry and is delighted to be joining the Academic Board where she hopes, amongst other things, to share her knowledge of training within the industry.

Martyn Packer BA (Hons), LLM.

Martyn worked in private practice as a solicitor in wills, trusts probate. He is now a freelance training consultant in the areas of wills, probate and private client work and has had many years experience in the training of legal personnel. He has taught on the Legal Practice courses at several Universities throughout the country, both as a lecturer and as an external examiner. He is a visiting lecturer for private client elective on the Legal Practice course at Birmingham City University. This wealth of knowledge and experience make Martyn an ideal candidate for a position on the board.

David Corbridge BA (Hons); Cert Ed; Dip. HE

After 17 years working in the legal profession, David accepted an invitation to teach at a large college of Further Education, focussing on a range of Higher Education and professional programmes and he has never looked back. This knowledge and experience led to his developing further education and degree level programmes for a number of colleges and universities and his being appointed as an examiner for law subjects with several awarding bodies. Until the abolition of the Board of Trade, David acted as the legal advisor on the civil procedure system to the Deputy Chairman of the Board and was involved in the development of the smalls claim procedure which operates in the County Court.