Helen Watson was voted the first female senior partner of Aaron & Partners in early 2026, 19 years after joining as its first female equity partner. She has led the firm’s employment team for more than 16 years and is recommended by The Legal 500 in the North West and West Midlands. The independent firm has offices in Chester, Shrewsbury, Altrincham and the Wirral. She tells Business Matters why it intends to stay that way.

What do you currently do at Aaron & Partners?

As senior partner, I work closely with our wider leadership team to shape and deliver the strategy for Aaron & Partners, looking at how we continue to grow the firm and develop new opportunities across the North West, North Wales and the Midlands, as well as increasingly through our international relationships.

Alongside that, I head up our employment and immigration team, where I advise regional, national and international employers on a wide range of complex employment matters: discrimination and harassment, large-scale redundancies, TUPE, trade union negotiations and workplace investigations. I am also a mediator and I appear as an advocate in the employment tribunal, where the backlog of single claims reached a record 70,000 at the end of June.

It means my role is quite varied. One day I might be helping a client navigate a particularly difficult employment issue, and the next I will be looking more broadly at where we want to take the firm and the opportunities we should be pursuing.

What was the inspiration behind your business?

Aaron & Partners has always been very clear about what it wants to be as a law firm, especially at a time of significant consolidation in the legal sector. We are proudly independent and want to grow organically while remaining rooted in the regions and communities we serve.

That independence allows us to build long-term relationships with our clients and provide practical legal advice with a real understanding of the commercial challenges they face. For me, that level of client care is what really sets us apart, and it is something we are determined not to lose as we continue to grow.

Who do you admire?

Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand. She was known for empathetic leadership, clear communication and decisiveness during crises, and she demonstrated that strength and kindness can coexist.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

As I am leading a successful team and firm, it is hard to reflect on anything I would have done differently. I became the first female owning partner the year I joined the firm, and have subsequently become the first female senior partner.

I have always been a single parent to a son who is just about to turn 21. Alongside the day job, I hope I will always be viewed and remembered as significantly contributing to charity and giving back to the community, which is very important to me. I chair Theatr Clwyd, which has been through a capital redevelopment of more than £50m, I am an ambassador and former chair of Claire House Children’s Hospice, and I spent 11 years as chair of the Institute of Directors in North Wales. Over the last decade I have raised more than £200,000 for local causes.

What defines your way of doing business?

From my perspective, relationship building always has to be at the core, and I believe we are only as good as the relationships we build. Whether it is with a client, a colleague or someone I have met through one of the various organisations I am involved with, I have always believed in taking the time to get to know people properly and understand what matters to them.

I also think we have to demystify the legal profession. There is probably still a misconception that law is a stuffy, corporate world full of legal jargon. While some firms might be like that, at Aaron & Partners we believe in providing practical legal answers to practical problems. Ultimately, people want approachable lawyers they can talk to comfortably, and that is something I have always tried to bring to the way my team and I work.

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Do not become so worried about risk that it stops you from taking opportunities. Running a business has probably never felt more complex, especially as employers are dealing with rising costs, changes to employment law, inflation and countless other pressures. But if you focus on every potential problem, it would be very easy to talk yourself out of starting a business altogether.

That does not mean ignoring the risks, but if you have done your homework, believe in the idea and made a sound judgement that there is a business opportunity there, back yourself.

It is also important to build a good team around you from the off. Whether that is employees, lawyers, accountants or other advisers, lean on their expertise. The best business owners I work with know what they are good at, but they also know when to ask someone else for help.

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