Family matters to Melanie...

Like journalists and estate agents, lawyers don't rank highly in the public imagination.

All too often they're seen as earning fortunes, speaking with plums in their mouths and out for the main chance.

But while Melanie Wilson isn't on her uppers - she was a partner in her old firm and is head of her department in her new one - three-hour lunches and macho backslapping just aren't her thing.

Melanie, 35, is a leading specialist in the very tricky and demanding area of family law. It's an area which can be emotionally draining and unpredictable; many solicitors out for a quiet life won't touch it and stick to conveyancing instead.

But Melanie loves the job in an area of law which gives the real chance of seeing justice done and of championing the poor and the underprivileged.

Her work as head of family law at Southend firm Twitchen, Musters & Kelly involves dealing with abused women, trying to sort out access rights between warring, soon-to-be-ex spouses, and dealing with adoption cases.

By its very nature, feelings often run high and clients need a lot of support, which is why Melanie would never countenance working part-time in order to spend time with her young son.

"You have to be available for clients," she says. "If they are upset, it's not fair that I'm not there or can't be there for them in court because it's a Wednesday and I don't work Wednesdays."

Poised and serene, you believe her assertion that despite her commitment she never allows herself to get emotionally involved. "It clouds your judgement," she says coolly.

"I'm not there to be social worker, mediator or best friend. You need a certain degree of detachment."

Nor, too, does she allow the perennial guilt of the working mother to sap her energies (and boy, does she need every ounce, working the hours she does).

Not for her the uncomfortable feelings of missing out on key stages, the need to just be there. Her husband, a policeman, is there in the morning, the nanny in the afternoon.

She leaves the office at 5.15pm and all time when at home is spent with him. Shopping, housework and office work are done later in the evening. Doesn't she get exhausted? "You get used to that level," she explains.

She says none of her colleagues at the Chelmsford firm of solicitors where she was a partner until joining TMK five weeks ago, even suggested that she might prefer the delights of nappy changing to caseloads once the baby was born, Indeed, she seems slightly surprised at the question.

"I think most people would tell you I am pretty determined," she explains. "I was 33, and I'd eight years of experience . . ."

Her tenacity and drive are probably down to her distinctly ordinary background, in contrast to a profession which is still dominated by white, middle-class males.

Dad was a factory worker, mum a housewife and the family were brought up in the north-east. Melanie had made up her mind that she wanted to be a lawyer aged 11, but her ambition was pooh-poohed by a careers teacher two years later.

"They told me that it was a very closed shop and because my family wasn't involved in law it would be impossible," she says. "I thought: 'I'll show you.' "

And show them she did, despite the fact that her school offered law neither at O-level or A-level. Undaunted, she did the latter in English, history and French, and then won a place at Leicester University to read law, followed by a year at the prestigious Guildford Law School.

From there Melanie went back to her native north-east to do her articles (a form of apprenticeship), and gradually found that family law was what really interested her.

During her years in Chelmsford she worked with the women's refuge there and hopes to help the one at Southend once she has found her feet in her new job.

Already she has made some changes. "Everything here is diarised," she says with some satisfaction. "I have around 150 cases active at any one time so nothing can be allowed to be overlooked."

You can see she is destined to go far. The lilting north-eastern accent is light enough to render her utterly classless. You believe her when she says she has never encountered discrimination of any sort.

"I can get on with people from all walks of life," she says. Her demeanour, too, is cool and calm without being cold or alienating. It would be impossible to guess her thoughts, impossible to place her.

Despite her inscrutability, Melanie remains passionate about her work. She is determined to fight for the rights of battered women, and for women who stand in danger of losing even the roof over their head once they divorce.

One of the biggest rewards, she says, is taking on a client whose has been wronged and winning the case for them.

Does she win often? The arms fold. "Family law is not about winning or losing, particularly where children are concerned," she says, with the true prevarication of her profession (but she's probably right).

She could, if she wished, jettison her principles and opt for a City career in commercial law. It wouldn't be for her, however.

"I need to have an interest in my work and I enjoy contact with clients," she says. "I could not be in an office from 9am to 5pm, sitting looking at leases."

Family matters - solicitor Melanie Wilson overcame major obstacles to fulfill her life-long ambition to be a solictor. Now she specialises in family law

Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.