A FIRM of solicitors has taken over an empty office space in a prime York city centre location.

The new legal practice, called Ebor Law, is a family law specialist firm and has opened an office only yards from York Minster in High Petergate. The building was previously home to an estate agent.

The team consists of three lawyers – Louise Walker, Natalie Smith and Nigel Wilson, along with receptionist Debra Jackson.

The trio of specialist family lawyers, come with an impressive pedigree.

Louise is well-known for her ability and experience in ensuring fair settlements.

Natalie qualified in 2006 and has already been involved in bringing a case involving young children before the Court of Appeal.

Nigel has been consulted by the BBC to assist in its coverage of a number of reports including those relating to finances on divorce, about recognition of same sex marriages and most recently a case relating to recognition of a pre-nuptial agreement.

As previously reported in The Press, there were 673 empty business premises in the city on June 1, the highest for at least nine years and an increase of more than 200 since June 2008.

Property expert Andrew Hedley, of York-based Blacks Property Consultants Ltd, said it was good to see a central location being brought back in to use.

He said: “The good news about this one is that it is a new start in the service sector which plays an important part in the city’s economy.

“Clearly, a number of lawyers in Ebor Law feel the time is right to launch a new practice, when firms in the legal profession have been reducing workforces.

“This hopefully will be the start of growth again in the sector.”