An 'inveterate setter upper' who's played a key role in Cumbria

But one sure sign is when the conversation becomes so absorbing that you risk getting a parking ticket.

Meeting John Wilson in the Lakeside Cafe at the Theatre by the Lake, in Keswick, it initially seemed two hours’ parking would give us ample time to discuss his various business, social and environmental pursuits in Cumbria over the last 30 years.

It was nowhere near enough.

John, 61, may be best known all over the county and beyond as founder of commercial law firm Baines Wilson.

However, his “extracurricular” activities have been just as influential as his day job and his passion for sport, the state of the county’s rivers and the future of its environment shine through as strongly as his enthusiasm for supporting the local economy.

John was born in and spent his early years in Carlisle then moved to Keswick aged 10 when his father Ian relocated with his employer Lloyds Bank.

He attended Keswick School and then went to law school in Newcastle.

It was while training in Newcastle that John first got a sense of the opportunity for offering commercial law services in Cumbria.

(Image: Sheenah Alcock)

“I started articles in 1986 and on my first day two files came across my desk from Cumbria,” he says.

“One was from Keswick and I knew the people involved in the matter. That was when I first thought ‘Why are these businesses coming to Newcastle?’”

He returned to Cumbria in 1996 to work for local firm Burnetts before leaving in 1999 to start his own company, Baines Wilson, offering a commercial law service to businesses which may otherwise have looked outside the county.

The name Baines Wilson combines his own surname with the maiden name of his mother Adele, who died a few years before he founded the business.

At the time there were only two other commercial lawyers in the county, a number which, John estimates, has now risen to around 50.

“Fundamentally, the basis for Baines Wilson was the prospective clients, generally speaking, that were medium-sized to large businesses who were using law firms elsewhere around the country,” he says.

Over the next 20 years, Baines Wilson grew to have a Lancaster office and a total of 40 staff working with many of the best-known businesses across the region.

John says the result is a running joke among his family that he is unable to go anywhere without running into someone he knows.

"We had a relationship with most of the significant businesses that had a genuine base in Cumbria,” he says.

Baines Wilson always remained a purely commercial practice, helping local businesses through many of their key developments, acquisitions and mergers.

“Someone once said to me that if you want to set up a purely commercial law firm you’ve probably picked the worst place in the country to do it,” he says.

“In some ways they were probably right. We also had to look for work outside of Cumbria, which we did successfully, and we also had to look for work all over the county despite the fact we were based in Carlisle.”

He says using a local firm came with a number of advantages for businesses.

"Firstly, you got the same quality of advice, because all our senior lawyers were as good as anybody, anywhere,” he says.

"Secondly, you were going to pay a lot less for it and, thirdly, we were around the corner if you needed to come and see us or we needed to come and see you.

"The other point was that we cared because we were accountable, because we were part of the same community and there's no hiding place.”

(Image: Newsquest)

As it grew, Baines Wilson helped bring legal talent into Cumbria and trained lawyers in-house, creating well-paid jobs and healthy competition among the other commercial law services on offer.

“We were helping the local economy, which was always important for me as a dyed-in-the-wool Cumbrian,” he says.

"The bit I enjoyed most was that I spent eight hours a day for almost 30 years talking to people about their businesses.

“People tend to think of lawyers as someone they ring for the bad stuff but most of what I did was positive; how to grow the business, how to retain people, how to buy other businesses or put new client arrangements in place.

“A lot of the clients became friends. One or two of them became friends I was very close to but we had a trusted adviser relationship with all of them.”

John stepped back from his role as director due to ill health in 2017 but continued to work as a consultant.

He made no secret of his disappointment when Baines Wilson was subsequently sold to national firm Knights last summer, immediately resigning as a consultant and expressing his sadness that the whole support staff team were made redundant following the sale.

It is clearly a decision that still hurts John, particularly the irony of a firm that was begun with the local community as a priority now becoming part of a national conglomerate.

However, Baines Wilson is only part of a story which has also seen John play an important role in setting up and supporting many other initiatives.

From the start the firm was a supporter of Cumbria Community Foundation with John becoming a trustee on retiring from Baines Wilson and remaining involved to this day.

“I think it’s an amazing organisation with an incredible group of staff,” he says.

“They’ve got some great donors and I am really proud to be involved.”

Sport has also played a large part in John’s life, both as a player and spectator.

As well as playing as openside flanker for both Carlisle and Keswick rugby clubs he was a keen football player and has been a lifelong supporter of Carlisle United.

During the fallout from the notorious reign of chairman Michael Knighton in the 1990s, John worked with three other passionate supporters to begin the organisation now known as Carlisle United Supporters Trust, with a mission to protest Knighton’s ownership and buy a share of the club. Today the supporters’ trust still has a 10 per cent shareholding.

John stepped back soon after getting the trust up and running to focus on Baines Wilson but has worked with Carlisle United on a professional basis on a number of occasions since.

Baines Wilson was also an enthusiastic sponsor for matches in the early noughties after the football club went into administration. John also set up the Carlisle United Business Club with Dick Young.

He still goes to a number of home and away games every season and says he is excited by the ownership of American businessman Tom Piatak, who bought the club last year.

Elsewhere in the city John was also heavily involved in the early days of setting up Carlisle Youth Zone in 2008.

He then stood down from its board to found and chair another project, the West Cumbria Rivers Trust, which was originally set up in 2009.

John returned to the youth zone in 2015 to help set up the Business Ambassadors’ Group and found the patron network with Lynsey Buckle. He chaired the ambassadors’ group until last year and the youth zone now has over 150 business patrons.

A lifelong fisherman, John has travelled the world stalking trout and salmon, including trips to the Kola Peninsula, in Western Russia, and Patagonia, in South America and this year to Iceland, Norway and the Hebrides.

However, he learned his craft on the rivers of north and west Cumbria, including the Derwent, in Keswick and Eden and Caldew in Carlisle.

His desire to set up West Cumbria Rivers Trust grew out of his concern at the state of these rivers, the dwindling number of fish and the degradation of other wildlife and habitats.

“Outside of family it’s probably one of the things I care about the most,” he says.

Although John began the trust to protect the River Derwent, his focus quickly pivoted to other rivers, and the wider West Cumbria area.

One of its early projects was focused on protecting freshwater mussels in the River Ehen and today it employs 30 staff, carrying out work on 3,400 miles of streams, becks and rivers across West Cumbria.

It works with the community, farmers and landowners to restore and improve habitats and manage land in a way which benefits the ecology of rivers and helps mitigate flooding, as well as carrying out education in local schools.

"When I set out on it, being honest, it was originally from a desire to help fish, particularly salmon,” says John, who was chair of the trust until 2017.

“I soon learned that it was much more about the whole landscape. That's the big challenge.

“It’s something that I am really proud of and it’s provided jobs for 30 people (including four apprentices) and they are doing some really good work.”

Yet another “extracurricular” activity came in the form of the Bay Business Angels, an angel investment network which John set up alongside others in 2017.

The network is run in partnership with Lancaster University Management School and has invested more than £2m in businesses in Cumbria and North Lancashire.

John says it is important to provide a platform for investment to smaller local businesses and startups, to reduce the risk of them looking elsewhere for finance or relocating entirely.

"At that time in Cumbria and Lancaster there wasn't anything locally. It's really important to local businesses and the business community to have access to capital."

Looking back on all these activities, John says he is happy to plead guilty to the charge of being an “inveterate setter upper”.

However, for the present his main focus is on renovations at his home in Keswick, as well as enjoying the great outdoors (including fishing, of course).

John is married to Diane and has three children, Jack, Joe and Molly, who are all in their twenties.

When the time is right, John says he is keen to begin exploring taking on some non-executive roles.

“I originally came back to Cumbria because I thought it would be a good place to do business and a good place to raise a family as well, and I was right,” he says.

“But I’ve always also wanted to do what I can to help. That’s what it’s all been about really.”