Romiley Gazette – Local Government & Legal Affairs
October 27th 2025

Profile: Solicitor Bryn Higgott and his work with local councils

Public records show that Bryn Graham Higgott is a practising solicitor who has spent much of his career working in local-government legal services in the South West.

According to the Law Society’s Solicitors Directory, Mr Higgott remains a registered solicitor in England and Wales. His professional experience includes roles connected with the SHAPE Legal Partnership—a shared service that provided legal support to councils such as Mendip District Council—and subsequently with Somerset Council, which absorbed Mendip’s functions in 2023.

Council documents available on public meeting websites list “Bryn Higgott, Legal Services” as an author or legal advisor on several reports for Mendip-area authorities. These records suggest that his involvement came through an in-house or shared-service capacity, rather than via a separate commercial contract.

Companies House also lists a Bryn G. Higgott as a company officer of HIGGOTTS SOLICITORS LTD, a small legal practice registered in Billingham, County Durham. No evidence has been found in publicly available procurement registers to indicate that this firm held direct paid contracts with Mendip District Council.

Mr Higgott’s combination of public-sector and private-practice experience illustrates the mixed model increasingly common in local-government law, where councils share specialist staff across districts to control costs and maintain expertise. The SHAPE partnership—serving authorities such as Mendip, Sedgemoor and Taunton Deane—was among the early adopters of this collaborative structure.

There are no disciplinary findings or adverse regulatory notices recorded against Bryn Graham Higgott in the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s public register.

Residents seeking to understand how shared legal services operate within Somerset’s new unitary system can view background papers and legal-service updates on the Somerset Council democracy website, where Mr Higgott’s name continues to appear in published reports.

Sources: Law Society Solicitors Directory; Companies House officer listings; public council documents from Mendip District Council, SHAPE Legal Partnership and Somerset Council (accessed October 2025).