Charlotte Ponder is the founder and director of WillComply, providing specialist compliance support to estate planning and will writing businesses. She is also full member of STEP, a trustee of Age UK Coventry & Warwickshire and a member of the bar council money laundering working group. She was previously appointed to the government expert industry working group on electronic execution of documents which produced two reports, promoting and facilitating the use of electronic signatures
What was your career path to your current role?
I studied law at university, then spent a year at Willsons Solicitors in Nuneaton ‘outdoor clerking’ in the family department – I owe a huge amount to Heather Wolfe, a partner there, who I learnt an enormous amount from in a short space of time. From there I went to Bar school and completed the BVC, before returning to Willsons and eventually cross-qualifying as a solicitor. I then joined a national estate planning business and trust corporation, where I spent nine years as legal director and completed the full STEP diploma. In 2026 I left to establish WillComply.
Did you have any other career ambitions?
I originally wanted to be a family law barrister, and completed the bar vocational course with that in mind, but despite trying I never got past any of my first round pupillage interviews. Eventually I made the decision to let the ambition go and focus on what else I could do to have a fulfilling career in law.
What keeps you motivated in your work?
Knowing that I’m helping estate planning and will writing business owners to achieve peace of mind. Working in private client is a huge privilege, but can be daunting – the stakes are high, and getting ever higher. The pace of change, and what is expected of business owners alongside their day jobs of looking after clients, is immense.
What has been the best development in wills and probate in the last 20 years?
For me it’s the growing professionalism of the sector. We’re seeing far more practitioners obtain recognised qualifications, and a real shift towards treating private client work as the specialism it absolutely is.
And the worst?
The growing complexity of it all – particularly around estate planning. Available reliefs, IHT NRB, RNRB, CGT … It’s increasingly hard for families to plan with certainty when so much keeps changing, and difficult for even advisers to stay ahead of. What should be a straightforward process for families ends up feeling like a minefield.
If you could bring in one new piece of legislation for the sector, what would it be and why?
Legislation permitting electronic wills and encouraging the use of electronic signatures more broadly – I’d bring it in tomorrow if it was up to me. So much can be done remotely and electronically, and technology already exists to give assurance to various parts of the instruction taking and signing process, but the law (and the practitioners dealing with it day to day) hasn’t caught up. The use of electronic signatures is already permitted in many circumstances – but people are afraid to dive in. Legislation explicitly prescribing their use may help encourage people to look at using them wherever they can. There is still far too much wet ink flying around!
What piece of legislation would you take off the statute books and why?
The legal services act 2007, in the sense that it reserves certain activities to solicitors specifically. That’s possibly a controversial view – but if it was up to me I’d take it off the books and have a genuine super-regulator that holds everyone working in this space to the same standard, regardless of their qualifications or background. What should matter isn’t the letters after someone’s name, it’s whether they’re competent, and accountable to clients. The current framework can create a false sense of security based on title alone, while some highly capable practitioners outside the traditional route still face artificial barriers. A super-regulator would create a more level playing field and encourage further innovation whilst increasing client protection.
What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you regarding your career?
Say yes and try things – even if you end up realising it’s not for you, that’s powerful in itself. You learn as much from working out what you don’t want to do as from finding what you do.
What advice would you like to give to someone just starting out?
Don’t wait until you feel ready – put yourself forward, ask questions, and take on opportunities even when they feel outside of your comfort zone. When you do find your feet, remember to pay it forward – mentor those coming up behind you, and don’t pull the ladder up after yourself.
Tell us something people may be surprised to know about you…
I can say the longest place name in Wales. I can’t spell it though, but ask me to pronounce it the next time I see you!
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