Obituary - Glenys Bevan / Travis 1939 - 2016

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Back row: Francis Frost, Stephen James, Bill Birch Reynardson (Senior partner), Terence Coghlin, John Jillings, Michael Summerskill, Michael Miller, Charles Goldie, Robin Travis, Hugo Wynn-Williams, David Martin-Clark, Peter Wright, Nigel Lindrea, Herry Lawford
Seated: Anne James, Gillie Wright, Lies Frost, Margaret Martin-Clark, Marylees Summerskill, Beatrice Goldie, Jill Miller, Nik Birch Reynardson, Anthea Wodehouse, Sally Lindrea, Glenys Travis.
                             

Glenys, who died in December 2016, was unmissable - forthright, extremely bright and an excellent lawyer. She was wonderful at dealing with Members - particularly the Greeks, who she usually easily out-talked, and was always full of good humour, One could hear her deep voice and throaty laughter from behind the enormous stacks of Defence files that she was always working on. She famously had three wire filing trays on her desk labelled 'In', 'Out' and 'SET' - which stood for 'Solved By The Effluxion of Time'. 

I remember travelling out to see her and Robin on a weekend to discuss the Defence Annual Report which required legal notes preparing and finding them so well-briefed that there was little for me or anyone else to do. And they were both very fine mentors to the younger members of staff. I still have the notes written into my 'Commonplace Book' (as recommended by Frank Ledwith, our partner in charge of training) containing guidance from them on abstruse aspects of laytime and such gems as the ways in which single and cross liabilities are applied in the settlement of collision damage.  

I always think of Glenys as wreathed in cigarette smoke. Sidney Fowler had sourced some glass P&I ashtrays from somewhere cheap and hers was always overflowing. Peter Wright was the partner in charge of Syndicate 2 where she worked in the 1960s and 70s, and he too smoked incessantly, so their offices were in a perpetual fog. Glenys wasn't a partner but was the equal of any and had the status of one, augmented of course but her marriage to the great Robin Travis.

In later years she joined the new Professional Indemnity department and worked with the likes of Michael Summerskill and Francis Frost on the new clubs such as SIMIA and the Bar Mutual. She was always highly respected. Genys and Robin are seen here at Michael Summerskill's Retirement party at the RAC Club in 1989  





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