Lesley Exton, former editor of Legal Action, retired in July, marking the end of a 33-year relationship with LAG.

Lesley began her career at LAG as an editorial assistant in September 1984. She was promoted to assistant editor of Legal Action in 1985, rising to joint editor in 1989. She became the sole editor in 1995 and was in charge until January 1998. On leaving LAG in 1999, Lesley moved to Regent Typesetting, where she continued to work on the magazine’s production and became an invaluable part of the LAG books team, typesetting many editions of our best-known titles.

Lesley is held in high regard and affection by all who worked with her. LAG and Legal Action housing author Jan Luba QC described her as ‘superb … combining a very keen eye for detail with a razorsharp analytical mind’. His fellow housing author, Nic Madge, went one step further, describing Lesley as a ‘living legend’ and a ‘perfectionist who grew up in the era of typewriters and Tipp-Ex, and never failed to spot grammatical errors and typos which would escape any digital spell-checker’.

To this day, it is clear that, while adored by her authors, Lesley still strikes fear into the most eminent of lawyers, with Jan and Nic debating whether it was okay to say ‘she was great to work with’ as she might tell them off for ending a phrase with a preposition.

Esther Pilger, LAG publisher, said: ‘I am delighted Lesley will have more time to enjoy her already busy and full life outside work but I will miss her terribly. She was the biggest safety net an editor could wish for. She was knowledgeable, super-efficient, supportive and had the best eyes in the business.’

All at LAG wish her the very best for the future.