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  1. Agriculture and estates
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The ‘clear and concise’ Simon Pring heads Farrer & Co’s landed estates group, which can draw on the allied expertise of the largest property team in London handling work in this sector. The ‘cohesive’ team includes Henry Goulding, James Maxwell and Edmund Featherston-Dilke, who ‘work exceptionally well together’ and have ‘a good balance of flair and industry’. The firm is renowned for its client list of landowners; its recent work includes advising on substantial listed building infringements on the purchase of an estate with a Grade 1 listed mansion house, and on the grant of numerous mineral leases. A welcome addition is Rhoddy Voremberg, who joined the team from Wilsons.

Bircham Dyson Bell LLP has a dedicated agriculture and estates team advising on a broad range of matters, from complex trust and family structures to agricultural tenancy issues and planning appeals. Clients appreciate its ‘detailed knowledge of the agricultural industry’ and ‘breadth of skills’. Practice head Christopher Findley is a ‘consummate professional’, and senior associate Henry Cecil is a ‘go-to’ lawyer for sales and purchases involving substantial landed estates. Highlights included advising on the sale of a £15m landed estate in the Cotswolds.

Boodle Hatfield has an excellent agriculture and estates practice under the stewardship of Sue Laing, ‘the best traditional British estate’s private client lawyer’. The team handles sales, purchases and complex tax planning for some of the country’s most substantial estates. Tim Manning is ‘very thorough, and has excellent attention to detail’; Saskia Arthur is ‘very reliable’; and Natasha Hassall is ‘understated but has a mind like a laser’.

‘First rate and accurate’, William Neville handles both disputes and agricultural advisory work at Burges Salmon LLP in Bristol. Vivienne Williams has an exclusively contentious practice, which includes farming partnership disputes and landlord and tenant matters, while Charles Wyld handles tax and succession planning for UK and overseas clients. Peter Williams is now with Wilsons.

The ‘highly skilled’ Christopher Page heads the team at Charles Russell LLP, which provides considerable tax and trusts expertise to its client base of landed estates, substantial farms and agricultural business clients. Representative instructions included advising Lord Sandys and the Ombersley Conservation Trust on strategic, fiscal and property matters.

‘Prompt and proactive’, Forsters LLP has a first-class practice headed by the ‘vastly experienced’ Penny Elliott and Andrew Lane, both ex-Withers LLP, with the highly rated David Robinson and Rupert Mead providing additional expertise. The team advises on tax structuring, innovative leasing arrangements, and sales and purchases for over 90 substantial landed estates.

Patricia Sykes heads the landed estates group at Hunters, which is part of the firm’s excellent, traditionally focused private client offering. Recent work includes the £4m sale of a mansion house with farm attached in Devon, which involved winding up a farming company, the transfer of staff and tenanted cottages, and single farm payment and stewardship scheme entitlements. Jonathan Godwin-Austen and Joe Richardson are considered ‘highly capable pairs of hands’.

Macfarlanes LLP fields a ‘brilliantly inventive and tireless’ three-partner team, featuring the ‘knowledgeable’ John Hornby and ‘very astute’ Tristan Ward. Handling a range of diverse, high-level instructions, it recently arranged the partition of a substantial landed estate in the south of England between spouses and family trusts following a divorce. The practice can draw on the exceptional tax expertise of the private client team.

2010 saw Mills & Reeve LLP advise on three estate transactions worth over £15m each, as well as continue to advise 15 Oxbridge colleges, most of which have large rural landholdings. The firm has a strong landed estates client base, and also acts for farmers and other landowners. Michael Aubrey heads the practice.

Mark Musgrave heads the three-partner team at Speechly Bircham LLP, which regularly acts for high-net-worth non-doms on the purchase of significant UK estates, as well advising a raft of landed estates on tax planning and estate management.

The landed estates group at Withers LLP provides a comprehensive service, drawing on the firm’s international expertise in tax, trusts and estate planning. Highlights included advising a Dutch family on the purchase of a sizeable estate in the north of England, including on the ownership structure and tax implications from a Dutch perspective. Clients value Matthew Woods’s experience in advising family estates, and find his co-practice head Bertie Hoskyns-Abrahall to be ‘hugely qualified’ on agricultural property matters, as well as ‘approachable and easy to deal with’.

Currey & Co is the firm of choice for many traditional landed estates. Jonathan Redmayne has joined the practice from Taylor Wessing LLP.

Sandy Schofield at May, May & Merrimans has a good reputation for advising on farm tenancies, partnership agreements and the agricultural holdings legislation.

Senior partner Alastair Murdie at Payne Hicks Beach has considerable expertise in advising its landed estate client base. Graham Brown is also recommended.

Taylor Wessing LLP advises a number of significant landed estates with over 4,000 acres. The team provides ‘prompt and specialist advice while maintaining an awareness of tax and trust issues’. Andrew Hine heads the group, which was joined by associate Luke Callaghan from Birketts LLP. Joanna Ward is ‘efficient and effective’.

Anita Symington and William Wyldbore-Smith head the agriculture and estates team at Thrings LLP, which regularly acts for landed estates, farms, corporate agricultural enterprises, and entrepreneurs. The Country Land and Business Association is also a client.

Robert Broderick at Trowers & Hamlins LLP counts a significant number of landed estates among his clients.

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