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COMPARATIVE GUIDES
IHL SPRING 2017 EDITION
United Kingdom > West Midlands > Private client > Contentious trusts and probate > Law firm and leading lawyer rankings
Contentious trusts and probate
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1
- FBC Manby Bowdler LLP (Wolverhampton)
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Knights Professional Services Limited (Newcastle under Lyme) - MFG Solicitors LLP (Kidderminster)
- Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)
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2
- DWF (Birmingham)
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Thomas Horton LLP (Worcester)
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3
- Irwin Mitchell (Birmingham)
- Lanyon Bowdler (Shrewsbury, Telford, Hereford)
- Mills & Reeve LLP (Birmingham)
- Thursfields Solicitors (Kidderminster, Stourport, Worcester)
- Wright Hassall LLP (Leamington Spa)
Find out which law firms are representing which Contentious trusts and probate clients in West Midlands using The Legal 500's new comprehensive database of law firm/client relationships. Instantly search over 925,000 relationships, including over 83,000 Fortune 500, 46,000 FTSE350 and 13,000 DAX 30 relationships globally. Access is free for in-house lawyers, and by subscription for law firms. For more information, contact david.burgess@legal500.com.
A recent highlight for FBC Manby Bowdler LLP was advising a client who acted as the executor and beneficiary of an estate with assets in the UK and another jurisdiction. Department head Craig Ridge and solicitor Kimberly Mears are recommended.
Knights Professional Services Limited’s team, led by Jessica Costello, specialises in large, complex estates and all forms of inheritance planning and asset protection.
MFG Solicitors LLP provides a ‘superb service’, according to one client, and the head of its practice, Robert Weston, is ‘exceptional’. The team acts for beneficiaries and defendants of claims as well as executors.
Sydney Mitchell LLP’s team ‘offers sound practical advice to the lay client’, according to one source. Recent work includes settling two substantial claims under the Inheritance Act valued at £22m. Kamal Majevadia heads the department.
DWF clients include The Pony Club, Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust and Barclays Investment and Wealth Management. The team recently acted in a multimillion-pound case involving allegations of trust fund mismanagement. Department heads are Helen Briant and Keith Mills.
Thomas Horton LLP’s team is ‘experienced, knowledgeable and well regarded by clients’ and acts for beneficiaries, executors and trustees. Practice head James Sommerville ‘gives firm advice when needed and is never afraid of his opponents’.
Irwin Mitchell’s team handled a high-profile matter for the family of a man who died while abroad, which led to a complex case involving businesses and assets in three jurisdictions. Gavin Faber leads the practice.
Claire Vale heads the team at Lanyon Bowdler, which acted for a client whose brother died and left 50% of the house they owned together to an animal charity.
The lawyers in Mills & Reeve LLP’s team provide ‘first-rate advice and are always accessible’. Norwich-based David Catchpole is head of the department nationally, and John Grundy is a key contact in the Birmingham office.
Thursfields Solicitors advised on and helped to settle a dispute arising from a client’s right to reside in her deceased partner’s property following his death. Mark Pittaway heads the team, which grew through the recruitment of associate solicitor Tracey Ashford.
At Wright Hassall LLP partners Martin Oliver and Gemma Carson, and senior associate Anna Sutcliffe, have extensive experience handling contentious probate matters, including high-profile inheritance disputes and matters concerning high-value estates and professional negligence.
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