Jennifer Ridgway > Farrer & Co > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Farrer & Co
66 LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS
LONDON
WC2A 3LH
England

Living Wage

Work Department

Private Client Services

Position

Jennifer acts for a wide range of international and UK-based families, individuals and trustees, advising on estate planning, wealth structuring and trust issues. She is committed to working with families, and those that advise them and their often complex structures, to achieve successful succession between generations.

A significant part of Jennifer’s practice is advising UK and offshore trustees on their duties and decision-making, and providing UK tax advice in connection with complex trust structures.  She helps trustees and families with the creation, management and reorganisation of structures with a focus on ensuring successful transfer of wealth between generations.  She is frequently involved in providing succession advice in a broad sense, including working with families in relation to good governance and philanthropic concerns.

A large number of the families she looks after are multi-national and typically own properties, businesses and hold investment across a number of countries.  Jennifer assists families and individuals who are non-UK domiciled in relation to pre-arrival planning and pre-deemed domicile planning.  She also has experience of acting for individuals involved in the literary and entertainment worlds, and the particular issues that arise in connection with their estates, both in terms of lifetime planning and after their death.

Jennifer has extensive experience in acting for large landed estates.  She works with estate owning families and trustees, with a key focus on managing succession.  She works collaboratively with property and other colleagues to provide forward-looking commercial advice, and regularly assists with complex inheritance tax issues, trust restructuring, and helping resolve trustee-beneficiary issues for large estates.  She particularly enjoys working as a team with other professionals involved with landed estates, working together to find proactive solutions for families who want to see their inherited wealth prosper for future generations.

Her experience of trust matters and advice to trustees and families means she is frequently involved in aspects of UK and offshore trust litigation and non-contentious applications to court, and works closely with the firm’s contentious trusts and estates team.  She has particular experience in acting as independent administrator or trustee following a probate or trust dispute.

Clients look to Jennifer as a trusted adviser and appreciate her sensitive and thoughtful approach to complex family matters, including difficult issues such as capacity, family breakdown and reputation concerns, as well as her technical expertise.

Lawyer Rankings

London > Private client > Contentious trusts and probate

The ‘extremely experienced’ and ‘simply outstanding’ team at Farrer & Co is led by Toby Graham, Jeremy Gordon and Charlotte Fraser. It has many other ‘brilliant’ partners among them Joanna PooleElizabeth Sainsbury and Henrietta Mason. This first-class team, which has ‘real strength in depth’, is involved in many of the largest trust/estates disputes each year, often involving assets of several billion pounds. It regularly advises trustees and beneficiaries on the full range of onshore and offshore contentious matters. The practice continues to act in the big-ticket trust litigation, international succession disputes, and the restructuring of high-value trust structures. Increasingly, it is instructed to act as administrator of UHNW estates, which are the subject of litigation. It has also been busy acting in cases involving very high value capacity issues and court of protection work. Another highlight was Jennifer Ridgway joining the team from Michelmores LLP. Clients remark that ‘all of the associates, without exception, are excellent’. Tom McPhail and Joseph de Lacey receive particular praise for their work in this area.

London > Private client > Personal tax, trusts and probate

The Farrer & Co private client team ‘continues to deliver a personal and exceptional service. Understanding client personalities, nuances and preferences and being able to tailor their service effortlessly is what’s different about Farrers’.  Under the joint leadership of Bryony Cove and Sarah von Schmidt, it regularly advises wealthy families and individuals as well as trustee companies, banks/wealth managers and family offices. The ‘exceptionalRussell Cohen has a substantial practice advising some of the wealthiest international families in the world and also advises institutional clients. The ‘really fantastic’ Oliver Piper has particular expertise in trust law, advising trustees, settlors and beneficiaries on all matters relating to the formation, administration and restructuring of UK and offshore trusts. Alexandra Hollingshead provides complex trusts, tax and structuring advice to trustees and individuals, family businesses and family offices. Catherine McAleavey is an experienced trusts and succession planning lawyer who acts primarily for UK-based wealthy individuals and families. Jennifer Ridgway joined the team from Michelmores LLP in November 2022.