The Legal 500

This Thames Valley practice provides a wide range of services, including commercial property, employment, personal injury and dispute resolution. Family law is a specialism, including high-value cases. Private client services include wills, trusts, probate and tax, as well as residential conveyancing.

The firm: Rowberry Morris was established more than 60 years ago and now operates from offices in Reading, Richmond, Staines and Tadley. During that time, two partners have been appointed to full-time judicial office and two to part-time office. Its last senior partner held two such appointments. The firm’s 30 solicitors and legal executives provide a personal service tailored to clients’ particular needs, delivered with a high degree of professionalism at reasonable cost. Rowberry Morris believes in building long-lasting relationships and showing loyalty to clients. Its partners and solicitors have considerable expertise and experience in their areas of specialism and many are members of expert panels.

The firm has been awarded ISO 2000 accreditation and the Quality Mark from the Legal Services Commission. Access to the highest level of skills, including City and international expertise, is provided through the practice’s membership of LawNet.

Through its high standards of legal expertise, combined with its dedication to clients, Rowberry Morris has established a long-term client base of businesses and individuals.

Types of work undertaken: The commercial property, team has extensive experience of all types of work, ranging from freehold and leasehold property sales and acquisitions, new business leases, and renewals and options agreements to residential property development, sales and purchases of businesses, and landlord and tenant matters, and all residential property matters.

The employment department has considerable experience in non-contentious and contentious work which it provides for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. It focuses on giving advice and insurance backed services aimed at avoiding problems for employers. On the contentious side, it advises on matters ranging from unfair and wrongful dismissal and redundancy to discrimination. Dispute resolution services include contentious probate negligence and contract claims, as well as commercial property disputes and professional negligence and debt recovery .

The firm’s personal injury lawyers have been members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) for many years and have recovered millions of pounds in damages for accident victims in employer’s liability, public liability, occupier’s liability and road traffic accident cases, often involving serious head, spinal or other orthopaedic injuries including amputations. The team also acts for victims in claims arising from fatal accidents, industrial disease, defective products and sexual assaults and works closely with a team of external non-law specialists in order to maximise damages and assist clients in their long-term rehabilitation.

A comprehensive family service is provided, ranging from cases with net assets of £10m to publicly-funded cases where there may be no assets at all. Specialist expertise is provided in separation agreements, civil partnership dissolution, pre-nuptial agreements and children law, including residence, contact, prohibited steps and parental responsibility orders, as well as child abduction, both national and international. The firm deals with all aspects of financial disputes, including property, maintenance and pension sharing, together with protection from violence and abuse at home, occupation orders and non-molestation injunctions, cohabitation disputes, including matters concerning jointly-owned property, collaborative law and adoption. Childcare is a noted specialism. In public family law, the firm has been representing clients since 1972. Due to its high standards, the firm is one of very few entrusted by both guardians and private clients with responsibility for representation.

The wills and probate department consists of highly trained lawyers, the majority of whom are STEP and / or Solicitors for the Elderly members. It is extremely pro-active, being able to offer creative solutions to will writing, inheritance tax planning, trust building and other services. In addition it offers advice and support on drafting lasting powers of attorney, care home funding, probate, contentious probate, and elderly client services.

Number of UK partners 8
Number of other UK fee-earners 19