Firm Profile > Farrer & Co > London, England

Agriculture and estates Tier 1

Farrer & Co is well known for its advice to land-owning institutions, large estates, rural businesses and individual landowners. The large team continues to advise some of the UK’s biggest and highest-profile institutional and private clients in this area, on all issues relating to their agricultural and rural land/estates. It advises on the full spectrum of matters such as the sale and purchase of agricultural estates and substantial country houses as well as other areas such as the exploitation of sporting and mineral interests. Other specialisms include advising on rural development opportunities arising out of renewable energy schemes. Simon Pring is well regarded for his advice on all aspects of property law with particular expertise in advising on development opportunities and strategic estate planning, and is head of the team which includes: Edmund Fetherston-Dilke, the 'exceptional' Paul Krafft and the 'efficient, effective and thoughtful' James Maxwell.

Art and cultural property Tier 1

Farrer & Co’s excellent team acts for wealthy private individuals and family trusts both in the UK and overseas who collect or invest in art. The first-rate team advises collectors, dealers and art advisors, and has an enviable client base of leading museums and galleries. The skilled team is also adept at handling art litigation and advising on complex art lending. Julian Smith is a well-known name for his expertise on charity law issues in the arts and heritage sector. Heads of department are Adrian Parkhouse, who leads on contentious matters relating to art and cultural property, and James Carleton, who advises on a wide range of art and cultural property matters including philanthropy. Mike Chantler is known for his work on the administration and taxation of heritage property and Rhoddy Voremberg is another key figure.

Charities and not-for-profit Tier 1

Anne-Marie Piper leads a strong team at Farrer & Co that has a superb client list of some of the largest and best-known UK and international charitable organisations. The group advises on the full array of matters from transactional and structuring advice through to innovative charity finance matters. It has also been advising a growing number of clients facing complex and mission-critical issues including regulatory interventions, governance failures, and corporate insolvency. It has a dedicated safeguarding unit and has immense expertise in working with major cultural organisations that are charities - it has for many years acted for a significant number of the country’s national museums and galleries. It also acts for a sizeable number of educational and religious charities. The team includes: Sam Macdonald, who advises clients on all aspects of UK charity law and related tax matters; James Carleton, who routinely advises institutional charities with significant investment assets; Elizabeth Jones, who advises charities on constitutional and governance matters; and James Maloney, who was promoted to partner in May 2018.

Contentious trusts and probate Tier 1

Farrer & Co is regularly involved in many of the largest trust and estates disputes often involving one or more offshore jurisdictions. Recently it has been involved in proceedings taking place in The Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The team benefits from the firm’s stable of high-net-worth clients, trust companies and fiduciaries from England and Wales and overseas, which provides a steady flow of high-value and complex instructions in this area. It is also increasingly advising on legacy disputes. Toby Graham and Jeremy Gordon are highly recommended. Gordon also has extensive experience of resolving claims at mediation as well as in court. The team also includes Charlotte Fraser, Joanna Poole and Adam Carvalho.

Education: institutions Tier 1

The 'totally focused' multi-disciplinary team at Farrer & Co acts for a broad roster of high-profile and market-leading clients. Practice head David Copping is handling big-ticket cross-border matters pertaining to data protection and transfers, and advising higher education bodies on establishing international campuses. The 'exceedingly effective' Sam Macdonald is the key name for charity law, advising schools and universities on this area.

Education: schools Tier 1

Farrer & Co's 'high-quality and fully engaged' education team continues to be at the forefront of acting for national schools on issues such as safeguarding, child protection, data protection and immigration. The team is led by Jonathan Eley and Sam Macdonald, and has a strong reputation for handling high-value, complex and sensitive work for clients. Recent highlights include several cross-border matters led by David Copping and David Smellie relating to the establishment of overseas institutions. Other core members of the group include contracts lawyer Paul Jones; newly made-up partner Maria Strauss, who has experience advising faith-based schools; and Ben Longworth.

Employment: senior executives Tier 1

Farrer & Co handles work for leaders of the most high-profile companies, including advising on ownership transitions, initial public offerings and both voluntary and involuntary departures. Turning to potentially contentious work, the firm advises on matters such as restrictive covenant disputes. Partnership businesses are an area of expertise - just one area in which practice head David Smellie is active. William Dawson also advises City executives under regulatory fire, while Anna Birtwistle, who joined the team from CM Murray in June 2019, has particular expertise with regards to high value negotiated exits, with a strong track record of work for clients in the financial services sector.

Family Tier 1

Farrer & Co is best known for its work in high-value and complex international matrimonial cases involving substantial assets often where there are sophisticated asset protection structures in place and substantive tax and trust issues to be considered. The team under the leadership of William Massey is adept at handling large matrimonial cases with multi-jurisdictional trust aspects as is evidenced by its recent advice to the trustees of the F Trust which holds £1bn in assets and who were joined to divorce proceedings. It is also skilled at handling heavyweight children matters and routinely advises clients on abduction, relocation and on obtaining safeguards on temporary leave to remove cases. Mark Fenton is no longer at the firm.

Education: individuals

Employment: employees/unions

Employment: employers and senior executives

Media and entertainment (including media finance) Tier 1

Farrer & Co 's media and entertainment team handles non-contentious and contentious matters and it is active across corporate, employment, IP, commercial and reputation management mandates. The team receives plaudits for its 'exceptional' publishing sector expertise where it is instructed by leading print and digital publishers. The team has particular expertise in music and academic publishing mandates, and is also instructed by authors and literary estates . GDPR instructions have been prevalent for the team and it has provided advice on the impending ePrivacy Regulation for its publishing clients. The wider media and entertainment team acts for international broadcast production and rights companies, music estates, leading news generators and syndication houses, as well as radio, culture and film clients. In the sports sector, the team acts for leading events rights holders on production and broadcast agreements. Henry Sainty is 'very talented' and is noted for his publishing sector expertise, as well as his work in the sports and culture sectors. Paul Jones heads the team.

Personal tax, trusts and probate Tier 1

Farrer & Co has a committed team that advises very wealthy individuals and families nationally and internationally. It covers the full gamut of matters from onshore and offshore trusts and tax, to international wealth and succession planning, investment strategies and philanthropy. A high proportion of its work is international as it has particular expertise in Switzerland, the Channel Islands, the US, the Far East and the Middle East. Other areas of expertise lie in landed estates as the firm acts for over 50 substantial estates and historic houses. As well as having considerable skill in complex tax structuring it also advises on trust law for business families, landed estates, wealth creators, international wealth and private investors. Sarah von Schmidt heads the department.

Residential property Tier 1

The highly regarded practice at Farrer & Co stands out for its expertise advising a prestigious client list on the purchase and sale of prime central London properties, as well as financing transactions and deals involving special purpose vehicles. Practice head Laurie Horwood advises on deals which often involve complex financing arrangements for high net worth individuals, leveraging his commercial property background to navigate the challenges of particularly difficult transactions. Annabel Dean acts for private banks and high-net-worth clients, many of whom are based in the Middle East, in a range of areas, including in relation to rural property transactions. Associate Hugh Wigzell has experience advising on new build developments in the UK and Asia, where his extensive knowledge covers areas such as acquisitions and tax structuring.

M&A: smaller deals, up to £50m Tier 2

Farrer & Co is best known for its representation of clients in the financial services and wealth management sectors, where the firm works for banks, brokers and trust companies. Although mandates are often domestic, the team has significant experience in matters involving offshore jurisdictions, invariably acting for family offices and high net worth individuals. Furthermore, the firm retains a strong standing in the publishing and not-for-profit sectors, acting for UK clients on strategic acquisitions and joint ventures. Corporate M&A work covers both the public and private markets, with mandates for publicly listed companies balanced with private equity-backed transactions. Practice head Richard Lane leads the firm's international strategy, and acts for a growing number of US and Middle Eastern clients.

Partnership Tier 2

Farrer & Co's team has particular expertise in corporate and commercial partnership matters concerning property, intellectual property, family, private client, tax and employment issues. The group also has a strong partnership structuring and regulatory offering, which sits alongside its disputes practice. Clients span the professional services and other regulated businesses. Department head Jonathan Haley  specialises in partnership and LLP law and is instructed on a variety of non-contentious issues. Kathleen Heycock focuses on complex team moves, international partner disputes and acquisitions, and Andy Peterkin predominantly advises financial services firms. Litigator John Wilkinson and employment law expert Rachel Lewis are recommended for contentious matters, while Anna Birtwistle, who joined from CM Murray LLP in June 2019, has significant experience of advising on misconduct investigations, discrimination and whistleblowing claims and restrictive covenants.

Reputation management Tier 2

The reputation management team at Farrer & Co specialises in acting for high profile and wealthy individuals. An increasing share of the team's stellar client roster consists of major charities and sports governing bodies. The firm also represents a number of household name publications on the defendant side. Department head Julian Pike has been involved in several high-profile matters and also advises his clients on planning and preventing crises. As such, he handled reputation management issues for the Football Association and the England Football team throughout the 2018 World Cup, which included protecting the privacy of all individual players and their families. Key associates Tom Rudkin  and Alicia Mendonça-Richards , who advises a large number of international clients thanks to her foreign language skills, are on the forefront of many cases.

Sport Tier 2

Farrer & Co’s sports team has a strong track record of advising national governing bodies on event planning, safeguarding, disciplinary matters, reputation management and disputes, in addition to a wealth of expertise providing bespoke advice to athletes and footballers on their private affairs and handling complex safeguarding investigations for major football clubs. Partner Henry Sainty, who specialises in commercial contracts for sports rights holders, advised UK Athletics on the staging of the 2018 Athletics World Cup, which included corporate structuring issues and sponsorship and broadcast agreements. Associate Tom Rudkin specialises in disputes, arbitration and reputation management and brings considerable litigation experience to the group, having previously represented clients in the High Court and the CAS.

Commercial property: development Tier 3

Farrer & Co is particularly well-regarded for high-end residential and private office investments, urban extension projects and mid-market transaction, particularly those in London. Clients include a number of overseas ultra-high-net-worth individuals from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Russia as well as educational bodies, charities and landed estates. Practice head Andrew Bailey also represents major banks on the funding of development and investment transactions and is experienced on the development of business parks and mixed-use schemes.

Employment: employers Tier 3

Farrer & Co handles work for leaders of the most high-profile companies, including advising on ownership transitions, initial public offerings and both voluntary and involuntary departures. Turning to potentially contentious work, the firm advises on matters such as restrictive covenant disputes. Partnership businesses are an area of expertise - just one area in which practice head David Smellie is active. William Dawson also advises City executives under regulatory fire.

Fraud: civil Tier 3

Farrer & Co represents prestigious clients in relation to various civil fraud matters including international fraud claims, freezing injunctions, asset tracing and contentious trusts. Other areas of expertise include contract disputes, misuse of confidential information, and fraudulent breaches of duty and conspiracy by directors, trustees and co-contractors. Clients include corporates, institutions and private individuals. While operating out of just one London office, the firm undertakes work in the Caribbean, the Channel Islands, the Middle East, South East Asia andEastern Europe. Adrian Parkhouse heads the team and is experienced in civil litigation including commercial and corporate disputes with fraud elements. Ben Longworth was recently promoted to partner.

Property litigation Tier 3

'Providing a good service', Farrer & Co receives regular instructions from institutional clients, including the Duchy of Cornwall, the Duchy of Lancaster, Church Commissioners, other landed estates, national museums and charities, alongside high-net-worth individuals but the practice led by the 'practical, pragmatic and highly regarded' Siobhan Jones is also well versed in assisting corporate and commercial clients. Typical work includes development-related matters, disputes over land use, contract interpretation and high-value dilapidation claims.

Commercial litigation Tier 4

Farrer & Co's 'lawyers are interested in clients' business and go to great lengths to understand the issues that affect them'. The practice has an emphasis on cases involving complex company structures and asset holdings, shareholder disputes and commercial contracts. The key individuals are  practice head Adrian Parkhouse, the 'outstanding' Kate Allass, Jeremy Gordon and Toby Graham, along with Ian De Freitas, John Wilkinson, Charlotte Fraser and Ben Longworth. Jolyon Connell was made partner in 2019 and William Charrington is an experienced senior associate.

Commercial property: investment Tier 4

Farrer & Co is particularly well-regarded for high-end residential and private office investments, urban extension projects and mid-market transaction, particularly those in London. Clients include a number of overseas ultra-high-net-worth individuals from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Russia as well as educational bodies, charities and landed estates. Practice head Andrew Bailey also represents major banks on the funding of development and investment transactions and is experienced on the development of business parks and mixed-use schemes.

Data protection, privacy and cybersecurity Tier 4

Building on the firm’s national strength, Farrer & Co’s international client base has increased thanks to Ian De Freitas’ expertise; he also has notable experience in ICO investigations and data breaches as well as GDPR compliance work. Henry Sainty leads the data protection and freedom of information department, which is active in GDPR and e-privacy matters; other areas of knowledge include information sharing issues, breach management and litigation. The group is also particularly noted for its safeguarding expertise, regularly advising schools, universities, sports governing bodies and religious organisations on information sharing and child data; and also assists public authorities with freedom of information issues, public sector information and environmental information regulations.

Planning Tier 4

Farrer & Co has enjoyed robust growth to its client roster, with commercial entities, charities and professional bodies instructing the planning team on redevelopment proposal applications, relocation exercises, CPO applications advice, and mixed-use development projects. Contentious work encompasses judicial review claims on behalf of landowners and a recent objection to a development affecting an Area of Outstanding Beauty. Practice head Karen Phull offers planning advice on commercial transactions for the firm’s corporate clients. The team also acts for high-net-worth individuals on mandates including property acquisitions and development proposals in conservation areas.

Retail funds Tier 4

Farrer & Co has a strong track record advising asset managers on the establishment of authorised funds, including Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and Non-UCITS Retail Schemes (NURS) funds. The firm has also established a notable profile in the area of charity funds and, in addition, has become highly reputed for its work for clients in the education sector. Senior associate Jessica Reed is part of the team which acts as a standing adviser to Rathbone Unit Trust Management on its range of funds; a past highlight involved assisting the client with its launch of the Rathbone Global Sustainability Fund, a new UCITS fund.  Another mandate saw group head Grania Baird and others act for the same client on the establishment of the Rathbone High Quality Bond Fund.

Commercial contracts Tier 5

Farrer & Co has experience in dealing with high-value commercial contracts, ranging from joint ventures and supply and distribution agreements to agreements in highly regulated industries and cross-border deals. The firm has particular expertise in the media, arts and education sectors. 'Excellent' practice head Paul Jones specialises in public procurement and complex commercial contracts, including outsourcing, IT, infrastructure and technology projects.

Contruction: non-contentious Tier 5

Farrer & Co, which advises a high-end client base of investors, funders and banks, handles work across the health, education, real estate and charities sectors. The team is led by the 'thoughtful' and 'impressive' Clive Lovatt  who primarily acts for property developers, banks and cultural institutions. He was the lead partner advising the British Library on its development of the land adjacent to the library where the Alan Turing Institute will be located. The 'calm and reassuring' Edward Banyard Smith works with charities and schools, and advised the Duchy of Cornwall on the long-running development at Poundbury.

Property finance Tier 5

Farrer & Co has a strong reputation for advising major commercial lenders, international banks and UK private banks, while on the borrower side the firm's clients include ultra-high-net-worth individuals and private companies, charities and educational institutions. The team handles investment and development finance, particularly involving high-value residential properties. Martin Blake leads the practice; Marc Glancy, who specialises in secured lending transactions for investment and development properties, and Bethan Waters, whose clients include a number of major banks, are also key contacts.

Financial services: non-contentious/regulatory Tier 6

'Proactive, sensible' Farrer & Co provides advice ranging from the establishment of regulated businesses and financial promotion rules, to cross-border passporting and SMCR. As well as representing clients from the innovative charity sector and institutional projects, the firm has particular expertise in the asset management and private banking sectors. Practice head Grania Baird has 'a very good understanding of business and the regulatory and legal impacts on it.' She specialises in the asset management sector and acts for asset managers, wealth managers, private banks and multi-family offices on a range of regulatory issues. Notable in her team is Andy Peterkin, who led in acting for Bridgeweave Limited in relation to a financial services AI app, designed to deliver information to other financial services firms on particular stocks and investments.

Corporate restructuring & insolvency Tier 8

Led by the 'very experienced and reliable' David Fletcher, Farrer & Co handles a 'wide-range of insolvency cases', particularly in matters which intersect with the private client and charities sectors. The team also excels at handling insolvencies involving complex trust structures and advising high-net-worth individuals during the breakdown of their marriages on insolvency issues arising out of directorships/shareholdings in companies in financial distress. Anne-Marie Piper is recognised as having a specialism in advising charities in financial difficulty, and she also acts for insolvency practitioners when they are appointed over charities.