Matthew Evans > Hugh James > Cardiff, United Kingdom > Lawyer Profile

Sitting within the firm’s broader private wealth offering but also able to leverage areas of expertise in other key firmwide practice areas, including property, litigation and regulatory, Hugh James is a popular choice among agricultural clients across a broad array of their contentious and non-contentious requirements. Team head Matthew Evans has a strong track record advising on inheritance disputes within the sector, including on proprietary estoppel matters, as does ‘legal powerhouse’ Roman Kubiak, who achieves ‘superb results’ for clients, including a recent high-profile matter which provided clarity on the issues of detriment and remedy in the context of a proprietary estoppel claim.

Hugh James has ‘the depth and range of experience to take on complex or modest litigation for institutions and private individuals’, running the gamut from Inheritance Act claims, through to complex proprietary estoppel claims. Team head Roman Kubiak is recognised as a ‘titan in the world of contentious trusts and probate’, combining as he does a ‘first-class legal brain with charm’ to ensure the best possible results for clients, mindful of the client’s overall and objectives and the costs involved with endless and unnecessary litigation. As well as receiving direct individual instructions, Roman has also successfully cultivated strong relationships with financial institutions, charities and professional trustees, ensuring a tremendous variety and scope of work that spans Wales and England and also regularly has cross-border ramifications. Matthew Evans combines strong contentious and non-contentious smarts in his role as overarching private wealth head, ensuring that clients receive a very joined up and holistic service. Senior associate Sarah O’Grady  has thrived since recently joining the firm from Clarke Willmott LLP and has been particularly effective in handling a range of trusts and probate disputes in the agricultural sector.

Overseen by the ‘top-notch’  Matthew Evans, as part of the overarching private wealth offering, Hugh James has the strength-in-depth to provide a degree of specialisation and expertise unmatched by other firms in the Welsh market. The ‘outstanding’ Eleanor Evans heads up the trusts and estates sub-group  and is responsible for managing the administration of the estates of institutional clients, work which often includes complex financial assets as well as issues relating to foreign jurisdictions. Senior associate Austin Gill  handles  the administration of estates for private individuals, including high-net-worth matters involving complex issues; he is also very adept at advising on onward succession planning for beneficiaries, including in the context of drafting Deeds of Variation, as well as ensuring that lifetime gifts are effectively utilised to minimise IHT burdens on the estate. One of several in the team with Welsh language skills, Catrin Griffiths  can handle matters in English and Welsh and leads the estate planning group that has a strong reputation representing high and ultra-high-net worth clients, in particular, with the preparation of their wills, trusts, Powers of Attorney documents, succession planning and estate planning advice. For the more commoditised work, under the guidance of Gareth Wisdom and utilising some very effective internal legal technology, the firm also excels in handling volume will writing for financial institution clients. Clients also benefit from access to a market-leading litigation offering which is headed up by the ‘totally brilliant’ Roman Kubiak, who excels in complex contentious probate matters, including promissory estoppel cases in the farming sector.