
- Tel:
- Work 020 7203 5000
- Fax:
- Fax 020 7203 0200
- DX:
- 19 LONDON CHANCERY LANE WC2
- Email:
Jessica Stafford
- Tel:
- Work 020 7203 5272
- Email:
Work Department
Contentious Trusts & Estates, Private Wealth
Position
Jessica specialises in trust, probate and succession disputes, both domestic and those spanning multiple jurisdictions. Jessica has particular expertise in trust disputes involving Jersey, having worked there for two years prior to joining Charles Russell Speechlys in November 2015. Jessica’s trust dispute experience includes claims involving hostile beneficiaries, applications to the Court for directions, and trustee removal applications. In relation to contested probate matters, Jessica’s experience includes claims for provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, will validity disputes, issues with estate administration, and applications for rectification and construction. She acts for a wide range of clients including beneficiaries, heirs, executors, trustees and other fiduciaries. Jessica also has experience in professional negligence disputes, with a particular focus on cases involving negligent Deputies.
Career
Jessica is admitted to practise in England and Wales.
London: Private client
Contentious trusts and probate
Within: Contentious trusts and probate
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP fields a ‘large team of extremely capable and able lawyers which has an extremely high standing in the market’. Key figures include Graeme Kleiner (‘a master strategist and established figure in the world of international trust litigation'); the ‘calm, collected and clear-thinking’ Duncan Elson ‘masters the detail and cuts through the complexities of the case’ and the ‘very bright’ Tamasin Perkins, who is ‘always on top of the detail of each case’. At senior associate level Jessica Stafford is 'strong on domestic and international work with a wealth of offshore experience’, and Oliver Auld is a ‘future high-flier; calm and unflappable, with an excellent manner with clients’. Highlights included acting for Alan Shearer CBE in relation to claims against his former financial adviser and former pension provider arising from investment losses valued at £9m. The executors of the estate of the late Christine Collins are other major clients. The department also acts on a large number of contentious probate disputes for Cancer Research UK and for a number of other nationally renowned charities. Roberta Harvey left in January 2019 to join Forsters LLP.