Agriculture & Food
Philippa Yeo
Philippa is committed to helping couples navigate all aspects of the legal process on the breakdown of their relationship in a pragmatic, collaborative and family-focused way including supporting couples to reach arrangements for their children and achieve healthy future co-parenting relationships.
Philippa has significant experience advising a wide range of clients on all aspects of family law. She specialises in resolving high net worth financial cases involving complex trust assets, farms and businesses as well as arrangements for children (including international relocation). Philippa joined Clarke Willmott in 2022 following just over six years at a boutique family law practice. Before that she spent five years at a leading London law firm at which she trained and qualified
Philippa is a qualified family mediator and deals with all types of mediation including financial claims arising on divorce, disputes arising from cohabitation and children arrangements. She is available to conduct sole mediations and co-mediations in our offices in Taunton and Bristol, as well as virtually.
Philippa is a qualified mediator and member of Resolution, the family lawyers’ association which aims to resolve Family Law matters through a constructive approach.
How Philippa can help you
Philippa offers a bespoke and personal service to support clients through the legal process to achieve their particular aims. Philippa is valued by her clients for her calm and supportive approach, and her willingness to do her utmost to achieve the best possible outcome. Philippa provides an excellent service to clients, taking their individual needs into account, frequently receiving referrals from current and former clients, as well as from other professionals as a result of her approach.
Philippa regularly deals with:
Divorce
Financial provision on divorce, including after overseas divorce
Cohabitation rights
Applications for domestic and international relocation with children
Separation agreements
Disputes about the care or education of children
Child residence and contact disputes
Cases involving allegations of domestic violence and applications for non-molestation and occupation orders.
Variation or set aside of existing financial orders
Experience
Advising parties in financial disputes. including complicated asset structures, multiple properties and inter-jurisdictional elements.
Advising parents and wider family members in relation to child arrangement proceedings including cases where there are serious allegations of significant harm.
Advising clients with complex assets including farms, business assets, trusts, carried interests and Restricted Stock Units/Share Options.
Advising clients in conjunction with out of Court options such as mediation, arbitration and Private Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR) hearings.
Sam Harkness
Sam advises individuals, companies and local authorities with criminal and regulatory investigations and court proceedings, specialising in rural crime, road traffic matters and local authority prosecutions.
Sam is a solicitor in the Commercial and Private Client Litigation team specialising in criminal and regulatory litigation, with a wider practice that incorporates civil litigation and agricultural property litigation. He is based in our Taunton office.
Sam joined Clarke Willmott as a paralegal in August 2019 and began his training contract with the firm in March 2021, qualifying as a solicitor in November 2022.
Sam advises private clients, agricultural clients, businesses and local authorities on a wide range of contentious matters. Since joining Clarke Willmott, Sam has developed a strong practice within the crime and regulatory team and has been individually recommended in the 2024 Legal 500 as “a very diligent, bright solicitor who has a bright future ahead of him”. Chambers and Partners also named Sam as an Associate to watch in their 2024 guide.
How Sam can help you
Criminal/regulatory matters
Sam’s practice in this area includes advising and representing individuals, businesses, and local government bodies in a wide range of criminal and regulatory matters, including in the following areas:
Environment Agency investigations and prosecutions;
Animal welfare prosecutions;
Traffic and motoring offences, including Public Inquiries by the Traffic Commissioner;
Hunting Act issues;
Trading Standard disputes;
Planning law breaches and enforcement;
Firearms licensing;
Offences against the person.
Sam can assist clients at all stages of the regulatory and criminal process and regularly assists clients during investigations, with interviews, and with preparation for Court proceedings. Sam also regularly represents clients in the Magistrates’ Court.
Laura Mackain-Bremner
Laura advises individuals and businesses on commercial disputes, contentious Wills, trusts and probate and agricultural property litigation.
Laura is a Partner in the Commercial and Private Client Litigation Team specialising in commercial disputes, with a particular focus on agri-business, agri-tech and disputes which involve agricultural equipment and contracts. Laura advises both individuals and businesses in this regard.
Laura’s commercial litigation practice is broad and includes advising individuals and businesses in all sectors on any number of contentious matters ranging from professional negligence to farming finance. The subject matter of these disputes is also wide, including anything from artificial insemination and genetics to disputed debts.
Laura was the fee earner with conduct of a heavy-weight multi-party litigation matter involving 17 Claimants and 4 Defendants. Her determination has seen a successful settlement in this matter some 5 years after its issue. This was a major contributing factor in the firm winning NFU panel firm of the year and has been reported in the farming press.
Laura is the main fee earner on numerous commercial matters and is training junior members of the team as this area expands for the team.
Laura trained at Lester Aldridge, qualifying into its litigation team in London in 2013. Before moving back to Somerset to join Clarke Willmott she worked for a boutique litigation firm in London, joining Clarke Willmott in 2017.
She is Vice President of the Executive Committee of Taunton Chamber of Commerce and also a member of the Agricultural Law Association.
How Laura can help you
Laura advises clients in all sectors on a wide range of contentious commercial issues including:
Breach of contract or contractual disputes;
Debt claims;
Professional negligence;
Defamation;
Shareholder/partner disputes;
Fraud; and
Judicial review
As a member of the Agriculture sector group, Laura is regularly instructed by agri-businesses in relation to any number of issues relating to matters such as food and drink or agri-tech.
Laura also advises on a wide range of contentious agricultural property matters such as:
Easements – including rights of way;
Land drainage and flooding;
Boundaries;
Adverse possession;
Trespass;
Nuisance;
Agricultural tenancies;
Farming partnerships;
Proprietary estoppel; and
Co-owner property disputes including declarations as to ownership and/or claims for occupation rent.
Laura also defends and brings claims:
under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975;
contesting the validity of Wills (due to lack of testamentary capacity and/or want of knowledge and approval);
against executors and trustees for breach of trust/maladministration; and
against solicitors in relation to Will drafting and the construction of Wills or mistakes in Wills.
Experience
Acting for a group of milk producers and successfully defeating an application for an interim injunction brought against them by the processor who wanted to stop them from ceasing supply following termination of notice –Watson’s Dairies Ltd v AG Lambert [2020] 10 WLUK 45
Successfully defending a client’s use of a right of way in relation to a Court Claim brought against him. The claim sought an injunction preventing the client from using the right of way except for within certain parameters and/or damages in relation to the same.
Assisting in successfully reclaiming property lost during a Group Company restructure. The client sought to recover property passed to the Crown (Bona Vacantia) on the dissolution of one of the companies within the Group. The Court held another company within the Group was beneficially entitled to the property.
Caroline Waller
Caroline Waller is a Partner in Clarke Willmott solicitors' Taunton Planning and Environmental team specialising in all aspects of Town and Country Planning and Highway law.
Paula Squire
Paula is a Partner and has been with the Clarke Willmott Employment team for nine years, specialising in employment law and human resources advice.
Tom Chiffers
Tom is a Partner in the Private Capital team, specialising in inheritance tax and succession planning for private individuals, farmers and other business owners. Tom grew up in rural Somerset and his practice has an agricultural focus.
David Maddock
David Maddock is a partner in Clarke Willmott solicitors' Taunton Private Capital team specialising in Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax planning.
Rod Lloyd-Jones
Rod Lloyd-Jones is a partner in Clarke Willmott solicitors' Taunton Private Property & Agriculture team specialising in rural property transactions.
Mark Buckerfield
Mark is a Partner in the Private and Agricultural Property team specialising in non contentious agricultural and residential property matters such as farm sales and purchases, house sales and purchases, auctions, agricultural landlord and tenant matters, remortgages, the single farm payment scheme, easements and covenants.
Esther Woolford
Esther Woolford is a partner in Clarke Willmott solicitors' Taunton commercial and private client litigation team specialising in agriculture and property.
Team Services
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Clarke Willmott's Agriculture & Estates team is one of the UK's longest-established specialist agricultural practices, advising farmers, landed estates, rural businesses, agri-investors, banks and high-net-worth families across England and Wales. With roots in the sector dating back to 1888, the team combines deep industry knowledge with a genuinely full-service offering, supporting clients through every stage of the agricultural business and family lifecycle.
Led by recognised sector specialists, the team brings together experts across agricultural property, private client, litigation, planning, corporate, commercial, employment and regulatory law to provide integrated advice on the opportunities and challenges facing modern rural businesses. Clients benefit from specialist support on farm and estate transactions, agricultural tenancies, succession and tax planning, partnership and corporate structures, diversification projects, environmental markets, renewable energy developments, planning matters, regulatory investigations and complex rural disputes.
The team is particularly known for its ability to deliver strategic, commercially focused advice to multi-generational farming families and rural enterprises, combining sector expertise with a strong understanding of the practical realities of farming and land management. As a trusted adviser to the farming community, Clarke Willmott maintains longstanding relationships with key industry organisations, professional advisers and rural businesses, enabling the team to provide holistic support across the agricultural sector.
Capabilities include:
- Agricultural and rural property
- Farm and estate succession planning
- Wills, trusts and tax planning
- Agricultural and private client disputes
- Proprietary estoppel and partnership disputes
- Corporate and commercial agribusiness matters
- Renewable energy projects
- Environmental markets and natural capital
- Planning and environmental law
- Employment and HR
- Regulatory, enforcement and rural crime matters
- Family and matrimonial matters affecting farming businesses
Awards and Recognition
NFU Legal Panel Firm
Covering Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire