Spearheaded by Claire-Marie Cornford, the will, trust, and estate disputes team at Irwin Mitchell represents individuals, family offices, entrepreneurs, banks, trustees, charities, and landed gentry, among others. Cornford has extensive experience handling high-value and complex inheritance, trust, and estate disputes, often involving ultra-high-net-worth families, cross-border assets, contested wills, and multi-jurisdictional litigation. Sangita Manek is an expert in TOLATA litigation, advising on complex, high-value property and co-ownership disputes. Samantha Ewing advises on complex will, trust, and inheritance disputes, often with an international dimension, and Catherine Walsh and Ellen Hitchman are also key contacts at the firm.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- Catherine Walsh is the standout team member. She is calm, efficient, and a great team player.
- Claire-Marie Cornford - the lawyer you want on your side, not against you. She is a terrier backed by great knowledge, experience, and professionalism, as well as a sense of humor. She is particularly good on complex intra-family disputes and cross-border matters.
- A hugely important team in the market. They are increasingly doing the best work with a very high level of skill.
- Sangita Manek is a great asset to the team. She is experienced, thorough, and results-driven. She knows when to take a risk and when to take a more measured approach. She is able to grasp complex matters swiftly and fight your corner to the end.
- The Irwin Mitchell contentious trust and probate team is very good. It has vast experience in the whole range of disputes in this field and is ably supported by its non-contentious trust and tax team, in particular the very strong Helen Clarke. They have worked very hard to achieve deserved respect and dominance in the marketplace.
- Claire-Marie Cornford is a very strong team leader. She is excellent with clients, always calm, professional, and empathetic, and they rightly have every confidence that she will fight their corner with determination. She understands their objectives and is focused on achieving them. She is great at communicating her point. Just as importantly, she listens carefully and is able to pivot quickly to get to an optimum outcome.
- Sangita Manek is exceptional. She has an eye for detail, she is excellent at client management, is tactically astute, and will fight her clients' corner with everything she has. Ellen Hitchman is very good with clients, runs litigation smoothly, and is very knowledgeable. Kerry Devine is a trainee solicitor within the team. She is impressive, has an eye for detail, and good judgment.
- The team is based across various offices nationally, but they all work really well together. Each of the partners brings their own unique expertise to probate claims. For example, Sangita Manek has real expertise where property issues also arise, and Kam Majevadia has real expertise where there are company law issues involved.
- Sangita Manek is an assiduous litigator, completely on top of the details of any case, and quick to identify weaknesses and the best means of advancing her client's case. She inspires confidence in her decisions and is a great team player. She is supported by Ellen Hitchman, who is hard-working and very capable in all aspects of her work.
- Catherine Walsh is a standout solicitor. She never fails to deliver and is committed to her clients. Claire-Marie Cornford is also fantastic. She runs the team well and lets individuals play to their strengths.
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Practice head
Claire-Marie Cornford
Other key lawyers
Sangita Manek; Samantha Ewing; Catherine Walsh; Ellen Hitchman