Fielding a ‘one stop shop’ for transactions, Brachers (Part of Lawfront)’s corporate team is active across a variety of cross-border deals, including advising on UK subsidiary matters and acquisitions from overseas companies. The commercial side of the team continues to advise the industrial, manufacturing, energy and waste sectors, as well as next-generation energy recovery and green technology companies. The firm also provides routine commercial contracts and corporate or company law advice to a number of long-standing, high-profile clients. The Maidstone-based practice is led by James Bullock, who has a wealth of M&A experience across the South East. Claire Williams advises on various corporate matters including share sales, loans, investments, finance and business acquisitions. Matthew Simmonds is regarded as an ‘outstanding partner who “keeps it simple”’.
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Work Department

Corporate and Commercial

Position

Partner (Corporate)

Career

Claire is a Partner in Brachers' Corporate and Commercial team.

She has more than 25 years’ experience in corporate law, including for City and international firms, advising a range of clients including large corporates, high street names and individual shareholders.

The Brachers Corporate team, led by Claire, won ‘Deal of the Year (sub £10m)’ at the Insider South East Dealmakers Awards 2023. She was also shortlisted for Corporate Lawyer of the Year.

Claire specialises in:

Insurance

Mergers and acquisitions

Management buyouts

Asset swaps

Restructurings and demergers

Joint ventures

Advising owner-managers on succession and exit strategies

Banking and finance

She has developed a following of clients throughout Kent and the South East and established excellent relationships with a number of corporate finance boutiques, accounting firms and banks.

Memberships

  • The Law Society,
  • Steering Committee of the Kent Corporate Finance Alliance,
  • Qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales,
  • Admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand (not practising).

Content supplied by Brachers (Part of Lawfront)

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘I continue to enjoy the experience of working with Brachers. They never fail to deliver on every task set and always in good time, we do challenge them by giving them short windows to respond simply due to the fast-paced dynamic environment in which our organisation operates. All in all, a solid team which I would certainly recommend to any prospective client, we have used Brachers for over 4 years now and the diversity of our tasks have grown also over the same period.’

  • ‘They are always there to respond to whatever challenge or dilemma we have, key players we deal with regularly and worthy of note are Alex Cosgrove, Claire Williams and Angela Ruminski.’

  • ‘One stop shop - all disciplines for corporate transactions, private client work, property all under one roof.’

  • ‘Matt Simmonds - always very calm and professional no matter how stressed other parties get throughout a process.’

  • ‘Brachers is a leading law firm for corporates. Whilst many firms in Kent boast to have a corporate offering, I believe Brachers offering is more compelling than most. They have a large, dedicated team of corporate lawyers specialising in M&A.'

  • ‘I have worked closely with James Bullock, Matthew Simmonds and Dan King and can strongly recommend them! They are all very approachable, knowledgeable, commercial and experts in their chosen field.’

  • ‘The team is very experienced and brings a broad range of expertise in a wide number of industries.’

  • ‘Matt Simmonds is an outstanding partner who "keeps it simple" in terms of explaining the important detail of a deal. He is always responsive and keeps the deal moving at impressive pace. Matt has worked on highly bespoke deals with us and we have been very happy.’

Key clients

  • Ennogen Healthcare Limited
  • Shareholders of Take 1 Script Services Limited
  • Associated Asphalt Contracting Limited
  • BN Care Group
  • Hamton Environmental Services Limited
  • Simona AG
  • Craftinsure Limited
  • Bartec GmbH
  • DGA (UK) Ltd
  • Peak Pipe Systems Ltd
  • Imperium Trust Corporation
  • It’s Interventional Limited
  • Shareholders of Monochrome Consulting
  • 1ST PS Limited
  • Alterola Biotech Inc
  • Amergent Hospitality Group Inc
  • APC Technology Group Plc
  • Clear Treasury Group
  • EKC Group
  • Enovert Management Limited
  • Evolution Power Holdings Limited
  • Fayat Lifting Ltd
  • Gallagher Group Limited
  • Green Tower B.V.
  • H+H Group
  • Hamton Metals Management Services Limited
  • HSBC Corporate
  • iSystems Integration
  • Mabanaft Limited
  • MWA Financial Limited (My Wealth Alliance)
  • N&P Alternative Fuels Ltd
  • N&P Feedstock Hooton Ltd
  • N+P Beheer BV
  • N+P Group BV
  • N&P Hartlepool MRF Ltd
  • N+P Crayford MRF Ltd
  • Powerfuel Development and Finance Limited
  • Powerfuel Portland Limited
  • Raise Platform Limited
  • Rivermead Inclusive Trust
  • Rochester and Cobham Park Golf Club Limited
  • Shareholders of Beech Underwriting Agencies Limited
  • Shareholders of Talisman Consultancy Limited
  • Shareholders of Traymate Products Limited
  • Smart Office Solution Limited
  • Subcoal Production TSP Ltd
  • Systems Technology
  • Szerelmey Limited
  • Starteam Global
  • The East Malling Trust
  • The Luna Cinema Limited
  • The Shareholders of Fire Action Limited (Paul and Louise Garry)
  • UK Medical

Work highlights

Advising N+P Group on its joint venture with Alfanar Energy Limited (a UK subsidiary of the global construction company) to source a million tonnes per year of non-recyclable waste otherwise destined for landfill, incineration or export.
Advising shareholders of London-based Defluo Plumbing and Drainage (Defluo) on its successful sale to Swiss-based Kanalservice Holding AG.
Advising international construction consultancy DGA (UK) Ltd on the sale to Australian global project consulting firm, TSA.