Agriculture and estates

Christopher Page

Senior Partner

Jonathan Hickman

Senior Associate

Danielle Spalding

Danielle’s practice is focused on the agricultural and rural business sector.  She works on rural business and agricultural disputes such as partnership disputes, landlord and tenant claims, issues relating to restrictive covenants, proprietary estoppel claims and a range of Agricultural Holdings Act matters. She also advises landowners on the Electronic Communications Code.  Danielle acts for a wide range of rural clients including landowners, landed estates and others with an interest in the rural land market such as major banks and property developers. Danielle has a thorough understanding of the rural market that her clients operate in enabling her to offer practical solutions that work. A highlight in her career to date has been using this insight in one of the first test cases to go through the Tribunal after the introduction of the new Electronic Communications Code in 2017.

Tim Williams

Director

Emma Folkes

Partner working within the firm's Food and Farming team and specialising in non-contentious agricultural property matters. Acts on a wide variety of transactional matters including sales and purchases and the grant of tenancies, and advises on a wide range of issues arising from the ongoing management of farms and estates. Client base is UK-wide and includes landowners, farmers, national institutions and charities. Recent examples of work: acting on the sale, in parts, of a significant estate comprising let farms, in-hand woodland and cottages. Acting on the sale of a portfolio of rural cottages. Documenting the division of a family farm following the settlement of a complex farming partnership dispute. Working with an institutional landowner on the restructure of agricultural tenancy arrangements. Acting on the acquisition of strategic land subject to complex overage obligations relating to future development.

Ross Simpson

Partner in Real Estate specialising in strategic land and rural property. Undertakes complex strategic land work advising on options, promotion agreements and conditional contracts associated with major projects regularly acting for consortia of landowners. Also works within the firm’s Food and Farming team advising on the purchase and sale of estates, farms, country houses, commercial forestry, island properties, sporting rights and salmon fishings. Expertise extends to advising landowners and investors on natural capital opportunities including rural land acquisition and management for Biodiversity Net Gain, carbon and other environmental outcomes. Clients include traditional land and estate owners, family trusts, farm partnerships and institutional investors. Dual qualified to practise in Scotland and England and Wales.

Tom Hewitt

Head of Burges Salmon's Food and Farming team. Advises on tax and estate planning for individuals, business structures, including partnership; tenure issues; complex variation of trust actions; complex probates and trust matters. Particular focus on clients who own land. Frequently lectures on capital tax issues and particularly inheritance tax reliefs for farmers and landowners.

Kevin Kennedy

Partner advising on private client/trust and agricultural disputes.  Recent cases include Sofer v Swiss Independent Trustees (breach of trust claim), James v James (proprietary estoppel, will capacity), Owen v Harris (nature of tenancy), McDonald v Rose (proprietary estoppel and family company share allotment), Earl of Plymouth v Rees (agricultural tenancy interpretation and injunction) and Abberley v Abberley (binding nature of a settlement agreement),  Other cases involve partnerships, trusts and agricultural property.  Joint head of the firm’s Contentious Trusts and Probate Practice.

Russell Reeves

Partner

Ben Sharples

Partner

Duncan Sigournay

Head of Agriculture at Thrings. Agricultural property specialist; particular expertise in agricultural tenancies, both modern farm business tenancies and Agricultural Holdings Act tenancies. Workload divided between advisory work (tenancies, single payment scheme, etc) and transactional work (farm sales and purchases and associated property matters, such as telecommunication masts, pipelines etc). Currently involved in a number of significant tenancy matters, including various notices to quit and associated arbitrations, rent reviews, succession applications and succession planning. In addition, advising on agricultural subsidies including the current CAP reforms both in the context of tenancies and land sales/purchases.

Tristram van Lawick

Partner