Field Seymour Parkes LLP

Alex Illingworth

Alex is a member of the Banking and Finance team and has advised on all finance related legal issues since qualification. Alex advises major clearing banks, private investors and corporate clients on facilities made available for the purpose of funding corporate transactions in addition to property development and property investment. Alex has advised on many different types of facilities of all sizes from £100,000 to £150,000,000. Alex also has significant experience of preparing and reviewing wholesale finance documentation for clients in the motor industry. Alex is recognised for providing banking advice that is tailored to her client’s objectives and is focused on getting the deal done. As a result, Alex has built solid, long lasting relationships with her clients. Alex is also a member of the corporate team and has considerable experience of advising on corporate transactions and corporate finance work in addition to all aspects of general corporate work. Her experience includes acquisitions and disposals of companies, businesses, MBOs and MBIs in addition to general company law issues.

Ben Oliver

Ben is a Partner in the Wills, Trusts and Estates team. Ben regularly assists a broad range of private clients with structuring their lifetime affairs, including advising on Will drafting, preparation of lasting powers of attorney, inheritance tax planning and the creation of trusts. In addition, Ben regularly deals with the administration of both trusts and estates and has particular expertise in the income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax issues arising in the course of such administrations. Ben joined Field Seymour Parkes in 2011. As well as being a qualified solicitor, he is also a Chartered Tax Adviser and a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians.

Bethan Thomas

Partner

Bill Dixon

Partner

Cathrine Ripley

Partner

Daniel Barnhouse

Please see full biography at osborneclarke.com/lawyers/daniel-barnhouse/

Dean Bickford

Dean’s specialist areas of practice include: acting for house-builders, land owners and promoters on all aspects of strategic land and development; representing lenders on all types of development and investment secured lending; acting for corporate occupiers on portfolio management, and for landlords and tenants; acquisitions and disposals; dealing with property aspects of insolvency and corporate recovery including advising insolvency practitioners.

Hazel Eccles

Senior Associate

Ian Machray

Partner

Ian Wood-Smith

Partner

James Burgess

Partner in commercial property team specialising in development funding and investment transactions, also landlord and tenant.

Jeremy Parkes

Partner specialising in orporate finance work for buyers, sellers or lenders. Acted as lead corporate lawyer on a number of MBOs and MBIs. Head of banking group.

John Barker

Partner

Julia Mactear

Julia is a Legal Director in the Property Litigation team at FSP. Julia is one of our most experienced litigators and has advised on a broad spectrum of property related matters over the years including disputes over property ownership, prescriptive rights, adverse possession, option and overage agreements, boundary disputes, break clauses, the termination of leases, enforcing secured loans for lenders, compulsory purchase and on agricultural tenancies. Julia has extensive experience of running cases through the Courts/Tribunal but takes a commercial approach to cases and will always look to explore other avenues, where appropriate, to assist in resolving disputes in as cost efficient a way as possible such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration and adjudication. Julia is a member of the Property Litigation Association.

Katharine Riley

Consultant: Head of Contentious Trusts and Probate

Katie Burley

Katie is a Partner and Head of the Employment team. She has been ranked as a next generation lawyer/rising star in the Legal 500 for the last 5 years. Katie acts for a wide range of clients, from multinational corporations to smaller owner/trustee-managed organisations. Her areas of expertise include defending employment tribunal claims, senior executive appointment, dismissal management and advising upon restrictive covenants. Katie also works closely with our corporate and commercial property teams on the employment aspects of acquisitions, disposals and investments, as well as providing general day-to-day advice and training to clients on all types of employment issues. Katie is an astute negotiator and always seeks to find practical solutions to client problems, giving informed, tailored advice. Her experience of advising across a range of business sectors means that she is conversant with the challenges her clients face and has an empathic drive for supporting clients through often difficult times. Katie is also the head of the education group and uses her invaluable inside knowledge of the workings of independent schools and extensive experience in providing advice to educational establishments to the full advantage of the firm’s sector based clients. Katie is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Kelsie Essenhigh

Kelsie is a Legal Director in the Real Estate team. Kelsie has over 20 years of experience in providing advice and support to a wide variety of clients including property investors with substantial commercial property portfolios, several locally based charities, landowners and farmers. Kelsie advises on sales and purchases of commercial buildings, commercial leases – acting for both landlords and tenants, selling and buying farms and agricultural land and Farm Business Tenancies. Kelsie is a member of the Agricultural Law Association.

Marcus Francis

Clients include corporate occupiers, high-street banks, investors, residential and commercial developers, landed estates and farmers.

Mark Banham

Associate

Michael Higgin

Partner in the team dealing with corporate and retail occupation, commercial property investments, property disputes and lending secured on commercial property.  Leader since 2018 of FSP’s “strategic land contracts” team dealing with site assembly and the grant and taking of options, promotion agreements, hybrid agreements and overage.

Penelope Garden

Head of Private Equity and Venture Capital and partner in the corporate team.   Penelope regularly advises both companies and investors on venture capital and trade investments as well as private equity backed buy-outs. She also has extensive experience advising buyers and sellers on M&A transactions across a range of sectors. Penelope also advises clients on general company matters such as shareholder agreements, group reorganisations and share buy backs.

Philip Stephenson

Partner in the corporate team advising corporates, owners managers and private equity funds on the sale and purchase of companies and businesses. Philip also advises investors, private and AIM listed corporates as well as management teams on equity investments. Philip also advises regularly on corporate life cycle matters including group reorganisations, shareholder/joint venture agreements and share options / buybacks.

Rachael Maunder

Partner

Richard Higgs

Partner – Commercial Property

Rob Crowther

Partner

Sarah Sharpin

Sarah is a solicitor in the Will Disputes and Contentious Probate team. Having trained at an established Thames Valley firm Sarah gained a broad experience of probate disputes, and joined FSP in February 2021 to join our growing department. Sarah can advise on all aspects of disputes concerning wills, trusts, inheritance and contentious Court of Protection work including challenges to Wills, claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, and trustee and executor disputes. Sarah also has experience of ADR including mediation.

Sue Vandersteen

Head of wills, trusts and tax planning, probate applications and estates administration, charities and not for profit and partnerships and LLPs. Sue is a member of education, farming and estates, powers of attorney and deputyship, contested probate groups, pensions and tax groups.

Susan Baker

Partner specialising in family law including divorce and separation, disputes regarding children including complex residence and contact disputes, relocation cases and adoption, including high-value financial proceedings within divorce. Qualified in all issues involving family mediation. Specialist also in contentious probate involving challenges to wills and claims persuant to Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

Tom Maple

Tom is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution and Litigation team. Tom specialises in commercial dispute resolution and is experienced in advising commercial clients in a broad range of industry sectors. Tom has particular expertise in the Automotive and FMCG Sectors, and heads up our automotive team. Tom’s clients include international vehicle manufacturers, international suppliers to national supermarket chains, national parts suppliers, national and national and international produce suppliers and fleet hire companies. Since the introduction of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP), Tom has advised a number of clients of their rights against retailers under GSCOP as well as advising on the enforceability of contractual terms regularly used by retailers in supply agreements. Tom is also in the privileged position of taking a case to arbitration under the Dispute Resolution procedure available to suppliers in the event that a retailer breaches their rights under GSCOP. As well as advising his automotive clients on a variety of legal issues, Tom regularly gives training to his automotive clients on how to manage risk and resolve disputes (Tom has recently advised on matters pertaining to the changes to the law of termination in light of the Covid-19 pandemic). Tom’s broader commercial litigation practice involves advising on breach of warranty claims, s. 994 minority shareholder claims, partnership disputes, breach of contract and negligence claims. Tom’s recent cases include: Acting for a large supplier in a multi million pound arbitration under GSCOP. Advising an international vehicle manufacturer on a c. £2m breach of contract claim under a sponsorship agreement. Defending on a £20m breach of warranty claim brought by a Canadian venture capital fund. Advising a recycling company and its insurer client in a multi million pound negligence claim. Tom began his legal career at Lawrence Graham in London and joined FSP in 2013 from Henmans LLP in Oxford.