Howes Percival LLP

The firm: Howes Percival is a leading regional, full service law firm operating across the heartland of England. The firm has expertise and resources usually associated with much larger national and City firms and provides legal services to businesses, the government and individuals. The firm prides itself on the agile, energetic and commercial approach of its lawyers.

Howes Percival values excellent client relationships and invests time and resources in understanding its clients’ businesses, the sectors they operate in and their requirements. The firm’s offices and teams work closely together with clients to provide them with a seamless, high-quality service. The location of the firm’s office network helps it provide services to clients across the country.

Howes Percival has been ranked in the ‘Best Companies to Work For’ list four years running.  The 2023 list saw the firm rise 8 places to 51st position in the UK’s 100 Best Large Companies to Work For category and 6th in the Top 10 Best Large Law Firms to Work For list. The firm achieved a 2 star Best Companies accreditation, which is given to organisations with an ’outstanding’ commitment to workplace engagement.

Types of work undertaken: Howes Percival provides services to a range of clients including, Marston’s, Persimmon Homes, the University of Cambridge, Greene King and All3Media. However, it also has a large client base of owner-managed businesses and individuals. It has particular expertise in the automotive, development and construction, education, food and drink, and leisure and tourism sectors.

The firm is also appointed, as part of a consortium, to the Government’s Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Full Service Panel for England and Wales and is a Tier 1 supplier to CCS’s General Legal Advice Services panel, used by all UK central government ministerial and non-ministerial departments.

Corporate: Howes Percival is a market leader in corporate work and has particular expertise in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, disposals, MBOs and MBIs, and private equity transactions.

Commercial: In the commercial space the firm is recommended for outsourcing agreements, joint ventures, manufacturing and supply agreements, IT work and intellectual property agreements.

Banking:  All aspects of banking law (both transactional and advisory) are dealt with by Howes Percival’s specialist banking and finance team. The firm acts for both lenders and borrowers, across a range of corporate and real estate credits, on transactions of all sizes.

Commercial property: Howes Percival has a highly skilled and extremely well-regarded commercial property team providing specialist advice on all aspects of the sale and purchase of residential and commercial development land and built out sites, option and clawback arrangements, commercial leases and property portfolio management, banking and finance, planning, environmental issues, mines and minerals, construction and property tax.

Dispute resolution: The firm has an extremely experienced dispute resolution team which advises national and international companies, government clients and individuals on commercial disputes in the UK and overseas.

Insolvency and corporate recovery: Howes Percival’s extensive insolvency and corporate recovery team operates nationally and has a strong reputation for handling insolvency work both in the UK and overseas. Alongside offering advice on formal insolvency proceedings, the team advises businesses suffering financial stress – from sole traders through to large public limited companies.

Intellectual property: Howes Percival’s intellectual property team advises clients across a range of business sectors and is experienced in contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters. The firm’s solicitors handle an extensive caseload of litigation in the English High Court, the Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court and the European Courts, as well as the UK and European Intellectual Property offices.

Property litigation: The firm’s property litigation team predominantly advises large organisations as well as investment funds, institutional landlords, developers, owner managed businesses and private individuals. The team also regularly manages property portfolios for landlords and tenants alike and handle their lease renewals and exits. Howes Percival’s property litigation lawyers have a particularly exemplary and meticulous approach to contentious break clauses and dilapidations claims as well as a significant amount of experience working with clients in the development sector, landed estates and regularly consults on land diversification.

Health and safety: The team has a deserved reputation for pragmatism, client-focus, commercial awareness and strategic-thinking in the health and safety field, where it handles a full range of contentious and non-contentious work. It is known for its work across a variety of sectors, including construction, manufacturing, healthcare and education, and is renowned for its work in the minerals and extractives sector.

Employment: An award-winning team providing the full range of contentious and non-contentious work for clients. The team carries out high quality work for a range of clients across the country, from household names to owner managed businesses, gaining new instructions based on reputation alone. Members of the team provide solution-focused commercial employment advice, taking a robust approach to litigation (having gained a number of costs awards in favour of clients) and are particularly experienced in handling complex, high-value litigation disputes.

Family: The team provides high-level and solution-focused advice upon the financial aspect of divorce and relationship breakdown. They regularly advise upon pre-nuptial agreements and other strategies for wealth preservation in families.  They specialise in representing high net worth individuals including company directors, entrepreneurs and celebrities or their spouses. They have expertise in cases involving family businesses, farming businesses, complex corporate structures and trusts.  The team also advises on private children law issues and domestic violence. They benefit from two qualified collaborative lawyers.

Private client: A highly respected team providing advanced estate planning including preparation of wills, formation of trusts and bespoke tax solutions for landowners, directors and high-net-worth individuals with extensive experience advising farms and estates, administering trusts and advising charities. The team includes three Fellows of the Agricultural Law Association and is a retained adviser on Camelot’s legal panel. Team memberships include ACTAPS and STEP.

Offices: Cambridge, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Norwich and Oxford