Machins Solicitors LLP

Machins Solicitors is widely recognised as one of the region’s leading commercial firms. Progressive and well run, it has a reputation for being reliable, cost effective and highly professional.

The firm: Machins Solicitors has carried on business under the name of Machins since 1920 and can trace its roots back to a law firm that had opened for business in the late 1800s.  This year the firm is celebrating its centenary year.

With offices in Luton and Berkhamsted, it has a strong geographic reach, acting for clients not only in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire but also Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, the Thames Valley Corridor, London and internationally.  It has a growing team with expert lawyers offering a full range of business and individual legal services (aside from criminal).

Within the individual services sector, it has specialist niches in family and child care issues, as well as wills, trusts and probate, dispute resolution, employment and immigration. The firm works closely with highly respected counsel, actuaries, accountants, independent financial advisors, mediators and business valuers.

Within the commercial sector, our practice areas cover legal services from company and corporate law, employment law and commercial property law through to dispute resolution and immigration law services.

Types of work undertaken
Company commercial: Machins Solicitors has built up a strong commercial team with experts advising across a spectrum of disciplines, providing help to businesses, directors, institutions, societies, owners and managers. Over recent years, the department has seen a sustained growth both in the scope and the value of the work undertaken. Work includes all areas of acquisitions and mergers, joint ventures, contractual and compliance issues and intellectual property acting for a range of clients from sole traders to multinational companies.

Commercial property: The commercial property team continues to grow through its wide range of transactions providing advice to property owners, developers, investors, lenders and tenants. The firm’s reputation is built on sound practical judgement and experience acquired over decades. It acts for large property companies, sole traders, and local, national and international businesses. It is able to help with the full range of commercial property issues including property litigation, enfranchisement and lease extensions, site acquisition development and disposals, and agricultural holdings and farm tenancies as well as landlord and tenant issues and business lease renewals.

Employment:  In addition to advising a growing core employer client base on  business as usual employment matters and high-net-worth individual clients on their exit packages, the team is kept busy both in relation to litigation and corporate transactional matters, business advisory and dispute resolution advising on a number of injunctive disputes, multi-jurisdiction Employment Tribunal claims and TUPE transactions. The team also has particular expertise in relation to discrimination cases, specifically disability discrimination.

Immigration: Our specialist team has expertise across all aspects of UK immigration law and knows all the relevant procedures, policies and criteria assisting individual and business clients from asylum seekers to investors and entrepreneurs from the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Private client: With a team of six lawyers, the private client department continues to attract high-net-worth clients, many of whom are London-based. The department advises on wills, probate, contested probate, establishing trusts and trust management, tax planning and cross-border estates, deputyships and powers of attorney.

Family (private law): Machins has a family (private law) team in Luton and Berkhamsted who are all qualified solicitors performing to a high standard of excellence. Acting for clients throughout the UK and abroad, this growing department specialises in dealing with cases involving private high-net-worth individuals, particularly those with their own businesses, TV executives and bankers as well as work ranging from fixed-fee divorce, cohabitation agreements, pre- and post-nuptial agreements through to helping clients with complex private Children Act proceedings, mediation and collaborative law.

Family (public law): the team, based in Luton, excels in public law children proceedings and holds a legal aid franchise which enables the team to provide legal advice and representation in relation to public family law including applications for special guardianship orders and adoption including international adoption.

Commercial litigation: Machins’ commercial litigation team is well respected for specialist niches particularly in relation to shareholder disputes, insolvency and property litigation as well as standard contractual litigation of a commercial nature. It is widely recognised as one of the leading litigation firms in the region.