Russell-Cooke LLP

Alex Ground

Alex is a partner in our planning team and specialises in the full spectrum of planning related work; s106 agreements, compulsory purchase, planning applications inquiries and appeals, objections to planning applications, Community Infrastructure Levy issues, judicial review and high court challenges, highways agreements, listed building and conservation area advice, Certificates of Lawful Development, enforcement issues, prior approval applications. She acts for corporates, charities and individuals. Notable developments that advised on: planning applications for UK’s largest on-shore oilfield to extend its life, acting on application for 120 units in Mid Sussex including two successful s.288 high court challenges (Woodcock Holdings Limited v Secretary of State [2015] EWHC 1173), successful high court challenge of Neighbourhood Plan (Stonegate Homes Ltd & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Horsham District Council [2016] EWHC 2512) and CPO compensation case for several million.

Alex Bearman

Alex is a partner in the employment team. He specialises in all areas of contentious employment law, with a particular focus on complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims as well as high value bonus disputes. Alex acts for senior executives and employers. He represents businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to large corporates. His employee clients come from a variety of sectors including banking, legal, insurance, private equity, hedge funds, accountancy and other professional services. He also deals with non-contentious matters including advising clients on the handling of large scale redundancies and the employment aspects of business transfers.

Alison Regan

Alison leads the contentious trust and estate team advising a range of clients (private individuals, trustees, other fiduciaries and beneficiaries) on succession, probate and trust disputes. Alison also has extensive experience in advising on claims under the Inheritance (Family and Dependants) Act 1975, applications to rectify or vary wills and professional negligence issues in relation to trusts and estates. As part of a larger team, Alison also acts in an advisory and risk management capacity in relation to asset protection or succession planning, particularly in a multi-generational family business context or in the context of divorce proceedings. Alison also regularly acts in contentious administrations involving the Russell-Cooke Trust Company, where the trust company is appointed as independent administrator in circumstances involving beneficiary litigation or family disharmony. In particular Alison has experience in acting in the context of applications made following manslaughter convictions and the impact on inheritance: the Forfeiture Act 1982.

Andrew Godfrey

Andrew is a partner in private client team. Andrew is recognised for his advice on cross-border private client matters. Andrew is a member and former chair of STEP’s Cross Border Estates Group committee. He regularly talks at conferences on cross-border matters within the UK and abroad, and has authored many legal texts in this area. Andrew is a Board member of the Lexunion network and has a wide network of contacts. He speaks fluent Italian. Andrew advises on cross-border wills, estate planning, estate administration, trusts and international tax.

Andrew Studd

Andrew is a partner in the charity and social business team advising charities, social enterprises, trade associations and other membership and not-for-profit organisations on a wide range of charity and company law issues and commercial matters. He helps guide charity boards through challenging situations and renewal. He provides advice on constitutional governance matters, commercial contracts, restructuring, mergers and incorporations, funding issues, joint ventures and collaborative working arrangements.

Anthony Sakrouge

Partner specialising in contentious employment law. Has acted for a wide range of employer and employee clients, including in various high-profile matters. Particular interest in whistleblowing and discrimination claims, including against trade and qualifying bodies, but also acts in breach of contract claims, complex unfair dismissal cases, share disputes and cases involving restrictive covenants.

Arnold Isaacson

Partner specialising in real estate. Advises on all aspects of property acquisitions and disposals, portfolio work, property investment, residential development, business tenancies and property management. Experience advising overseas clients on all aspects relating to the acquisition of commercial investment property in the UK. Acted (amongst other things), on the acquisitions of Stratton House in Mayfair, the Liberty building in the West End of London, 81 Piccadilly and 99 Kensington High Street. Has recently acted on acquisition of an apartment at the high profile 1 Hyde Park. Has acted for Pret A Manger for over 15 years.

Bernadette McGhie

Bernadette is a consultant in the personal injury and clinical negligence team and heads the brain injury team. Bernadette has a varied caseload of wholly clinical negligence cases but her main area of expertise is in brain injuries including CP cases, meningitis and encephalitis as well as maternal injury in pregnancy. Bernadette's nursing background greatly informs her legal practice and helps her to see both sides of any dispute. She is also committed to improving maternity safety working alongside charities such as Baby Lifeline. As part of Bernadette's everyday practice she is used to dealing with both lay clients and professionals such as clinicians and lawyers at all levels. Bernadette takes a collaborative approach to her work when dealing with opponents which leads to a more constructive working relationship and mutual respect.

Camilla Thornton

Camilla is a consultant in the family team. Camilla is highly regarded by her peers for her 30 years' experience advising on all aspects of family law. Her particular expertise lies in advising mid to high-net-worth individuals on their financial settlements following separation and divorce and her cases have involved high earners, professionals, entrepreneurs, private companies, large pensions, inherited wealth and family trusts. Camilla has considerable experience advising on pre and post-nuptial agreements, often with an international element and has advised on numerous second marriage nuptial agreements and on first marriage agreements where the wealth has been provided by a parent or other relation.

Chris Rowse

Chris is a partner in the charity and social business team. He advises on all aspects of charity law, including governance, regulatory matters involving the Charity Commission, commercial arrangements, setting up charities fundraising and collaborations. Chris provides strategic and practical advice and is empathetic to what his clients are seeking to achieve. He uses his knowledge of charity law and the sector to resolve complex issues.

David Webster

David is a partner in the corporate and commercial team. He advises on a variety of corporate and commercial legal matters, with a particular focus on the sale and purchase of companies and businesses, company law and governance issues, and lending and security. He advises clients across a range of sectors (including real estate, financial services and family businesses).

Deborah Blythe

Deborah is a consultant in the personal injury team. Deborah specialises in complex and high value claims and has particular expertise and interest in cases relating to birth-related brain injury in babies, the treatment and diagnosis of many types of cancer particularly breast cancer, and dental claims. A recognised 'leader' in the field of clinical negligence for several years, Deborah has built up extensive experience in handling claims of all sizes, covering a wide range of injurious conditions including brain injury, spinal injury, back and general orthopaedic injuries, bowel, bladder and psychological injuries.

Dominic Fairclough

Dominic is a partner in the personal injury and clinical negligence team. Dominic’s expertise covers all areas of clinical negligence and significant personal injury cases including fatal accidents, obstetric claims and neurological injury. He also has extensive experience of representing bereaved families as their advocate in Coroners Courts relating to deaths in hospital and in the workplace.

Donall Murphy

Donall is a partner in the conveyancing team. He advises both buyers and sellers in relation to freehold and leasehold transactions, dealing with many high value properties in prime locations. As well as his transactional work, his areas of particular expertise include lease extensions (including lease extensions under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993), new leases, identifying and rectifying defective leases, probate sales, Court of Protection sales, re-mortgages, auction sales and purchases, secured lending, new build purchases, restrictive covenants, residential development and some leasehold enfranchisement matters

Edward Wanambwa

Ed is one of a very small number of solicitors to be ranked by The Legal 500 as a Leading Individual in the field of UK immigration law and heads our highly ranked immigration team. Ed has considerable experience of advising national, large multi-national companies and publicly listed companies on the full spectrum of UK immigration law as it relates to their businesses and their employees.

Emma Shipp

Emma is a member of the corporate and commercial team, specialising in providing practical advice on a variety of business issues. She has more than 30 years of experience advising clients on mergers, acquisitions and disposals, on solvent and distressed company re-organisations, on startup requirements including shareholder agreements and LLP deeds and on various business arrangements such as joint ventures, share option schemes and investment agreements.

Eva Akins

Eva is a partner and Head of Education Law at Russell-Cooke. She is an expert in cases involving special educational needs and disability (SEND), Equality Act claims, admissions, exclusions, complaints and school governance in the independent and maintained sector. Identified as a leader in the field, Eva has specialist knowledge in neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD, autism, cerebral palsy, dyslexia and dyspraxia. She has a particular interest in cases involving ‘dual exceptionality’. It is Eva's personal experience of SEND and exclusion that fuels her passion for this area of law and informs her empathetic style of client care. Eva believes that the problem with trying to fit a ‘square peg’ child into the round hole of an education system is not that the hammering is hard work; rather you risk destroying the peg! Eva’s role is focused on squaring the circle and making the education system more fit for purpose. Where school is not appropriate, she secures comprehensive highly individualised education otherwise than at school.

Fiona Read

Solicitor, mediator, collaborative family practitioner and family arbitrator; undertakes all aspects of family work for married couples, registered civil partners and cohabitating couples; specialisms include international divorce/dissolution cases, cross-border disputes, substantive financial claims following breakdown of relationship, disputes involving children including removal of children from jurisdiction.

Gareth Roy

Gareth is a senior associate in the charity and social business team and advises a wide range of clients including national and international charities, religious charities and sports clubs. He provides governance and commercial advice across a wide range of issues including structural reviews, mergers, fundraising, lotteries and regulatory matters involving the Charity Commission. Gareth combines expert legal and technical knowledge with a pragmatic and user-friendly approach.

Gareth Ledsham

Partner specialising in all types of trust and estate/succession-related litigation, including will validity challenges, family provision claims, trustee disputes and claims for rectification and constructions of wills. Also professional negligence arising from these areas. Has a particular interest in estates with a cross-border element. Reported cases include Scarfe v Matthews [2012} EWHC 3071 (Ch) and Brennan v Prior [2013] EWHC 2867 (Ch). Also acts in matters involving contested Court of Protection proceedings including disputed lifetime gifts, statutory wills, attorney/deputy disputes and financial abuse.

Graham French

Graham is a consultant in the property and housing litigation team now working principally on the Public Inquiry and related litigation on behalf of clients affected by the Grenfell Tower fire. Until retiring as a partner in November 2019, in addition to the Grenfell cases he concentrated on residential and commercial property disputes, landlord & tenant, housing, public law and related contractual disputes. He covered all aspects of property and housing litigation acting for landlords, tenants and tenant’s organisations. Graham also worked for housing associations, co-operatives, tenant management organisations and other public and voluntary sector bodies.

Guy Wilmot

Guy Wilmot is a partner in the corporate and commercial team. He advises clients on corporate affairs, startups, intellectual property and technology, e-commerce and IT.

Hannah Field

Hannah is a partner in the family team. Hannah is an expert in a broad range of family law issues including relationship breakdown, cohabitation disputes, pre and post-nuptial agreements, domestic violence orders including non-molestation and occupation orders as well as private law children disputes including leave to remove children from this jurisdiction.

Jae Carwardine

Jae has over twenty years’ experience; renowned as a tenacious and tactically astute lawyer with a phenomenal work ethic. Jae is the Head of the Fraud and Criminal Litigation department. She has extensive experience in white collar and business crime. She often defends in complex cases including allegations of tax evasion, bribery, corruption, fraudulent trading, money laundering and boiler room frauds (including prosecutions by Serious Fraud Office (SFO), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Economic Crime Unit (ECU), Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), and the Crown Prosecution Service. Jae is highly regarded for her exceptional and effective representation of professionals, often attracting significant media attention, who find themselves accused of criminal matters with potentially career threatening implications and invasive press interest; allegations extending across the full spectrum from allegations of homicide to more minor allegations including drugs offences; such cases often involve regulatory or compliance issues. Jae has particular expertise in her conduct of sensitive cases, including sexual offences. Jae has developed a niche in advising clients in relation to Health and Safety and Trading Standards prosecutions. Recent work: instructed to represent a president of a US company regarding a case involving carbon emissions trading who faced an allegation of cheating the revenue of £60 million. She has also recently successfully acted for a series of clients facing a multi-million mortgage fraud (Operation Aquamarine). She is defending in a multi-defendant high profile conspiracy to defraud case. Instructed in guidelines case for e-disclosure in complex fraud cases. Acting for series of professional clients facing serious criminal or sexual offences.

James Carroll

James is Managing Partner at Russell-Cooke. He specialises in the financial and other consequences of relationship formation or breakdown. His principal role is to help people separate sensibly. James is an expert in complex financial matters, including those involving businesses and trust/tax structures, often with an international dimension. He has considerable knowledge of pre-nuptial agreements (having sat on the Advisory Group to the Law Commission). In contrast with many family lawyers, James' practice is not limited to representing married couples or those in a personal relationship. He also acts for family members, business partners or trusts/corporations that own property together or face family-related legal issues. James is identified as a leader in the field in relation to same-sex relationships, civil partnerships and same-sex marriages, particularly those involving cross-border issues. He has a particularly strong reputation in resolving matters through constructive discussions and cooperation. James is both an accredited mediator and a collaborative family lawyer (both specialist forms of dispute resolution designed to reach solutions out of court). James works with and advises individuals, couples or wider family members.

James Sinclair Taylor

James is a consultant in the charity and social business team. He works with a wide variety of charities, not for profits, local authorities and government departments. He focuses on governance and structure issues including reviews of governance, company, group and collaborative structures, Royal Charters, International Federations and other bodies. He has done substantial amounts of work for membership organisations which face particular challenges. Much of his work is involved with mergers including assisting clients find appropriate merger partners and negotiating the merger or collaborative working. Increasingly he has supported clients facing issues with regulators and in particular the Charity Commission. He advises on strategies to manage a range of risk, solvency and growth issues.

Janice Gardner

Janice is a partner in the personal injury and clinical negligence team. In her 30 years of practising as a clinical negligence and personal injury solicitor she has seen all manner of negligently acquired injuries and is un-shockable. She has a huge amount of experience to bring to each case because of her experience and technical skills. She has a varied caseload of both clinical negligence and personal injury cases, but her main area of expertise is in infection, spinal injuries and brain injuries. She has successfully won many cases at trial and never shies away from those cases at the more difficult end of the spectrum. As now the most senior lawyer in her team, she focuses her energies on the cases that she thinks she can add most value to, namely those that are technically difficult or very high value. She also enjoys working on cases where she can push the legal boundaries and challenge bad law.

John Gould

Chair John Gould's area of particular expertise is regulation and public law. He specialises in the analysis and solution of complex regulatory problems, advising regulators, government departments, law enforcement agencies, charities and statutory and professional bodies. One of John's particular areas of interest is complex financial schemes. He has played a leading part in investigations relating to investment, tax and pension schemes, international financial frauds, money laundering, organised criminality and the corruption of public officials. He has been appointed as an 'expert person' under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), a court appointed partnership receiver and a court appointed supervisor of search and freezing orders. He has advised and served as an expert witness for, among others, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Magistrates Association (MA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in a variety of courts and tribunals including the Old Bailey. He holds rights of audience in the higher civil courts. John provides advice on and drafts legal structures, statutory powers, royal charters and professional rules. He is Board Solicitor to the Architects Registration Board. He prepares independent reports for organisations where things have gone wrong including on governance and related issues. He has advised more than 40 sets of barristers' chambers on structures, mergers, dissolutions and disputes, and has advised in relation to political donations and expenses at the highest level. Many of his cases have attracted significant media interest. He often advises and reports in relation to situations which involve both legal and reputational issues for organisations.

Jonathan Thornton

Jonathan Thornton is head of the corporate and commercial team. A hugely experienced, empathetic, and skilled practitioner, he deals with acquisitions and disposals, company reorganisations, corporate finance, banking arrangements and funding rounds, as well as shareholder, partnership and LLP agreements.

Julie Man

Julie is a partner in the private client team, she advises on the full spectrum of private client matters including complex wills, estate planning, succession planning for business owners, domicile and cross-border issues for international clients, trusts and the administration of estates.

Kate Hamilton

Kate has considerable expertise in acting for barristers, solicitors and clients in the financial sector. Many of her cases involve foreign jurisdictions with off-shore assets and/or international lifestyles. She has expertise in disputes between property owners, being either family members or couples, financial provision upon divorce/dissolution, intervening in divorces, advising unmarried parents in their claims, undertaking complex children work such as leave to remove applications and negotiating pre and post nuptial agreements. Reported cases: Re: D (A Child) (Abduction: foreign custody rights) [2006] UKHL 510, El Gamal v HRH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed al-Maktoum [2011] EWHC B27 (Fam); Re A (A Child) [2014] EWCA Civ 1577 and GN v MA [2015] EWHC 3939 (Fam), Ashby v Kilduff [2010] EWHC 2034 (Ch.).

Kathrin McClintock

Partner. Kathrin advises on complex real estate acquisition and disposals, real estate development projects and landlord and tenant transactions. Her clients are real estate investment companies, financial institutions, private individuals and large estates. She also advises on the real estate finance aspects of these transactions, including negotiations with funders such as banks, private equity funds and venture capital investors. She acts for UK banks in connection with secured lending transactions for commercial and mixed use real estate.

Katie Longmate

Katie advises across the full breadth of family law with many of her cases involving an international element. She is a Resolution trained family mediator in financial and private law children matters. Her specialist acumen is in cases involving international child relocation and disputes involving child arrangements. She advises on divorce, relationship breakdown and managing the associated financial matters. She also assists with the drafting of nuptial agreements. Her clients range from HNW individuals, international entrepreneurs and families of inherited wealth. Katie is ranked in Chambers HNW 2023 (Band 5 for Family/Matrimonial Finance: High Net Worth - London) as well as a Recommended Lawyer in Legal 500 2024.

Kieran Bowe

Kieran is a partner specialising in tax, estate and succession planning, often acting for high net worth individuals, entrepreneurs and business owners. Kieran advises in relation to the preparation of wills, estate and tax planning including business succession and wealth protection for future generations, probate, lifetime trusts, trusts for vulnerable and disabled individuals, lasting powers of attorney, enduring powers of attorney and Court of Protection matters

Matt Garrod

Matt advises clients on a range of real estate transactions including investment acquisitions and disposals, premises acquisitions for major retail clients, landlord and tenant matters, development and real estate finance. Matt also has experience in dealing with complex portfolio transactions.

Matthew Bosworth

Matt is a partner in the dispute resolution group specialising in professional disciplinary, financial regulatory and leads on reputation management matters. He also advises on the protection of intellectual property rights and copyright in all jurisdictions. He advises clients on matter involving regulatory offences and the protection of intellectual property rights. He regularly advises individuals, businesses and organisations as to the most effective investigation and protection procedures.

Miranda Green

Miranda Green is a partner in the family team. Her expertise covers the full gamut of family law matters with a particular focus on financial settlements especially those involving international issues, pre and post-nuptial agreements and private children issues arising from divorces. Often working with high net worth individuals, her experience in cohabitation, family-run businesses and tax and trusts also distinguishes Miranda as a true family law specialist. As an accredited Resolution Specialist, a trained collaborative lawyer and a longstanding member of Resolution's International Committee since 2003,

Morris John

Morris specialises in all aspects of residential conveyancing, acting for a broad range of clients. He acts regularly for solicitors of other firms. His expertise includes freehold and leasehold sales and purchases, transfers of equity and re-mortgages. He works closely with the enfranchisement team on transactions involving short leases and is familiar with the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987 and the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022.

Neil Dryer

Neil is a partner in the real estate team. Neil Dryer has extensive experience acting on a broad range of commercial property transactions, with a particular focus on investment transactions and complex development projects, as well as on leasing and property management and real estate finance. Neil has acted for a range of clients including institutional investors and property companies, together with high-net worth individuals, family offices and occupiers across a number of sectors including offices, industrial / logistics, data centres, hotels, healthcare and residential development. He has established himself as a go-to-adviser in a number of emerging real estate sectors, acting for developers and occupiers of ultra-urban logistics, rapid grocery delivery hubs, ‘dark’ commercial kitchens and EV charging facilities.

Paul Greatholder

Paul Greatholder is a partner in the property and housing litigation team. He advises businesses, charities and individuals on all aspects of property disputes and their avoidance. Paul’s work covers enforcement of lease terms, recovery of money, real estate property disputes, and he has particular interests in business tenancy law, restrictive covenants and rights of light.

Peter Cadman

Consultant. Retained by the Architects Registration Board, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, the Federation Against Copyright Theft and TM Eye. An experienced litigator who has added to his reputation with involvement in complex regulatory matters; professional regulatory work both on behalf of the professional bodies themselves and individual members of the professions, experienced Sports Law practitioner, considerable experience in contentious Intellectual Property Rights matters both civil and criminal, retained by Premier League Football Clubs in relation to sports law issues relating to the clubs and individual players. An experienced criminal litigator now largely involved in privately funded cases.

Peter Dawson

Consultant in the real estate team. Specialises in strategic land (in particular, promotion agreements) and all aspects of property development; including planning and related matters and sale and purchase structures. Manages teams in the acquisition and disposal of large portfolios of properties and large investment properties, with oversight of landlord and tenant management work for substantial investment clients. Clients include Clipstone Land, Southern Properties Group, Landform Estates and the Ilchester Estate.

Pieter Boodt

Pieter is a partner in the real estate team. He advises developers, investors, charitable organisations and private individuals based in both the UK and abroad on a wide range of commercial real estate transactions, including site assembly, development, the acquisition and disposal of investment assets, landlord and tenant matters, and real estate finance.

Pippa Garland

Pippa is a partner in the charity and social business team. She advises charities, social enterprises and other not-for-profit organisations on all aspects of charity law. Pippa combines a strong general practice advising on governance, fundraising and trading, mergers and grant making (including overseas), with a particular expertise in philanthropy, where she advises both individuals and businesses on their giving. She has helped establish a number of family and corporate foundations.

Rachel Donald

Rachel is a partner in the family team. She advises national and international clients on all aspects of family law including divorce and separation, the resolution of complex financial matters after separation for married and un-married couples, resolving arrangements for children (including applications to remove children from the jurisdiction) and disputes concerning child maintenance. She has a particular specialism in assisting clients with the preparation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements as part of their wealth preservation planning. Her cases regularly involve substantial financial assets held in the UK and worldwide. She regularly represents entrepreneurs, executives, business owners, legal, finance and health professionals, and their spouses. She is experienced in assisting international clients and has a wide network to assist clients who need representation in the UK where there are jurisdictions disputes and international prenuptial agreements.

Rebecca Fisher

Rebecca is an experienced private client lawyer working with both UK and international clients, including families, family businesses and entrepreneurs, trust companies and family offices. Rebecca is head of our family office and has particular expertise in advising entrepreneurs and multi-generational businesses on wealth planning, succession and protection.

Richard Frimston

Richard is a consultant in the private client team. He advises clients in relation to their estate planning, wills, probate and tax planning issues and offers Notary Public services. His areas of expertise include cross-border estates and international private law issues. Richard has particular expertise in multi-jurisdictional estates specifically with France, other EU states and India. He is a member of the EU Commission group of experts PRM-III/IV and PRM III considering Regulations on Succession (EU 650/2012) and on Property Regimes (EU 2016/1103 and 2016/1104).

Rita Bhargava

Rita is a partner in the private client team and leads the mental capacity team. She specialises in private client work and advises on a wide range of matters including wills, administration of estates, power of attorney, trusts and tax planning. Rita leads the mental capacity team and has extensive experience in Court of Protection matters specialising in property and financial affairs

Samantha Little

Work undertaken: all complex children proceedings, including private law/public law care cases; adoption (including inter-country adoption); surrogacy and alternative family law. Advises and represents parents, children, children’s guardians and other family members. Conducts much of her own advocacy, including in the High Court.

Sarah Towler

Sarah is a partner in the personal injury and clinical negligence team advising clients on a wide range of claims, including cases involving misdiagnosis of symptoms, negligent operations, road traffic accidents, work accidents and tripping accidents. Particular areas of specialisation are claims against local authorities regarding failure to care for vulnerable adults and children. Sarah also represents bereaved families at inquests involving deaths in hospital and the workplace, road traffic accidents and suicides. Additionally, she manages four pro-bono personal injury and clinical negligence drop-in clinics at Croydon, Morden, Battersea and Roehampton.

Sarah Richardson

Sarah is a partner in the children and education law team. She specialises in complex cases involving vulnerable adults and children during care proceedings and family disputes such as children spending time with and or living with one family member. In this changing world of how families develop and are formed, Sarah has the ability to adapt and change as well as take on new challenges to meet her clients changing needs. Sarah is particularly experienced in advising and representing children, parents and family members in difficult and sensitive cases which are often life changing for families - for example, where there are issues of parental drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence and or a mental health difficulty. Sarah has a reputation for being able to tackle a difficult area in a case such as mental health without being phased by the added complexities. Many cases often involve allegations of sexual abuse or physical harm to children. She handles these highly emotional cases with sensitivity and kindness. Sarah is also experienced in international and domestic adoption and surrogacy and advising LGBTQ+ families.

Sarah Arnold

Sarah is an expert in handling cases involving both onshore and offshore assets including family businesses, family farms, art and digital assets. She has extensive experience resolving disputes involving lifetime gifts, inheritance, validity and/or construction of testamentary and trust documents, as well as disputes between executors/administrators and trustees to include removal claims. Sarah has been involved in numerous cases involving burial disputes and DNA and has also acted for charities in defending legacies due to their organisations. As a keen advocate for alternative dispute resolution (ADR), Sarah regularly acts for individuals and charities in mediation, settlement meetings and other forms of ADR. Sarah qualified in 2010 and joined Russell-Cooke in 2024.

Shabnam Ali-Khan

Shabnam is a partner in the enfranchisement team. She specialises in lease extension and enfranchisement matters, primarily under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 working with a variety of clients ranging from high net worth individuals and companies to individual leaseholders and investor landlords. Shabnam has carved out a niche in right of first refusal matters pursuant to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Shabnam advises on a wide range of other landlord and tenant matters including advising residents' freehold and management companies on various issues including block management, service charges and consultation requirements and rights for major works as well the Right to Manage. She is also a qualified mediator.

Stephen Clarke

Stephen is a consultant in the real estate team. He undertakes a broad range of real estate work acting for tenants, landlords, buyers, developers and property users. He has extensive experience relating to the negotiation of business leases and rent review. Other areas of expertise include planning agreements, commercial and residential development and enfranchisement.

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