Adam is a partner and the head of our Tax & Trusts team. Adam's work covers all areas of UK and international wills, trusts and personal tax planning. He has a particular interest in advising international families, advising those looking to move to or invest in the UK, together with those requiring advice on their family governance and succession planning worldwide. In doing so, Adam works closely with other professional advisers round the globe. Adam's clients are predominantly private individuals and their trustees. Adam himself is a trustee or protector of a number of private trusts.
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Alison is a partner in the Probate & Estate Administration team. She specialises in probate, wills, powers of attorney, advance decisions, Court of Protection and elderly client work. She is chairman of the Trustees of the T H Russell Charitable Trust which provides for the care of the elderly and a trustee of a local charity The Harnham Water Meadows Trust.
Partner and head of the landowner development team. Alison specialises in rural property matters, in particular acting for landowners on developments of predominantly green field sites throughout England. Alison's development experience includes residential development, employment development and light industrial development. This encompasses agreements relating to options, promotion, overage/clawback, equalisation and consortia. She also has considerable experience in dealing with conditional contracts and negotiating section 106 agreements. From time to time she is asked to give independent advice as to the enforceability of existing agreements. Alison also acts for banks in the taking of security over agricultural property and development land. As well as landed estates Alison's clients also include schools, Oxford Colleges, charities and farmers/farm owners and she is often called in to assist other teams within the firm on complex land transactions (including high value sales and purchases), as well as other advisory work.
Anthony is a partner in our Employment Team and has a wealth of experience in advising both employers and employees. His instructions from employers cover a wide range of sectors, including commercial, charitable and educational organisations, as well as private landed estates. He advises businesses on all aspects of the employer/employee relationship, from recruitment to termination, transfers of undertakings (TUPE), restrictive covenants and post-termination protection, as well as redundancy consultation. For employees, Anthony advises particularly at executive level, assisting in recruitment/terms and conditions, work-place disputes and exits.
Belinda Watson is a partner in the Farms & Estates team of our private client department. She specialises in providing strategic advice on all areas of wealth preservation and succession planning, typically to the owners of landed estates, large farms, family businesses and heritage chattels and properties. This involves advising on wills and trusts, lifetime giving, partnerships and the application of inheritance tax exemptions and reliefs (such as agricultural or business property, heritage property and maintenance funds). Belinda represents clients from a wide geographical area across the country including the south coast, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Shropshire.
Ben is a partner in our Property & Commercial Litigation team. He deals with both property and commercial disputes, acting for both claimants and defendants. His clients include landed estates, private individuals, manufacturing companies and charities. On the property side Ben's recent cases include disputes relating to restrictive covenants, rights of access, adverse possession, landlord and tenant, construction adjudication and professional negligence. On the commercial side Ben's recent cases include product liability, an LLP dispute, a shareholders' dispute and breach of contract/warranty claims. With experience of mediations, arbitrations, adjudications and court hearings Ben will try and utilise the most appropriate procedure in order to resolve a dispute. He is also often asked to give advice as to how to prevent disputes arising in the first place.
Charlotte is a partner in our Wills & Trusts Disputes team. Charlotte advises on contentious trust and probate and legacy administration problems, including Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 claims, will validity, construction of wills, problems with executors and trustees, proprietary estoppel and the Non-Contentious Probate Rules. Charlotte also deals with ex gratia claims, lost wills, joint bank accounts and lifetime gifts. She regularly advises on proceedings in the Court of Protection including statutory will applications (where the court makes a will for a person who does not have the mental capacity to make his own) and has a special interest in this area. She is committed to resolving disputes in a sensitive and tactful way, being mindful that they can be extremely difficult emotionally as well as financially.
Dominic is a partner in our Commercial Property team. Dominic handles a broad range of commercial property work. He has dealt with numerous complicated and high value transactions, often working closely with our corporate team and other professionals on corporate acquisitions and de-mergers involving large commercial property portfolios. His practice includes dealing with the sale and purchase of commercial buildings and development land, commercial leases (acting for both landlords and tenants), promotion agreements and options and mineral extraction agreements. He has acted for a wide range of clients from overseas corporate investors, wealthy UK and overseas private investors, well-known national charities, 'top 10' firms of surveyors and accountants, landed estates, breweries and pub companies.
Frances is our senior partner and head of our Probate & Estate Administration team. She specialises in probate, trusts, powers of attorney, Court of Protection and deals with legal issues relating to clients who are elderly, disabled or vulnerable. She acts as a professional executor, trustee, attorney and Court of Protection deputy.
Imogen is a partner in the Tax & Trusts team. She specialises in tax, trusts, succession and estate planning. Imogen advises individuals who have any sort of UK nexus, ranging from non-resident and non-domiciled individuals whose sole connection to the UK is a UK property, to resident and domiciled individuals whose families have lived in the UK for many generations. She also supports financial institutions (including banks, trustees and family offices) on fiduciary, tax and trust matters.
James is a partner and head of the Wills & Trusts Disputes team. James specialises in resolving trust and probate disputes. James' work ranges from claims concerning the validity and effect of wills, claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, undue influence and equitable claims, to actions by or against trustees of landed estates and international trust disputes. He regularly acts for clients in mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
James is a partner in our Corporate & Commercial team advising on commercial matters for a wide variety of clients. James' work includes private company mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, investments and fundraisings, shareholder agreements, LLP and partnership arrangements and commercial contracts. He has extensive experience in a number of commercial sectors including consumer goods, motor vehicles, construction and aggregates extraction and also advises a number of professional partnerships.
Jane is a partner and head of our Commercial Team. She specialises in commercial property with a particular emphasis on charity land transactions, and also deals with large and/or complicated land transactions. Jane acts for many of the best known charities in the country, advising on the entire spectrum of property issues affecting charities as well as assisting with complicated charity restructures and charity mergers. In short, Jane helps charities with all matters involving property.
Jonathan is a partner in our Tax & Trusts team, and has an unusual breadth of experience in strategic planning for clients with private and commercial interests. Jonathan is an expert on structuring for farms and landed estates, particularly in relation to partnerships, trusts and alternative arrangements. On the corporate side, he often advises business owners on succession, options and incentives, and capital tax planning. Jonathan acts as trustee for a number of substantial trusts involved in development land, farming interests and commercial businesses.
Judith is a consultant in our Commercial Property team and has worked on commercial property transactions for over 30 years (all spent at Wilsons). There is not much in the property world she has not seen! She now deals primarily with care home and other large charity developments together with more general commercial development transactions.
Kathryn is a partner in our Probate & Estate Administration team. Kathryn deals with all private client work including probate, wills and LPAs but specialises in charitable probate matters which often involve special applications such as Grants Ad Colligenda Bona, S116 applications under the Senior Courts Act 1981 and proving lost wills.
Mike has been the firm's Managing Partner since November 2014 and has overall responsibility for the business. He works closely with the other members of the management team to ensure that clients receive a consistently high standard of service and that our lawyers and other staff are properly supported. His leadership style is founded on the principle that great teamwork is the key to success. Mike's specialism is litigation and dispute resolution and he advises individuals as well as businesses on a wide range of issues. He has particular expertise in property cases concerning title, boundaries and rights of way. Mike’s practice also covers professional negligence and high value company/commercial disputes including breach of contract, share sales and injunctions.
Peter is a partner in our Property & Commercial Litigation team. Peter deals with freehold and landlord and tenant problems. His freehold work mostly relates to adverse possession, rights of way and boundary disputes. The landlord and tenant matters cover commercial, residential and agricultural property. His particular specialist areas are rent reviews, dilapidations and interpretation of covenants. He advises many farming businesses on partnership, Entitlements, contractual disputes and agricultural succession. He usually finds a pragmatic solution for the benefit of his clients. As a qualified Chartered Surveyor, Peter has a detailed understanding of the problems facing both landlords and tenants.
Peter Jeffreys is a partner in our charity legacy team. Peter specialises in charity legacy administration and the resolution of problem estates for charities. He also acts for charities in Court of Protection cases. Peter has a special interest in dealing with cases of probate fraud for charities. Peter's background in private client work means he is uniquely well placed to advise charities and individuals on complex and problematic will cases. His combination of practical experience, and a sensitive and diplomatic approach, is much in demand. Peter chairs and speaks at our hugely successful seminar for charity legacy officers, which takes place in London annually in March, and was also a popular speaker at the firm's seminar for military charities in London.
Robert Swift is a consultant in our Farms & Estates team, and for twenty five years has specialised in helping clients to buy and sell farms and estates throughout the South of England. Robert acts for many buyers purchasing "off market" and city institutions, trust companies, charities, farmers and new entrants to farm and estate ownership are amongst his clients. He acts frequently for first time farm or estate buyers, some from overseas as well as for entrepreneurs seeking to acquire a piece of England to enjoy as a home, or to diversify their investment portfolio.
Rupert is a partner in our Tax & Trusts team. His work is primarily planning with trusts and wills, with the tax effects of planning options an important consideration. His clients are mostly individuals, trustees, and executors. He also acts for companies and partnerships on trust and tax matters with a 'private client' element. Part of Rupert's work has a foreign dimension, whether it is acting for a UK based client who owns assets outside the UK, an international client with UK assets, or in some cases, international clients with trusts but no personal connection to the UK. He also acts for clients who are planning to come to the UK on a regular basis and want to ensure they are UK tax compliant.
Stephen is a partner in the employment team and is the firm's Business Development Director. He is a former senior partner and managing partner of the firm and currently is also the principal point of contact for the schools team. Stephen acts for a wide range of employer clients from financial services businesses in the City to schools in the public and private sectors. He frequently advises individual senior executives and managers on joining and severance packages. Stephen is an experienced non-executive director, charity trustee and school governor. He was a trustee and former Chairman of the military charity, Help for Heroes. He is currently the Chairman of Odstock Private Care and a director of Salisbury BID Limited.
Stephen is a partner in our Corporate & Commercial team. Stephen specialises in acquisitions and disposals of limited companies and businesses, but also looks after a "stable" of corporate clients, helping them with their commercial legal needs, including intellectual property advice and trademark registration. Stephen also acts for a number of charities, again on the commercial side. He has an estimated career deal value in excess of £300,000,000.
Sue is a partner in the Farms & Estates team working for the owners of farms and rural estates in relation to commercial, agricultural and residential property matters. Sue has extensive experience in the sale and purchase of farms, rural land and in renewable energy projects, and advises on the legal aspects of the Diocese’s property portfolios.
Tim is a partner in our Tax & Trusts team and works in both our Salisbury and London offices. Tim advises both UK-based and international individuals on the management of their wealth and personal affairs, with a particular focus on tax and estate planning. He also works with lawyers, trustees and trust companies in a wide range of foreign jurisdictions on behalf of their clients. Tim also specialises in advising on tax issues that arise in the course of litigation, in particular trust and estate disputes.
Tim is a partner and head of the Residential Property team. Tim specialises in transactions involving high value country and London properties, as well as some rural and landed estate work. He has undertaken work for a wide range of clients, including offshore companies and trusts as well as individuals living abroad, amongst whom have been some high-profile celebrities and business personalities.
Torsten is a partner in our Tax & Trusts team. He advises on all aspects of trust law, wills, powers of attorney and capital taxation, and specialises in advising individuals, trustees and partnerships on succession and capital tax planning in relation to farms and landed estates. Torsten advises a number of owners of homes, land and chattels of national heritage quality on aspects of conditional exemption and setting up and administering maintenance funds. He acts for clients in respect of offers of both land and chattels in lieu of inheritance tax.