Amanda is a contentious probate solicitor in our Bath office. She is a Partner and heads our specialist Contested Wills, Trusts & Inheritance Disputes team. With over 20 years' experience in litigation, she was recently short-listed for Lawyer of the Year for her work on the high profile Barton case in the 2018 Bristol Law Society Awards. Amanda has practiced in both the non-contentious and contentious areas of inheritance, probate and trusts but now specialises exclusively in contentious probate and trusts work. Amanda’s expertise is considerable and includes advising and supporting clients through: Will disputes – contesting and defending Wills trust disputes – contesting and defending trusts estate disputes advising farming families in inheritance disputes advising charities in inheritance disputes tax disputes negligence actions against professionals, particularly relating to tax advisers applications to the Court of Protection. Amanda is regularly invited to lecture to lawyers on inheritance and trust law.
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Andrew is head of our Residential Property, Farms and Estates team. His career has been shaped by his passion for all things horseracing, agriculture and rural which means he really understands the issues facing those working in these communities and has a great deal of experience in dealing with high value estates, agricultural and equestrian property transactions. Andrew established his own niche bloodstock practice in 1999, and joined Royds Withy King as a partner in 2004. Andrew has great experience in a broad range of work including: Agricultural and equestrian property transactions High-value estates negotiating regulatory and agricultural and business tenancy issues Sports disciplinary and licensing cases, including appearing before the Disciplinary Panel and Appeal Board of the British Horseracing Authority representing jockeys, trainers and owners Specialist commercial agreements, including sponsorship agreements under the Rules of Racing and ownership and syndications of racehorses and other bloodstock.
Andrew heads up our Construction and Engineering team. Andrew’s expertise is in contentious construction and engineering matters. He handles large, high profile cases for a wide variety of international and domestic clients, including utility companies, commercial and residential developers, contractors and specialist sub-contractors, including those working in the rail, energy, renewables as well as the offshore construction industries. Andrew regularly presents seminars on construction related legal issues to clients in-house and to external bodies such as the RICS.
Andrew is a partner in our Family team in Oxford. He specialises in divorce and the issues that arise out of it. His cases are typically complex medium to high net worth financial cases involving businesses, trusts, properties, investments and pensions.His clients are typically medium to high net worth individuals including business owners or managers, bankers, accountants, lawyers, surgeons, sports stars and personalities. He typically focusses on financial cases and associated issues involving arrangements for children. He has also acted in numerous cases where one parent has wished to relocate either within the UK or overseas.
Angus heads up the Residential Property, Farms and Estates team in Bath and also leads the firm’s agriculture and rural sector team. He believes that establishing strong working relationships with his clients is the key to mutual understanding. He has a wide range of skills across both residential, commercial and agricultural and rural property including: The acquisition and disposal of farms and estates and development land The acquisition and disposal of farming and rural business interests Commercial and residential property development Agricultural Tenancy work including Agricultural Holdings Act Tenancies and Farm Business Tenancies Secured lending and re-finance work for banks.
Anne is a partner in the Residential Property team based in the Oxford office. She has over 25 years experience of dealing with all aspects of residential property including house sales and purchases, remortgages and equity release mortgages. Anne’s extensive residential property and conveyancing work includes; all aspects of house sales and purchases, including freehold and leasehold properties advising on investment properties dealing with complex title issues advising on equity release mortgages advising on the specific property needs of the elderly.
Becky joined the Royds Withy King team in 2013 from Thrings, where she was a partner and head of their Private Client team. She handles private wealth and succession planning matters within our Private Client team and has extensive experience of dealing with probate and estate administrations. Becky specialises in inheritance tax planning, drafting Lasting Powers of Attorney and Wills. She is also part of our specialist Court of Protection team and advises on deputyships. Becky was awarded the national title of being one of the ‘Top 35 under 35’ Private Client practitioners in the country. This award identifies, promotes and celebrates the rising stars of the Private Client profession. In 2016, Becky was nominated for and won ‘Inheritance Tax Planning Lawyer of the Year’ in the Women in Law Awards. These awards, run by The Lawyer Monthly magazine, celebrate and highlight the achievements of women in the legal profession across the globe. They recognise female legal experts that have influenced the wider legal profession in their jurisdiction. She often lectures in her area of specialism to other professionals and regularly contributes to a number of topical media broadcasts and interviews.
Caroline likes to get property problems sorted out. As the partner heading up the property disputes team she’s handled all aspects of property disputes since she qualified in 1991. Caroline joined Royds Withy King in 1998 and formed the property disputes team in 1998. She has wide experience in the entire range of property disputes including; Recovering possession of commercial properties Boundary disputes Party wall problems Access and drainage rights Covenants on leasehold and freehold land Recovering rents, debts, damages and compensation.
Caroline works closely with international and UK based businesses and individuals; this gives her strategic and practical insight in working with our clients to help them achieve their aims globally. Caroline assists international and USA businesses on inward investment, litigation and dispute resolution in the UK. She has a focus on the USA market. Caroline’s UK and international clients benefit from her legal experience, commercial judgement and global network of trusted professional experts. She is trusted to deliver excellent service and strategic advice to other professionals and clients. Caroline has numerous legal articles published and has been quoted in The Financial Times, The Times, The Guardian and specialist legal journals. She has been a speaker at the International Bar Association (Boston) and other prestigious conferences. Caroline works with a network of trusted legal and professional advisers in the USA and globally to help our clients achieve their aims. She assists clients with UK legal interests or issues, and advises on all aspects of UK employment law, including: cross border employment disputes whistleblowing investigations contracts and dismissing employees poor performance issues misconduct allegations boardroom and bonus disputes restrictive covenants and team moves disciplinary and regulatory investigations in the UK and USA fraud allegations wrongful and unfair dismissal claims discrimination settlement agreements and exit packages redundancies business restructures equal pay. Caroline's work highlights include: advising on UK and international regulatory issues including FCA, DOJ and HMRC investigations. She has assisted clients relating to film financing tax fraud allegations and suspected manipulation of the foreign currency markets and insider trading allegations. resolving complex boardroom disputes and advising CEOs and board members of FTSE 250 and international companies and subsidiaries conducting and advising on complex whistleblowing investigations for FTSE 100 and high profile entities helping businesses deal with dismissing CEOs and other board members with complex high value remuneration packages advising on under-performing staff, large scale relocations and redundancies training Board members and senior managers on staffing and legal issues advising on complex and high value bonus, profit share or options disputes acting for senior individuals whose reputations and future marketability are highly important. Caroline has helped senior executive directors and employees negotiate seven figure payouts, increasing one person’s redundancy from £70,000 to £500,000. advising those working in the City including HSBC, Nomura, Credit Suisse, RBS, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Rothschilds and numerous financial services companies advising professional partnerships including well-known City and international law firms and accountants.
Chris is a partner in our London office, with experience in commercial, civil and property litigation. Chris has built up a reasonable client base, primarily through recommendations, advising individuals and smaller businesses on a range of issues. His expertise covers a wide area of litigation issues and includes: Acting in contract, fraud and professional negligence matters (including against solicitors, Banks, IFA’s, insurance companies and to the FOS) Advising concerning contentious probate and trust/TOLATA issues Handling possession claims for commercial and residential properties Advising on contentious commercial lease issues including renewals Advising on landlord and tenant matters and mortgage possession claims. Advising on boundary/neighbour disputes Advising on debt recovery and insolvency related issues.
Claus is a partner in our Corporate & Commercial and Life Sciences teams. He deals with all aspects of corporate and commercial work for corporate clients, limited companies, businesses, private individuals and trade organisations. Claus has substantial experience in areas including company law, commercial contracts and finance, with particular emphasis on shareholders agreements, distribution agreements, general commercial contracts, the Bribery Act 2010 and the Exemption rules of the FSMA (Financial Promotion) order.
A partner in our Corporate team in Bath, Dan specialises in complex commercial contracts and technology-related matters, having acted for clients across a range of sectors and industries including financial services, technology and digital media, and aerospace and transport.
David, a well-known and respected London employment lawyer, acts for companies and senior executives on their employment issues. David deals with the whole breadth of employment matters. His advice ranges from day-to-day employment issues that arise through to more involved matters such as whistleblowing, discrimination and equality issues, as well as confidentiality and the enforcement of pre- and post-termination obligations. David also specialises in large scale re-organisations and the employment aspects of corporate acquisitions, disposals and transfers of undertakings.
Deanna is a partner in the private client department. Her areas of work include capital taxation, the creation, administration and winding up of trusts, estate planning, wills, probate and estate administration, mental capacity, Court of Protection and charity law. Deanna acts for a range of individuals, families and charities and enjoys building lasting relationships with these clients.
Edward is a partner in our Private Client team. He joined Royds Withy King in September 2013 and specialises in Wills, estate planning and Lasting Powers of Attorney as well as elderly and incapacity issues such as Deputyships and Personal Injury Trust matters. Edward’s skills and experience include: all aspects of Will drafting estate planning and administration (including lifetime gifts and inheritance issues) varying the distribution of an estate applications for probate, including both Grant of Probate and Letters of Administration Inheritance Tax Reliefs advising of appropriate Powers of Attorney including Lasting Powers of Attorney Court of Protection Deputyship applications and management.
Gareth is experienced in all aspects of commercial property and has particular expertise in options and conditional contracts, site acquisition for major house builders and local authority town centre redevelopment work. Property purchases, sales, leases and development of Care Homes Purchases and disposals of dental and medical practices Secured lending & re-finance work Property aspects of corporate sales, acquisitions and mergers.
Gemma is a partner and a specialist employment lawyer dealing with all contentious and non-contentious areas of employment law. Gemma worked in the horse racing industry before entering the legal profession. She studied for a law degree with the University of London, while continuing to work part-time. Gemma has been a partner at Royds and now Royds Royds Withy King since 2003. Gemma has specialised in employment law since qualifying as a solicitor. Her particular areas of expertise include: all forms of tribunal claims including unfair dismissal, sex, race and disability discrimination all commercial aspects of TUPE transfers advising on workplace policies such as maternity, paternity and flexible working advising on staff handbooks advising on employment contracts. Gemma’s clients range from retail outlets and charities to senior level employees. She also acts, with partner Richard Woodman, on behalf of the Mauritian government handling cases on appeal from the Mauritian Supreme Court to the Privy Council, which is interesting and varied work involving both civil and criminal appeals. Gemma regularly speaks at seminars and workshops on changes in employment law affecting both small and large employers.
Graham is managing partner of the firm, elected in 2010, and specialises in construction and engineering law. He is dedicated to providing practical, commercial advice to clients on all types of construction law issues, an approach that guides the construction team's whole approach to client service. Clients refer to Graham’s “commanding knowledge of the law relating to construction”, his “practical approach to complex risk issues”, and his “particularly effective communication”. Equally clients see him as “approachable, personable and a pleasure to work with”. [Source: Royds Withy King client feedback] Graham has extensive experience in; Advising developers, employers, contractors, sub-contractors and consultants within the construction industry on a wide range of procurement alternatives, including standard and non-standard building and engineering contracts, consultant appointments, collateral warranties, PFI building contracts and NHS LIFT projects Due diligence for banks and other funders Resolving building disputes and professional negligence claims for consultant Construction dispute resolution, including adjudication, arbitration and litigation Mediation of construction disputes; Graham is an advocate of mediation and alternative dispute resolution options as a proven alternative to litigation.
Greg is a partner in the real estate team and advises clients on all aspects of commercial property transactions. He also works in connection with the transfer of businesses including pubs and restaurants. As part of the real estate team, Greg acts for a wide range of clients including SMEs and owner managed businesses, individual commercial landlords as well as tenants. His work includes acquiring a number of retail stores in various shopping centres, predominantly in London. Greg’s experience includes: buying and selling of all types of commercial property including office and retail premises advising commercial landlords and tenants on complex leases and commercial lets, including sub-letting occupancy and property portfolio advice for commercial landlords all aspects of buying and selling pubs and restaurants.
Hazel is a specialist healthcare lawyer whose clients include care organisations, pharmacies, GPs, dentists, day nurseries and healthcare banks. Hazel’s expertise covers sales and acquisitions, contracts, business structure, governance and refinancing. She also has experience of advising on and negotiating local authority framework agreements and tenders and has previously assisted numerous care providers in fee negotiations with funders. Hazel has a thorough understanding of the regulatory systems operated by CQC, CSSIW, GPhC and OFSTED. She is regularly consulted by agents, accountants and banks in respect of queries over registration and compliance issues which may arise during an acquisition or sale. Her knowledge and reputation means she is often instructed in addition to the existing legal team. Her clients include new entrants, sole traders, small and large groups. Recent experience includes: acting for existing care operator in purchase of nursing home for £2.2m acting for sellers in sale of their care company for £5,7m acting for 18 home care group in £80m sale and leaseback to a US REIT advising sellers in sale of two-pharmacy group in Cornwall to a national corporate for £2.5m advising dental practice on re-drafting and updating of partnership agreement advising exiting sole trader on sale of dental practice in Bristol acting for first time buyer in purchase of day care nursery in Kent for £500,000.
Helen is a partner in our Personal Injury team and heads up the Industrial Disease Team across London, Oxford and Bath where a team of dedicated lawyers specialise in representing claimants with asbestos related illnesses. Helen represents claimants with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening.Helen is a dedicated specialist industrial disease lawyer. She represents claimants exposed to asbestos in a wide variety of ways, including occupationally, environmentally, in schools and hospitals and secondary exposure from family members work clothes.Helen is incredibly proud to be a trustee for Mesothelioma UK. Royds Withy King were also delighted to be named as Mesothelioma UK’s corporate donors of the year for the second year running.
Ian is a partner who heads up the Oxford Personal Injury team and the firm’s team of spinal injury specialists. His main areas of expertise include catastrophic injury work, especially spinal cord injury claims resulting in paralysis or partial paralysis. He also specializes in fatality claims. Ian is a regular lecturer and contributor to professional associations, such as Thames Valley Police Family Liaison Officers and Citizens Advice Bureau.
James is a partner with over 20 years experience of UK and international private client work, especially relating to estate planning and trusts. James is an expert on estate planning for families with a particular interest in tax planning for non-UK domiciled individuals who have a tax exposure here either through UK residence or through ownership of UK assets. He heads the firm’s private client services which includes protecting wealth as assets, probate and estate administration, elderly and incapacity and inheritance and trust disputes. He is also a member of the firm’s Agriculture and Rural team advising farm and landed estate owners on lifetime issues such as the most tax efficient business ownership structures as well as succession and trust planning. His specialisms include: advising on the creation of UK and international trusts estate and trust planning for individuals and families advising farm and estate owners on estate and tax planning, as well as efficient business structures creating structures, involving both onshore and offshore elements, for the protection and efficient transfer of wealth. James’s specialist knowledge is highly regarded throughout the industry. He has written for Lexis Nexis and Butterworths legal publications, including chapters on “Planning and Administration of Offshore and Onshore Trusts” and “Trust Drafting and Precedents”. He is a regular speaker at UK and international conferences on the UK residence and domicile here.
James is a partner in our Employment team and advises employers and employees on any employment law issue.He is also head of our Social Care team and has many years’ experience advising care providers on employment law and regulatory issues. James has a wealth of experience advising clients on disciplinary action and dismissals, sickness absence and performance management, grievances, redundancies and business transfers. He also represents clients in bringing or defending Employment Tribunal claims, particularly in whistleblowing and sex, pregnancy/maternity discrimination cases. James also regularly provides HR and employment law training to business clients. As head of our Social Care team, James has particular expertise in advising care providers on employment issues specific to the sector (including National Minimum Wage compliance), managing safeguarding investigations, CQC registration and compliance, fees and funding, and care specific contracts and policies. He is also regularly invited to speak at regional and national care conferences.
James is a partner in the firm’s Corporate team, specialising in domestic and cross border mergers and acquisitions, corporate structures and group reorganisations. Having joined the firm in 2010, James acts for UK and international corporates and business owners on a range of domestic and cross-border transactions. James is recognised by industry publications as an “M&A specialist” and commended for his “depth of knowledge”. James is a member of the firm’s Financial Services group and has advised a number of leading financial services businesses on corporate transactions and worked with FinTech businesses on a variety of debt and equity funding arrangements.
Jamie is a partner in our Dispute Resolution team based in London, specialising in complex high value matters across a broad spectrum of clients from entrepreneurs and corporates to private individuals and family offices.Jamie specialises in complex high value matters in the areas of professional negligence, corporate & commercial, risk management, insolvency, insurance, intellectual property, group actions trusts, Wills and probate, property and employment law.
John is head of our Corporate & Commercial team and is based in the City. John has been a Partner at Royds since 1990. He has over 20 years’ experience in a broad range of corporate and commercial transactions, providing clients with solutions which suit their business needs. He is respected within the business community for his skilled approach to commercial transactions and his substantial legal expertise. John specialises in mergers, acquisitions and disposals in both the United Kingdom and overseas. He also has particular expertise in: joint ventures reorganisations non-contentious intellectual property IT Publishing media contracts John’s clients operate in many business sectors including aviation, telecommunications/IT, media and publishing.
Jon specialises in helping clients to resolve financial disputes arising out of divorce and separation proceedings. He also works on a part time basis as a Deputy District Judge in local County Courts. This dual perspective means that he appreciates the value of people reaching an agreement outside of Court, wherever possible, rather than having a decision imposed on them.He is an accredited specialist with Resolution in matrimonial advocacy and pensions and a trained Collaborative lawyer.
Kate is a partner in the Employment team based in Oxford. She has extensive experience across a wide range of employment law matters and advises on all aspects of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious. Kate is experienced in advising both individuals and employers and has worked with clients of all shapes and sizes. She advises on all aspects of employment law including disciplinary, grievances and sickness management, redundancy and restructures, discrimination and Tribunal claims. She has particular experience in dealing with collective issues including large scale restructures and changes to terms and conditions, collective agreements and industrial relations. Kate advises businesses and individuals on a wide variety of business immigration matters. She regularly provides advice and training to employers on their obligations in carrying out right to work checks. Kate supports organisations with sponsor licence applications and advises on compliance with their sponsor duties. She also provides advice to individuals who are applying for tier 2 visas or seeking to enter the UK as a business visitor. Kate regularly supports the work carried out by her colleagues in other teams and provides advice on the employment aspects of corporate and property acquisitions, outsourcing and insolvency proceedings. Kate speaks regularly at seminars and training sessions and has a wide range of experience in delivering bespoke training to HR professionals, line managers, procurement teams and in-house lawyers. She has been described as a “confident and poised speaker” whose delivery is “on the money” (delegate feedback).
Katharine heads up the Corporate & Commercial team in Bath. Her experience as a corporate partner is wide reaching and she has particular expertise in advising on all aspects of employee share option schemes. She has considerable experience in working on behalf of the care sector, including medical and dental practices and care home owners. Her extensive work on share option arrangements means that she has built up strong relationships with a selective group of accountants who share a similar level of expertise. Together they have an established record of advising clients on employee incentives in the most tax efficient way. Katharine’s sector experience includes advising clients within the healthcare sector, particularly care home owners and medical and dental practices and partnerships. She recognizes that working within the healthcare sector means looking beyond the purely commercial view: Katharine’s experience encompasses all areas of general company and corporate law work including: company sales and purchases management buy outs (MBOs) company restructuring, including advising on articles of association and shareholder agreements and share option arrangements.
Kerstin specialises in cerebral palsy and catastrophic injury cases, with a focus on complex and high value claims. Her main areas of expertise relate to hypoxic birth injury, cord prolapse, meningitis and Group B Strep infection related injuries. Kerstin also specialises in cases involving cardiology and delays in diagnosis of neurological cancers. After joining Royds Withy King in 2009, Kerstin nuanced her practice area to focus mainly in obstetric and neonatal cases, representing children and young adults who suffered neurological injuries before, during or after their birth. Kerstin works closely with chartered legal executive Abigail Ringer in progressing large and complex cases. Kerstin also specialises in inquest cases, focusing on medical negligence related deaths and also those involving Article II of the Human Rights Act. Kerstin works closely with Ali Cloak on a number of high profile inquest cases. Her experience of medical negligence claims includes: wrongful birth claims and additional costs of raising a disabled child Ogilvie Syndrome claims complex cardiology claims Erb’s Palsy cases relating to mismanaged shoulder dystocia claims regarding delays in diagnosis of cancer.
Lauren has extensive experience across a wide range of employment law matters and spends her time advising both local and national businesses as well as individual employees and senior level directors. She is a keen advocate and has made many successful appearances in the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Lauren is renowned for providing employment law advice in the local business community and within the HR profession; and regularly writes for the local business press and delivers training courses and seminars on all aspects of employment law. Lauren has a broad range of experience advising local businesses including defending employment tribunal claims, drafting contracts of employment and senior level service agreements, all aspects of discrimination, business reorganisations and redundancy and TUPE transfers. Lauren is also particularly experienced in negotiating exit packages for employees and advising on settlement agreements.
Louise is a partner in our well-established Personal Injury team and has 25 years’ experience of dealing with all types of personal injury work. Louise specialises in acting for clients who have suffered from limb loss and acting for clients who suffer from CRPS and is committed to raising awareness of CRPS. Louise’s experience is extensive and includes acting for clients suffering from: amputation chronic pain Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) orthopaedic injuries dental injuries scarring injuries resulting in post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and other psychological injuries.
Malcolm is a Royds Withy King partner and heads up the Employment team. He is frequently recognised for his talent in providing clients with practical commercial advice in his specialist area of employment law.Clients value Malcolm’s ability to “dispel complexity and reduce challenging scenarios to simple and ordered next steps” and he is praised for his business acumen and pragmatism. Recognised widely as an excellent public speaker, Malcolm frequently delivers seminars and training sessions to clients, HR professionals and businesses on a wide range of topics. Malcolm handles all aspects of employment law and is a keen Tribunal Advocate. His recent work includes: advising on three linked multiparty Employment Tribunal claims valued at around £1m brought by 70 Claimants involving complicated TUPE and trade union issues assisting a global technology leader for biomedical and industrial applications in defending claims for race discrimination and unfair dismissal guiding a large US company with a restructure of its European subsidiaries, including assessing the impact of the proposals and risk assessing the potential outcomes advising on the strategic restructure of a business following an acquisition by venture capitalists with a view to exit involving TUPE transfers, large scale redundancies and careful positioning with a trade union.
Maria is a partner who specialises in Court of Protection and Compensation Protection Trusts. She has extensive experience working with clients who have cerebral palsy, brain and spinal cord injuries as well as those with learning difficulties, mental health issues or dementia. Maria specialises in managing compensation awards for clients who have a Deputy appointed by the Court of Protection or whose funds are held within a Compensation Protection Trust. She understands the difficulties that can be faced by clients after they receive their awards in balancing their immediate needs with ensuring they have provided for their future needs. This is often a difficult time for clients as their families have fought long and hard for their compensation and are suddenly faced with the reality that money doesn’t change everything. However, if managed appropriately it can make a real difference to their quality of life. Often clients are faced with making decisions about investments and financial planning that can seem overwhelming and Maria works closely with clients to make these processes as easy and as understandable possible. Maria undertakes all aspects of managing Compensation settlements including: applications to the Court of Protection Compensation Protection Trusts purchasing and adapting properties liaising with families and professionals dealing with direct employment of carers investing Compensation Awards accounting and budgeting tax.
Maria is part of the Family law team and specialises in matrimonial practice areas, with a particular focus on finances in high net worth matters. Maria has worked on a range of cases including HMRC fraud investigation and complex matters across multiple jurisdictions. Notable cases include working with a Russian client in France whose husband had oil interests in the Middle East, and a Spanish client with inherited assets in Spain whose spouse jointly held property in London with his family.
Mark has over 12 years experience as a family lawyer and is a partner in the firm’s family law team in Oxford.
Mark is a Partner in our dedicated personal injury team. He has a broad practice area, acting for Claimants who have been seriously injured. Mark’s particular specialisms include: representing cyclists injured in road traffic collisions or as a result of defective products claims under The Animals Act 1971 and injuries caused by animals generally representing motorcyclists injured in road traffic collisions pain disorders and taking over the conduct of cases from other firms of solicitors acting for the most vulnerable clients, those individuals who don’t have capacity to litigate in their own right. Mark is known for his cycling thought leadership articles for Road cc and his activities on Twitter which have led to various media pieces.
Mei-Ling is a specialist health and care sector lawyer and a commercial litigator who advises providers on dealing with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), safeguarding, contract disputes, fees negotiations, judicial review, and disputes. For over 10 years, she has specialised in health and social care and commercial litigation and has advised a variety of healthcare sector clients including care homes, home care agencies, supported living providers, dentists, GPs and drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres.
Milan is a partner in our dispute resolution and insolvency teams based in our City of London office. He has strong experience in banking, commercial and civil litigation and restructuring & recovery. Milan's clients include insolvency practitioners, corporate clients, clients in the Oil and Gas industry, several Indian Banks with a presence in the UK and individual clients. His experience and expertise includes: high value commercial claims for banks, corporate clients and individuals often with an international reach complex litigation involving beneficial interests, property, trusts, asset tracing and recovery company administrations and restructuring of insolvent companies, advising liquidators and administrators, insolvency petitions, pre-pack sales personal insolvencies private criminal prosecution Milan has also appeared before Registrars in the Bankruptcy Court and Masters in the Queen’s Bench Division and the Supreme Court Costs Division.
Patrick has specialised in family law since qualifying in 1992 and has remained with the same firm throughout his career. Patrick applies the wealth of experience he has accumulated by finding sensible, early compromises where possible and taking up a robust settlement position where necessary. Where court applications arise, he undertakes much of the advocacy at court. Patrick specialises in complex financial proceedings upon divorce, which more often involve cross-jurisdictional issues, offshore trusts and overseas assets. He has a particular interest in untangling corporate structures and disputes arising between company directors and shareholders. Patrick considers himself to be a “solicitor for life”, maintaining strong connections and valued friendships with clients post-proceedings or for whenever called upon. In years gone by Patrick was a keen sportsman and chess player. He applies those skills now to provide an assured approach to his work and tactical planning to the cases he takes up. Practice areas Advising on all aspects of divorce and separation including civil partnership Complex financial resolution of financial matters for divorcing or separating couples Advocacy Private child law Cohabitation and pre-nuptial agreements Cohabitation disputes.
Paul, a partner, helps to lead the Firm’s Medical Negligence team and is based in our Bath office. Paul’s renowned empathy for his clients combined with a keen eye for detail in complex clinical negligence claims have seen him recognised as a "Leader in his field" by Chambers UK, as a member of the Law Society’s national Clinical Negligence Panel and praised by Legal 500 UK as being "the master of all detail". Paul is also a member of the executive committee of the Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers (SCIL). Paul’s experience informed his extensive contribution to recent legal aid reforms. Working with both houses of Parliament, Paul received nationwide recognition for his efforts and success in retaining legal aid for a group of severely disabled children. He is regularly approached for comment on local and national radio, television, and national newspapers, and has written several specialist articles on the subject of legal aid reform. Having qualified as a solicitor in 1998, Paul’s particular expertise is in cases involving: birth injury, including multi-million pound cerebral palsy cases where a loved one has died through suspected medical negligence delays in diagnosing and treating cancer cutting-edge medical cases including genetic brain injury.
Paul is a Royds Withy King partner specialising in all aspects of real estate. Helping new and existing clients develop and use their commercial property to maximum benefit is what interests Paul. He has wide experience of commercial property transactions including: landlord and tenant work in the office, retail and leisure sectors property development for commercial and residential use secured lending/re-finance work acting for banks and borrowers acquisition and disposal in of care homes, retirement villages, hotels & restaurants property transactions for pension schemes (SIPP/SSAS) property support for corporate sales, acquisitions and mergers.
Peter is head of the firm’s team of lawyers specialising in Developer work and leads the Commercial Property team in Swindon which is praised in Chambers UK for its "detailed knowledge base and flexible service." Peter undertakes all aspects of real estate work including: acting for freehold owners on purchases and sales acting for commercial landlords and tenants, particularly relating to buying retail, office and shop premises and other types of commercial property personal pension scheme funding for joint commercial property purchases, including SIPPs and SASS investment land acquisition for developers new development site acquisition strategic land development options for developers and landowners, including drafting and negotiating options conditional contracts, collaboration and joint venture agreements.
Phil is a partner in Dispute Resolution, TMT and the Drone Sector and Financial Services sector at Royds Withy King. He has nearly 20 years of experience in corporate insolvency matters, intellectual property disputes and complex commercial contract and construction disputes.Phil was formerly a commissioned officer in the RAF so it’s no surprise that he has a practical, no-nonsense approach to resolving conflicts. As a former RAF fighter controller, so is ideally qualified to assist in any drone law issues. He recognises that litigation is not always the best or most cost effective option and he is also a fully accredited and experienced mediator. Phil is also a member of the Construction & Engineering and Technology & Media sector groups and has extensive experience in dealing with both construction and IT/IP related disputes. Phil has many years’ experience of resolving disputes, particularly in the following; acting for and advising insolvency practitioners, especially dealing with insolvency claims against Directors Intellectual Property disputes including copyright infringement, Trademark disputes and passing off actions multi-party construction claims involving developers, employers, contractors, sub-contractors and consultants disputes relating to high value commercial contracts breach of warranty and indemnity claims arising out of company sales and purchases director liability disputes, including where he successfully concluded an appeal to the House of Lords for a company director (Natural Life Health Foods v Mistlin (1998).
Rebecca is renowned for her endless energy, drive and enthusiasm in dealing with her clients. She has gained her higher rights of audience which means she is able to conduct her own advocacy in the High Court. Rebecca was named one of the Hot 100 Lawyers in 2015 by industry magazine The Lawyer. She was the only associate to feature on this prestigious list. She was also praised by President of the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales, Sir James Munby for her work in relation to a custody case against the state. She is a regular contributor to local and legal press and has been published in Family Law Week and was one of a select group of family law thought leaders chosen by the NSPCC to participate in discussions regarding the Government’s proposed changes to family law. In November 2017, Rebecca was invited to a panel discussion with other legal professionals to discuss contentious issues surrounding Pro Bono legal work in light of declines in legal aid budgets. The discussion explored identifying the scale of the need for pro bono and its effectiveness, leading to the conclusion that the scope of funding for legal aid “needs to be vastly expanded.” Originally from Lancashire, Rebecca manages to combine a busy career with married life as a working mother. Her life experience enables her to approach family disputes in a practical way so that clients achieve the best results quickly and cost effectively.
Specialising in all aspects of employment law for businesses and individuals, Richard has a strong employer client base and regularly advises on discrimination issues, complex redundancies, re-organisations and business transfers. He often gives seminars and training sessions on a range of topical employment issues which clients acknowledge as being “interesting and beneficial”. Examples of Richard’s recent work includes: Settling a complex unfair dismissal and whistleblowing claim on favourable terms for the employer Advising on the purchase of a business out of administration including complex TUPE and insolvency issues Successfully defending a high value disability discrimination claim Advising on a restructuring and large scale redundancy process resulting in no claims being made against the employer.
Richard is a partner and Head of our Employment team in the London office. He has been a partner at Royds and now Royds Withy King since 1987. Richard’s commercial litigation experience gives him a perspective in dealing with employment disputes which is unusual among employment lawyers. Described by The Legal 500 UK as “highly experienced”, he is widely recognised for his strategic approach and known for providing clients with pragmatic, commercial solutions no matter how complex the problem. Richard advises on all aspects of employment law, including: wrongful and unfair dismissal claims the protection of business confidential information including restrictive covenants, confidentiality, garden leave, and the duties of employees, directors and partners not to compete unfairly bonus claims discrimination issues employment tribunal claims and settlements advising, often in conjunction with the our Corporate & Commercial team, on employment issues arising from corporate re-structuring and acquisitions/disposals, especially the application of TUPE and complex redundancies. In addition to his employment law work, Richard continues acting as a commercial litigator and heads the Royds Withy King team which successfully argued the leading case on aggregation of claims governed by the Solicitors Minimum Terms and Conditions. Richard also heads the Royds Withy King team representing the Government of Mauritius as its Privy Council Agents in respect of final appeals from the Supreme Court of Mauritius.
Richard, a partner at Royds Withy King, has specialised in clinical negligence claims on behalf of claimants since 1997. Richard’s particular specialisms are: cerebral palsy and birth injury claims, including Erb’s palsy spinal injury claims involving paralysis bariatric (weight loss) surgery claims vascular claims and amputation adult brain injury claims fatal claims cardiology claims. Richard is accredited under the Law Society Clinical Negligence Accreditation Scheme and sits on the Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) Specialist Clinical Negligence Panel. He is also one of the national brain injury charity Headway’s approved personal injury solicitors, and holds Senior Litigator status with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). Richard has given lectures on clinical negligence law and has been interviewed on local radio as well as TV. In his spare time Richard enjoys travel, skiing and is an avid football fan of his beloved Wolves!
Richard is one of those rare individuals in the law – a litigator with wide ranging legal skills but with a particular passion for horseracing. Richard qualified as a solicitor in 1994 and helped to establish niche bloodstock practice Chalk Smith Brooks in 1999. He is a joint leader of the Racing and Bloodstock team who “knows equine matters inside out” according to The Legal 500 UK. Richard, an “aggressive litigator”, regularly and expertly handles animal-related claims. He has considerable experience in: accidents to riders and horses including claims under the Animals Act 1971 personal injury work more broadly particularly very serious injury cases with a special interest in chronic pain motorbike accident claims sporting injuries: accidents involving participants and spectators denied health insurance claims often related to ME/CFS chronic pain including CRPS equine claims involving training and other contract disputes, misrepresentation, sales of goods and veterinary negligence sports disciplinary and licensing work particularly in horseracing acting in high profile cases, including race-fixing and corruption enquiries. Richard is also an accredited Mediator and part of the firm’s mediation team. Known in particular for mediating equine-related matters he acts in a wide range of other commercial, property and other disputes. Richard is the Training Principal for our trainee solicitors and provides support and guidance throughout their training contract.
Richard has over 20 years experience of family law where he has built a reputation as a leading expert in public and private law children work. His child protection work includes representing children, guardians, parents and other individuals involved in care proceedings. He has considerable advocacy experience in Magistrates, County and higher courts and has been involved in a number of reported cases. Richard specialises in all areas of family law, including; Care/adoption proceedings Contact, residence and other disputes regarding children Providing advice on financial matters arising out of relationship breakdown.
Richard is a Royds Withy King partner. He specialises in commercial real estate and helps clients develop and use their commercial property to maximum benefit. Richard joined Royds Withy King in May 2018 as a partner in the Real Estate team and is based in our Bath office. He covers all aspects of commercial real estate but largely specialises in investment and development work. Richard acts for institutional investors, national developers and occupiers in connection with investment and development work alongside their other property requirements such as landlord and tenant. His experience includes working with family offices and personal investors as well as fund work and representing larger scale landowners/occupiers and developers.
Robert is head of the Residential Property, Farms & Estates team in Marlborough which provides property advice to clients across the South of England and Wales. He has over 25 years of experience in residential property, working with local, national and international clients. Robert and his team deal with all aspects of house sales and purchases, including: Selling or buying at Auction, particularly for farm and rural properties Dealing with complex title issues Freehold and leasehold properties Co-ownership declarations Arrangements for property on separation or divorce Issues relating to private services and access-ways, particularly on rural properties.
Ronald is head of the Residential property team in Oxford. He has over 25 years experience of dealing in all aspects of residential property and conveyancing. Ronald’s considerable residential property and conveyancing experience includes; Advising on all aspects of property sales and purchases, including freehold and leasehold issues Advising on investment property, including ‘buy to let’ property investments Equity release advice Private tenancy agreements Planning permission issues relating to residential property. He has been active in developing the Oxford and Abingdon practices of the firm.
Samantha is a partner in our Private Client team. She specialises in private client and charity law work, in which she has more than 25 years’ experience.Clients describe Samantha O’Sullivan as “helpful, informed, professional and friendly,” and note her level of expertise in acting for clients. Samantha advises individuals on a wide range of issues, including pre- and post-death estate and tax planning for individuals and families, use of trusts and tax-efficient Wills, inheritance tax and capital gains tax. She also assists with the formation and restructuring of charities and their dealings with the Charity Commission. Samantha advises clients on a wide range of issues, including: pre- and post-death estate and tax planning for individuals and families, often involving the use of trusts and tax-efficient Wills inheritance tax and capital gains tax advice to individuals and trusts the formation, restructuring and winding up of trusts advice to trustees and beneficiaries the formation and restructuring of charities charities’ dealings with the Charity Commission.
As a partner and a well established member of the Family team, Sharon takes pride in being at the forefront of family law and was one of the founding members of the Bath branch of Resolution, a professional organisation that encourages family law practitioners to adopt an approach that is sensitive, constructive and non-confrontational. Being a qualified Mediator and Collaborative practitioner, Sharon is an advocate of the new mediation legislation and sees the positive results first hand. Sharon is also a member of the firm’s multi-disciplinary Racing and Bloodstock team. Sharon specialises in: advising on all aspects of divorce and separation including civil partnership complex financial resolution of financial matters for divorcing or separating couples advocacy cohabitation and pre-nuptial agreements cohabitation disputes divorce issues relating to the racing sector, especially jockeys.
Simon has specialised in family law for over 20 years and has gained a deep understanding of what is often the most stressful experience you can face; the breakdown of a relationship. As head of the Family law team and lead partner in Oxfordshire, Simon is well-known in the Oxford business community. The Legal 500 UK, an independent guide to the legal profession, recognises that Simon “has invaluable experience and knowledge of the legal system“. In a more recent edition, he has been described as “excellent” and “a consistent high performer, particularly in matrimonial finance“. Simon's expertise includes: Providing advice on all aspects of separation and divorce Advising on financial matters and complex settlements, often involving companies Pensions Matters involving children, including DNA Testing cohabitation and pre-nuptial agreements Simon is a regular contributor to local and legal press and provides family law training for local charities and organisations, including RELATE and the Citizens’ Advice Bureau. He regularly features on BBC Radio Oxford dealing with family law matters. He is an accredited adviser for Resolution, an organisation committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes.
Simon heads the Medical Negligence team. Although based in our Bath office, Simon represents clients from all over England and Wales. His expertise is recognised by his membership of the Law Society’s Clinical Negligence Panel, and his membership of the specialist panel of the renowned medical negligence charity Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA). He has particular expertise in birth injury and cerebral palsy cases, and complex spinal cases, with a particular specialism in cauda equina cases, and works in partnership with the cauda equina charity CESA. Simon is personally recommended by Queen’s Counsel for spinal injury and cauda equina cases, on the basis that “any client would be guaranteed to receive not just an excellent legal service but also sensitive handling” and is described as “a very fine clinical negligence lawyer with vast experience and superb client-handling skills.
Stephen is a partner in our Technology & Media and Dispute Resolution teams. He is an experienced commercial litigator with a particular specialism in contentious intellectual property (IP) law. He is also the IP lawyer to the National Association of Jewellers and regularly contributes industry news for its members. Stephen deals with all aspects of contentious intellectual property law, including copyright disputes patent infringement trade mark disputes and passing off actions design law issues. He is responsible for the operation of the “Copywatch” IP Protection Scheme with the National Association of Jewellers and the British Travelgoods and Accessories Association. With a wealth of experience dealing with intellectual property disputes, Stephen writes regular articles for the jewellery and luxury goods press (such as Retail Jeweller, Professional Jeweller, Jewellery in Focus and Fashions Extras) and has commented on topical issues on TV and radio. Stephen is also an experienced general commercial litigator and his work has included media and sports law issues, disciplinary appeals and tribunals, licensing matters, Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise investigations. He also has expertise in estate agency law and business transfer agents fees recovery actions.
Stewart is a partner in our London office and was Managing Partner of Royds prior to the merger with Royds Withy King in 2016. He specialises in the areas of banking and financial services litigation, aviation and company and shareholder disputes, often with an international element. Stewart has more than 35 years’ experience advising on all aspects of commercial litigation and arbitration, principally in the High Court and specialist courts in London. He has been a partner in Royds and now Royds Withy King since 1988. Whether a multinational corporation or a family run company, a professional partnership or an individual entrepreneur, Stewart brings specialist expertise across a broad spectrum.Practice areas: Advising clients in banking and financial services litigation including regulatory issues, disputes concerning loan facilities, secured lending, guarantees and documentary credits, structured products and derivatives. Advising airlines in disputes concerning airside and landside services, regulatory matters and in particular issues involving the CAA and passenger and cargo claims arising under the EC Regulations. Resolving complex property related disputes for owners and tenants, particularly restrictive covenants; boundary disputes and construction and building disputes. Advising overseas clients on disputes arising both in the domestic jurisdiction and where there are multi-jurisdictional issues arising involving both litigation and international arbitration procedures.
Stuart is a partner who specialises in brain and catastrophic injuries and leads the firm’s Brain Injury team, which helps clients who have been catastrophically injured and who have multi-million pound claims. Stuart is also the regional lead partner for the firm's Bath offices. Stuart has a special interest in paediatric brain injury work and chairs the South-West support group of a well-known child brain injury charity as well as being an active member of the charity. Stuart is a Deputy approved by the Court of Protection frequently acting on behalf of people who are incapable of dealing with their own affairs due to mental incapacity. Stuart lectures on brain and spinal injury issues to legal, medical and charity specialists.
Tom heads up our Private Client team in Oxford. Being Oxford born and bred, Tom is very close to the needs and concerns of his clients and their families and has the advantage of working with a network of expert teams based across our regional offices. Tom advises on a broad range of issues including; Wills Inheritance Tax Powers of attorney Court of Protection Probate and estate administration Trusts and estate planning.
Tony is a consultant in our Private Client team in London and was head of the team at Royds prior to the Royds Withy King merger in 2016. He has over 40 years of experience, often advising successive generations of families. He has been a member of the board of trustees of a number of pension schemes and charities. Tony’s expertise spans these key areas:- Tax and estate planning – particularly with regard to Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and trust creation. Administration and winding-up of trusts and estates (particularly those of high value). Contentious trust and probate claims. Lasting Powers of Attorney and Court of Protection issues. Acting for parents of children with disabilities.
Tony is a partner in our Corporate team. He has wide experience in advising clients ranging from entrepreneurs to listed companies and has developed expertise across a range of sectors, including retail, food and beverages, transport and industrial. Tony acts for domestic and international clients on a variety of corporate and commercial matters, including: mergers and acquisitions joint ventures shareholder disputes corporate governance commercial contracts reorganisations Tony is advising on major confidential transactions which are currently ongoing and has acted for major UK and international companies on projects in Russia, India and Africa. His approach is always pragmatic and his key focus is to apply the law in a way which best responds to the commercial drivers of the deal.
Tracy is a partner specialising in complex personal injury and medical negligence cases of maximum severity, especially paediatric claims. She is so interested in medicine that she has been appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.Tracy understands the damaging effect of injury on the entire family and she appreciates the importance of achieving the right level of compensation, as well as making sure it lasts her clients for their lifetime. She has specialised in personal injury and clinical negligence catastrophic claims since 1989 and has successfully recovered damages in excess of £50,000,000 for her clients. Tracy heads the firm’s personal injury team and her specialisms include: Injury claims to children through birth injury or accident Head injury cases stroke as a consequence of physiotherapy acting as a Professional Trustee or Deputy for clients. Her high profile cases are regularly reported in legal publications including Lawtel, MedNeg, APIL and Healthcare Risk.
Will joined Royds Withy King in 2018 and works between the Bath and London offices. Will specialises in complex financial settlements on family breakdown, acting for clients with significant assets including businesses, offshore trusts, investments, properties and pensions located in the UK and abroad. Will’s specialisms include: complex financial settlements on divorce drafting and advising on international and domestic prenuptial, postnuptial and cohabitation agreements international cases involving offshore companies and trusts and competing proceedings in separate jurisdictions disputes over child arrangements financial claims on behalf of unmarried parents under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 acting for parents wishing to relocate abroad with their children. Will’s recent work has included advising high net worth foreign nationals living in the UK on wealth protection issues. He has worked closely with family lawyers (usually IAFL Fellows) in other jurisdictions including Germany, France, Russia, Brazil, Italy and various US states when advising on international prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. Will’s previous clients have included premiership footballers, investment bankers, surgeons, entrepreneurs, accountants, lawyers, landowners and those wishing to protect significant inherited wealth.
Zainab is head of the Residential Property team in London and specialises in all aspect of residential property transactions. Zainab and her team specialise in acting for High Net Worth individuals and corporate bodies in residential property transactions, predominantly in the Prime Central London area. She has also built up a strong reputation in affordable housing and government funded schemes, meaning that she is often instruction to provide specialist advice to private individuals in the UK. Zainab’s specialisms include: Open market sales and purchases for individuals and corporate bodies Auction properties Repossession sales Variations of leases and lease extensions Affordable housing schemes, including right to buy, shared ownership and help to buy Declarations of trusts and transfers of equity Complex title issues.