England - East Anglia • Private client
Birketts LLP
Birketts LLP's practice is highly regarded for its ‘strength-in-depth'. The practice has a diverse client base, which includes many high-net-worth individuals and landed estates. Lorna Spear, who specialises in complex trusts, and June 2022-promoted partner Hayley Pettitt lead the practice. Spear advises on high-value matters, including estates with assets in excess of £100m. Senior associate Emily O’Donnell is noted as ’efficient, wise and personable' in trust and succession planning matters. Agriculture specialist Jack Royall frequently advises landed estates on private client matters.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Emily O'Donnell's approach was efficient, wise and personable. These are important characteristics when dealing with clients who are requiring help to plan their affairs prior to death. The complications of sorting out what both of us wanted to consider requires a legal advisor to illustrate mastery of legal possibilities in a sensitive manner. Emily provided this service superbly.’
‘The team are professional in their dealings with clients and work hard to achieve desired objectives. They are timely in their dealings with cases and the work is accurate.’
‘I have dealt with Hayley Pettitt on many occasions and I find her work of a good quality and of timely delivery to the client which is important when a recommendation has been made. She is also a very pleasant person to deal with and is happy to discuss and advise on various issues.’
‘I found the Birketts' trusts team approach to be very responsive, professional and friendly. We were looking to prepare new family wills and the team provided holistic advice around the the whole topic, including inheritance tax planning, and showed a genuine interest in what the family was trying to achieve as a group.’
‘Emily O'Donnell has been very thoughtful, responsive, creative and has brought a huge range of knowledge and experience to achieve a smooth advisory process and successful outcome. The service and advice we have received compares very favourably indeed with trusts advice we have received elsewhere before.’
'Jack Royall is very knowledgeable, personable, very quick to grasp situations, very clever without being arrogant and utterly trustworthy. I would trust Jack's opinion, not simply on legal matters, but also in more complex human dilemmas that require a legal response. Helen Cordingley is an excellent member of the Birketts team with very good attention-to-detail who is totally trustworthy. An excellent lawyer.'
‘Birketts has strength-in-depth and a collaborative approach across practice areas.'
‘They are highly personable, explaining in relatively uncomplicated terms what would be generally regarded as quite complex interrelated issues which gave us a clear line of sight. Their turnaround times were extraordinarily sharp, giving us confidence that the measures agreed were lawfully recorded and in place in timely fashion.’
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Hayley Pettit, Lorna Spear