Contentious trusts and probate

Farrer & Co

Farrer & Co ‘combines boutique firm client service, with city law quality’. The ’heavyweight’ team is ‘at the top of its game’ and is ably co-led by Toby Graham and Jeremy Gordon. The department is best known for its work on complex and high-value disputes with an international dimension, which often set legal precedents. It is regularly involved in many of the largest trust and estates disputes, frequently involving values of several billion pounds. The firm’s stable of domestic and international ultra-high-net-worth clients also includes trust companies and fiduciaries. Joanna Poole advises trustees and beneficiaries on the full range of onshore and offshore contentious matters. Charlotte Fraser specialises in international trusts, probate, and succession disputes. Henrietta Mason is another leading member of the group, along with Elizabeth Sainsbury. Tom McPhail also garners praise for his work in this space. Joseph de Lacey left the firm in December 2023 and is now at Fieldfisher.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘Toby Graham, Jeremy Gordon, and Charlotte Fraser are all stars in this field. All the more junior associates are impressive.’
‘Undoubtedly one of the best teams in the country. It comprises several very strong solicitors, but the superb Charlotte Fraser and wonderful Joanna Poole are particularly well respected in the contentious trusts and probate world.'
‘Tom McPhail is without a doubt the best associate I've worked with. He is extremely clever and very pleasant to work with. Toby Graham is brilliant at moving a case forward, and despite his seniority will get his hands dirty in the detail.'
‘At all levels of the firm, they combine an incisive legal judgement with a practical and unpretentious manner which underlines that they know what they're doing.'
‘Farrers have a great, and well deserved, reputation in the market for providing extremely high-quality, highly strategic advice in tricky litigation, and for leveraging great settlements’
'Toby Graham is tenacious and methodical holding years of private client trust and probate litigation experience. Toby is an outstanding leader in the private client trust and probate litigation realm.'
'The very talented Charlotte Fraser and Joanna Poole are hugely experienced and able, with the ability to see the bigger picture. Charlotte is supremely well organised. Joanna has a disarming combination of real steeliness and charm who fights for the right result for her clients.'
'Elizabeth Sainsbury is a brilliant new partner who has proven herself fully able to lead the very biggest trusts cases. She is incredibly efficient, on top of the detail, and a wonderful team manager.'

Key clients

The Administrators of the Estate of Vladimir Scherbakov
Toby Graham as trustee of the Harbour Trust
Beneficiaries of the Estate of a wealthy property developer
Co-Trustee of an English-law trust and a Panamanian company of which the Trustees are jointly the sole shareholders

Work highlights

Acting for two partners of the firm appointed by the Courts in England, the BVI, and Singapore as interim administrators of the Estate of the late Vladimir Scherbakov in these three jurisdictions.
Acting for Toby Graham as trustee of the Harbour Trust in the context of a trust established by court order following a highly complex fraud dispute.
Acting for the co-trustee of a sizeable English-law trust holding valuable property in central London and an investment portfolio, via a Panamanian company.

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