Agricultural specialist lawyer joins Michelmores

One of the region's leading legal advisers on agriculture and rural business issues has joined award-winning law firm Michelmores LLP.

Philip Wolfgang joins the firm as partner and Head of Agriculture and Rural Business where he will advise the substantial landed client base which Michelmores has built up over many years, as well as building a team to focus on the growth of farm diversification enterprises, complex estate structures and emerging rural businesses.

He said: "I aim to grow a team that recognises the huge range of issues and opportunities that prevail in rural communities and that everyone involved in the countryside has a common responsibility in terms of sustainability and stewardship to protect our precious natural assets. The countryside has a major role to play in a world where food security and climate change are top of the agenda and this impacts on the way rural businesses have to think and plan.

"We are in a period of great uncertainty for farmers and landowners, with volatility in the agricultural commodities markets, the heavy burden of regulation and the impending reform of The Common Agricultural Policy. 

"In addition, the recent spending review by the Coalition Government hit DEFRA disproportionately hard and the practical effects are yet to be determined. In view of these factors, rural businesses will need to plan carefully and find innovative and adaptable business solutions alongside a willingness to invest.

"The most important factor in advising rural business is the ability to build relationships based on confidence and trust. With this in mind, I am delighted to join Michelmores, which has combined its reputation as trusted advisers to the rural community for well over a century with a dynamic knowledge-based business ethic appropriate to the needs of today's businesses."

Michelmores LLP has recently been recognised as having the UK & Ireland Private Client Team of the Year by STEP (the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners).

Further information:
Philip Wolfgang - philip.wolfgang@michelmores.com