Solicitor – Admitted 2019
Overview
I am a Senior Associate in Michelmores’ Agricultural team. I advise a wide range of clients including individuals, partnerships, families, companies, charities and landed estates on a diverse range of both contentious and non-contentious matters.
The common theme across my work is that there is some agricultural or rural element, and it is generally based in land. But farms and estates come in all shapes and sizes, and the issues and disputes which arise involving rural land are just as varied.
My core practice often involves advising in respect of partnerships, landlord and tenant relations and succession planning for family farms, both when relations are good and when relations have broken down and a dispute has arisen. This work inevitably involves considering natural capital assets and advising clients on maintaining or sharing control of these as appropriate, to be able to make the most of relevant opportunities.
I trained and qualified at Michelmores after obtaining distinctions in both the GDL and LPC (LLM) following an initial career in publishing, working first on the Oxford English Dictionary and then in editorial roles in publishing houses in Oxford and London.
Recent experience
Acting for a landlord of an Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 tenancy where the tenant had recently died, from preparation and service of a “Case G” notice to quit to documenting the agreed settlement, thereby reducing the client’s exposure to costs and risk, and advising throughout in respect of the Land Tribunal proceedings following receipt of three succession applications
Advising a significant rural-business-owning family partnership with high-value interests in potential development land, documenting a partner’s admission and advising in respect of partnership land jointly owned by a non-partner family member
Preparing a new partnership agreement and collateral documents for a rural business with international interests, where land capital was being transferred between partners and new trustee partners were being admitted to the partnership
Negotiating the terms of a Farm Business Tenancy to replace an Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy and advising our client in relation to the surrender and tenancy documents
Advising a landlord on their access rights for various parcels of land following the case of Rees v Earl of Plymouth, all of which were subject to tenancies governed by the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986
