40 law
Blandy & Blandy achieves great rankings in 2011 legal guide
Thames Valley law firm Blandy & Blandy LLP has achieved excellent rankings in this year’s The Legal 500 guide maintaining its position as one of Thames Valley’s prominent law firms
The Legal 500 is one of the foremost independent guides to the legal profession and this year Blandy & Blandy has built upon its strong reputation across the practice. It is a totally independent guide to the legal profession and is used by commercial and private clients, corporate counsel, CEOs, FDs and professional advisers – as well as by other referrers of work both nationally and internationally.
Blandy & Blandy’s ‘excellent’ rated licensing team has over the past year established a national reputation for the quality of their work including alcohol and entertainment licensing. The Legal 500 describes practice head Sue Dowling as ‘outstanding’.
The environment team is lead by the ‘extremely attentive’ practice head, Karen Jones, who is highly regarded by The Legal 500. The team has an in-depth understanding of environmental law, including LARTPI, and many years’ experience providing both contentious and non-contentious services concerning contaminated land issues to waste management licensing. Clients include property developers, landowners, waste operators, local authorities and commercial organisations.
‘Able to communicate clearly about difficult and complex matters’, the Employment team advises on discrimination and unfair dismissal claims, and TUPE matters. Sue Dowling has ‘excellent knowledge and expertise’, and litigator Tim Clark
is ‘responsive and knowledgeable’. Clients range from smaller owner- managed businesses to multi- national public companies and are drawn from a wide range of sectors.
The commercial property team is described as providing ‘high-quality and comprehensive advice’. The team has advised Lloyds TSB Bank on a £4 million financing for the acquisition of a multi-use park, and on the related refinancing of three further business parks. Partner and head of the team, Jane Gunnell is noted as having ‘valuable expertise’, and partner Katja Wigham ‘puts arguments across clearly and convincingly’.
Within the private client practice, the personal tax, trusts and probate team is described as delivering ‘valuable and creative advice’, and the team has experience in offshore trusts and assets. Graham Benwell heads the practice, which also features the ‘compassionate and approachable’ joint managing partner, Jonathan Gater.
The dispute resolution team is described as ‘prompt and knowledgeable’ and is noted for its ability to ‘explain complex matters simply’. Partner Jacques Smith, and joint managing partner Philip D’Arcy, advise on contractual disputes, contentious probate, property, defamation and professional negligence claims.
Corporate and commercial partner Nick Burrows, and head of the corporate team David Few, are singled out for their experience.
Commercial contracts expert Deborah Brett is described as a ‘good communicator’ with a ‘high level of understanding’.
Other highlights include the family team once again being highly ranked. The team is described by The Legal 500 as a ‘very decent outfit, client centered and extremely knowledgeable’. ‘Cool under pressure’, Andrew Don, partner and head of the family team has ‘vast experience’, and the ‘extremely professional’ Brenda Long, partner has a ‘down-to-earth approach’.
The planning team has welcomed the arrival of two new planning specialists in 2010. The ‘very responsive and focused’ group, led by partner Karen Jones, represents landowners and developers, and was recently reappointed to the University of Reading’s property and planning panel.
Boyes Turner conversion to Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
Leading regional law firm Boyes Turner has completed its conversion to a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) and (from October 1, 2011) now operates under its new corporate identity Boyes Turner LLP.
The move to LLP status is part of the firm’s strategic growth
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plan, to support further development of the firm.
Andrew Chalkley, chief executive, Boyes Turner, commented: “The conversion to LLP is a strategic progression for Boyes Turner which assists positioning the firm for future growth. This is a move that will give us
flexibility to expand as an innovative client-focused law firm.
“The firm’s structure and
teams will remain the same and clients will not notice any difference in the way we operate – we’ll continue to provide a consistently high-quality legal service, in a
Jonathan Gater and Philip D’Arcy (pictured), joint managing partners at Blandy & Blandy said:
“This is great news for the firm and we are very proud of these achievements, especially as the rankings reflect the opinions of our peers, our clients and industry experts, showing a consistent performance across all our teams as we continue to deliver a first-class and seamless service.”
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thorough and efficient way.”
Following the move to LLP, Boyes Turner LLP will be subject to similar regulatory, accounting and filing requirements as a limited company and will publish annual audited accounts and file statutory returns at Companies House.
All services to clients and their delivery will remain unaffected and business will continue as usual.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – NOVEMBER 2011
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