Private Wealth Law - Somerset
Band 1
What the Team is Known For
Clarke Willmott is experienced in complex and often international trust matters, estate planning, and wills and probate.
Strengths
Clarke Willmott has great strength in depth. In addition to being knowledgeable and technically proficient, the team is also well resourced, efficient and well organised.
The firm is pragmatic, with a drive to progress matters towards resolution.
I valued how this department combined legal expertise with clarity and direction. The team helped me understand where I stood and what mattered, rather than overwhelming me or leaving me to work things out alone. That guidance made a meaningful difference.
Notable practitioners
Bonita Walters is a private wealth law practitioner and lead partner for the firm's contentious trusts and probates team. She is engaged in high-value disputes, has international experience, and is highly regarded by clients and barristers.
From my initial conversation, Bonita was sympathetic, clear-headed and obviously well placed to assist. She quickly understood both the substance of my case and the personal difficulty of the situation.
Bonita is focused and robust in her judgement.
Bonita is a seasoned campaigner and an experienced litigator. She is very switched on and very good at getting to the heart of issues quickly.
David Maddock is experienced in complex and high-value private client work, including tax planning, wills and estate planning, and succession structures.
David is an excellent private client lawyer.
David has a true drive to collaborate with clients and other advisers so as to understand the issues and find solutions.
Tom Chiffers is a partner in the private capital team at Clarke Willmott specialising in tax advice for agricultural families, businesses and private individuals. He is experienced in inheritance tax and succession planning.
Tom is highly thought of for tax planning and APR.
Tom is approachable, calm, pragmatic and helpful.
Jacqui Lazare advises wealthy clients on matters including estate administration and tax planning, as well as advising charities.
Jacqui is superb.
Jacqui has provided a great and trusted service to clients over the years.
Emily Jenkins is a senior associate at Clarke Willmott and has expertise in trust disputes.
Emily was clear, informative and precise. She ensured I understood things and supported me at every stage. Her guidance was excellent.
Emily was able to assist meaningfully from the outset and quickly earned my trust. Her approach was thorough, thoughtful and confidence-building.
Emily is collaborative, clever and definitely one to watch. She has a very nice manner with clients and is a good litigator.
Emma Ironside is a senior associate in the contentious trusts and probate team. She is experienced in advising clients on trust disputes and will validity challenges.
Emma Ironside brings calm professionalism to cases, handling challenging and legally complex issues.
Emma Ironside is excellent in terms of breadth of experience and her ability to manage multiple cases at once. It is really impressive to watch.
Her knowledge of the legal options was comprehensive, and she was always able to explain them clearly and with sound reasoning. I never felt that my questions were unwelcome or misplaced; she addressed them calmly and in detail, which gave me confidence in both the strategy and the advice I was receiving.
