Hunters

Senior Partner: Henry Hood

Number of partners: 24

Number of senior associates: 8 

Number of associates: 12

Number of other fee-earners: 12

Firm Overview 

Hunters is known for combining top-class legal advice with exceptional, partner-led, personal service. It is consistently ranked as one of London’s top firms, serving a largely HNW client base of private individuals, trusts, landed estates, businesses, and charities. Situated in the heart of legal London, Hunters offers a range of specialist inter-linking services which allows them to meet clients’ legal needs, whether that be for wealth management, tax and estate planning, trust affairs, divorce and relationship breakdown, nuptial agreements, residential and commercial property, business services, philanthropy or litigation. Hunters’ partners are known for their approachability and work together to provide an efficient and integrated service. The firm has practised from its seventeenth century premises in Lincoln’s Inn for nearly 300 years, a mark of its stability and permanence. This continuity is reflected in the lasting service given to clients, old and new: a partner is personally responsible for every client and this relationship, often built up over many years and sometimes spanning multiple generations, is the bedrock of the practice.

Main areas of practice 

Private Client: 

The firm is best known for its long-standing expertise in acting for individuals, families and trustees. The private client department advises on all aspects of tax, trusts and succession planning for clients in the UK and further afield. The team has considerable experience in the administration of complex estates (often with an international element) and Court of Protection work. The firm also has an extensive landed estates practice, some of which are extremely high value and are held through complex structures involving partnerships, companies and trusts.

Family: 

The family team act for largely HNW and UHNW clients on the full range of issues arising on relationship inception and breakdown. They offer particular expertise on complex financial claims on divorce, as well as wealth protection through nuptial agreements. The team are also experienced in advising on personal protection in situations of domestic abuse, arrangements for children, and issues arising in cohabiting relationships. New partner Olivia Piercy brings a depth of experience in child abduction, child protection, surrogacy and fertility law.

Property: 

The well-established property department has two roles. They support clients and colleagues in the private client, family and business services teams when, inevitably and regularly, property matters arise in those realms. Yet the department has a substantial independent practice handling all aspects of residential and commercial conveyancing, and landlord and tenant matters, relating to homes, urban estates, investments, development, agriculture, rural property and landed estates. They also handle a wide range of secured lending and banking security work. Hunters is CQS accredited.

Business: 

Hunters' experienced business services team acts for foreign and domestic investors, companies, partnerships and entrepreneurs. The team has particular expertise in advising the firm’s private clients on the corporate and commercial elements of their often sophisticated trust and close family structures. They also advise clients from numerous jurisdictions in relation to their UK activities, corporate transactions, day to day operational issues and regulatory legal requirements, including employment law, and commercial contracting. The team's clients can be at any stage of their business lifecycle from start-up to listing and beyond. The team’s extensive international experience positions Hunters perfectly to advise domestic and foreign clients on their cross-border activities and the continuing challenges presented by Brexit and the pandemic. Their clients operate in most economic business sectors with particular strengths in intellectual property and technology, FMCG, foreign direct investment and art and cultural heritage, and they regularly assists clients with corporate finance and investment agreements, business acquisition and disposal, stakeholder relations and corporate governance.

Art and Cultural Property: 

The department shares its clients’ passion for art and is recognised as a leader in the field, bringing its lawyers’ experience and expertise to bear when clients want to transition art to the next generation, buy or sell artworks, or are involved in disputes in both the UK and international art markets. The team provides effective, discrete advice to auction houses, individuals, businesses, trusts, landed estates and charities, preserving and protecting its clients’ interests and artworks.

Charity: 

The firm has a well-established practice and reputation in charity law work, providing discreet and pragmatic advice to an eclectic mix of charities, social enterprises and other not-for-profit organisations including trade unions and international NGOs. The practice was further strengthened in 2021 by the arrival of Paul Ridout, who brought with him over 20 years’ experience of advising faith-based organisations and charities in cultural/heritage, medical and conservation fields. The Charities group at Hunters covers everything from the formation of charities, governance and regulatory advice through to mergers and safeguarding support, and offers charity clients a multidisciplinary service that includes a full range of property, legacy and philanthropy, litigation, commercial and employment law services.

Dispute Resolution: 

Hunters acts for clients in resolving disputes across a broad range of civil matters, most notably all aspects of contentious trust and probate, where clients include trustees, beneficiaries, executors and other interested parties. Much of the department’s work concerns complex, high-value cross-border and multi-jurisdictional disputes for UK and overseas clients, often arising from relationship generated trusts. Members of the team use a combination of negotiation, mediation, and where necessary, court action to achieve the best possible outcomes for their clients. The team also regularly act in disputes relating to property, the Court of Protection, professional negligence, contracts, business relationships and art.