IBB Solicitors

Managing Partner: Joanna DeBiase
Number of partners: 31
Number of other UK fee-earners: 100

Contacts: Banking & Finance: Harriet Jones
Fraud & Crime: John Milner
Charities: Paul Ridout
Childcare: Liz Fitzpatrick
Commercial Development: Jeff Elphee
Commercial Dispute Resolution: Paul Kite
Construction: Paul Brampton
Corporate & Commercial: Adam Dowdney
Crime: Joanne Gibbons
Employment: Justin Govier
Family – Matrimonial: Amanda Melton
Landlord & Tenant: Jon Mowbray
Personal Injury: Malcolm Underhill
Property Investment & Management: Jeff Elphee
Real Estate Dispute Resolution: Jon Mowbray
Residential Conveyancing: Gary Bunce
Real Estate: Vivien Rimmer
Wills, Probate, Tax & Trusts: Jacqueline Almond
Immigration: Richard Devall

THE FIRM
IBB is Heathrow’s closest major law firm and a Thames Valley heavyweight. It is a full-service firm, working for clients all over the South East of England. IBB has three offices. One in Uxbridge for corporate, charity, employment, real estate and community legal services. A Reading office which provides a full service offering to Thames Valley clients, and the third in South Bucks for private clients. IBB boasts one of the region’s largest real estate teams outside of London and a corporate team working with UK headquarters of multinationals based in the South East. IBB handles complex work with great attention to detail and high quality client service, making it particularly suited to working with clients who may be used to working with central London firms but who are increasingly questioning the value and commerciality they receive. IBB’s partners are recommended in the legal directories as leading individuals in their fields and there are six accredited commercial mediators and one accredited family mediator within the firm. IBB is also ISO 9001:2000 and Lexel-accredited and a member of LawNet - a federation of independent law firms

AREAS OF PRACTICE
Real Estate: 37%
Private Client: 28%
Commercial Services: 19%
Community Legal Services: 16%

PRINCIPAL AREAS OF WORK

Corporate & Commercial: The corporate and commercial teams cover M&A, corporate finance, corporate advisory, private equity, JVs, partnerships, commercial contracts, competition and regulatory, franchising, outsourcing, business recovery and insolvency, pensions, IP and IT. Clients range from medium-sized organisations who appreciate the firm’s West London location and business links, to public companies and UK subsidiaries of foreign companies looking for business acumen as well as legal advice. The firm has a niche speciality in mobile home parks, hotels, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing and automotive.
Charities: The team advises on all aspects of legal issues that affect the firm’s charity clients including: formations, mergers and incorporation of charities, regulation and compliance; liaison with the Charity Commission; commercial issues: property acquisitions and disposals; litigation, risk assessment and personal liability of trustees. Clients include a number of significant household names in addition to substantive religious, educational and music charities.
Commercial Dispute Resolution: This growing team advises corporate and commercial clients, including household names, on a wide range of complex contractual and business disputes. It also undertakes IT and IP dispute work, franchising disputes, debt recovery, professional negligence, commercial fraud and shareholder/ partnership disputes. The team includes a number of qualified commercial mediators and promotes a flexible approach to dispute resolution.
Banking & Finance: The firm advises UK and foreign banks and other leading lending institutions on facility agreements, security structuring and secured lending. IBB can also advise on the best way to structure the financing of businesses or particular investment or development deals, whether related to senior or mezzanine debt funding. The firm also has specialist expertise in the creation of the appropriate vehicle for finance deals, including SPVs and various forms of co-investment such as joint venture structures. IBB Solicitors is also one of only a few firms with the specialist knowledge required for the establishment and operation of collective investment schemes.
Employment: The team provides employers with advice on HR issues and disputes including disciplinaries, performance management and grievances; outsourcing, restructuring and redundancies; representation in employment tribunal proceedings; drafting employment documentation; and they also deliver in-house training seminars. The team advises many household name clients and tailors its advice to the business and culture of each client.
Real Estate: The group has developed an impressive national client base in areas as diverse as commercial development, construction and engineering, residential development, investment, finance and occupational management. With Heathrow on the doorstep, manufacturing, logistics and warehousing make up a significant market. The development team is one of the largest dedicated teams in the South. The construction and landlord and tenant teams continue to grow an increasing share of the South East market. The teams are supported by property tax expertise and specialist real estate dispute resolution lawyers and mediators.
Private Client: High net worth private clients form a significant part of the client base for IBB’s private practice. Services including wealth planning, wills, probate, tax, trusts, estate planning, property and financial advice for individuals. Work is also undertaken for institutional clients. The team is particularly strong in its Court of Protection work with three professional deputies, six full SFE and four full STEP members. Other related teams with whom there is a close working relationship provide charities advice, criminal defence, family law advice including children’s cases, employment and personal injury.
Personal Injury: The team specialises in complex and high value litigation, with particular emphasis on brain injury, spinal injury, child and adult abuse, industrial disease and clinical negligence. The team are members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. The lead partner is an APIL Fellow, and member of the Law Society Personal Injury Panel. The team works closely with local Headway groups, supporting victims of brain injury.
Fraud & Crime: Ranked in the top four teams in London by fees, the team has a place on the Very High Cost Case Panel. The team advises on a wide range of white-collar crime including the powers of regulatory bodies, both compliance and investigation and any resultant criminal sanctions.