The Legal 500: Clifton Ingram - 'knowledgeable and responsive lawyers'

Corporate & commercial

Thames Valley-based Clifton Ingram LLP Solicitors‘ practice is headed by Barry Niven, ‘who is developing a team of knowledgeable and responsive lawyers who seek to understand client needs and tailor their approach and advice to those requirements’.

Solicitor Joel Molloy ‘is easy and straightforward to deal with and responds efficiently and very effectively’, with Niven and Molloy ‘both offering a responsiveness you expect from a City law firm with the commercial understanding of how to apply their advice in practice to a range of situations’.

The team undertakes a broad range of corporate and commercial work, including transaction management, bank security arrangements and work for professional practices such as chartered surveyors, IFAs and estate agents.

Insolvency and corporate recovery

Clifton Ingram's two-partner insolvency team covers both contentious and non-contentious matters for insolvency practitioners based in the Thames Valley. Team lead Barry Niven advises on administration and bankruptcy appointments and business and asset transactions, as well as corporate restructuring, refinancing, retention-of-title claims, winding-up petitions and security validation and enforcement. Partner Jonathan Davis and senior associate Robert Cherry mainly deal with antecedent transactions and asset retrievals and also defend directors against wrongful trading or preference claims.

Employment

The service at Clifton Ingram is ‘excellent, offering succinct advice and giving options with good explanations to facilitate sound decision making’. The team excels in the technology, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Head of employment Alison Gair ‘is outstanding, inspiring confidence, extremely knowledgeable and works really hard’. In one important case Gair acted for Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and its parent company Kohler in respect of an unfair dismissal claim made by one of UPS’ employees and associated allegations, successfully having the claims struck out at the preliminary hearing. Other highlights included advising clients on the exit of senior executives, office relocation and resulting staff redundancies, and restrictive covenants issues. Senior associate Robert Cherry ‘gives advice in clear language without jargon and gets straight to the point’.

Family

‘Extremely good‘ Clifton Ingram's ‘highly competent and dedicated team’ is ‘an excellent choice for those who want realistic advice without paying the earth’. Anne Deller (‘wonderful to work with’; ‘always approachable and incredible level of knowledge’) and Kate Grant (‘approachable, pragmatic and fierce advocate’) jointly head the team. Deller deals with complex cases involving companies, trusts and international properties and represents clients in complex children cases, while Grant advises on cases including high-net-worth divorces and financial cases and complex matters arising from relationship breakdown between cohabitees. Other notable team members include Nick Rodriguez (‘passionate about his clients and always willing to go the “extra mile”’), senior consultant Sarah Benfield (‘technical, available, incredibly hard-working and would be anyone’s safe “port in a storm”‘) and senior associate Rekha Joshi (‘empathy with clients who need reassurance but is not afraid of giving strong, sensible and sound advice’).

Personal tax, trusts & probate

The ‘excellent‘ Clifton Ingram LLP Solicitors has ‘exceptional industry knowledge’ and is ‘consistent in its service delivery, with no surprises or missed deadlines’. ‘Knowledgeable and helpful’ head of tax planning, wills and probate Peter McGowan‘s ‘approach is sensible, straightforward and thorough‘. McGowan specialises in inheritance and capital gains tax planning, will drafting and all aspects of trust and estate administration, and has a significant involvement with the firm’s specialist contentious inheritance team. Stephanie Rose specialises in wills, probate and estate planning, with further expertise in advising clients on eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare and local authority-funded care, and is recommended as ‘courteous, helpful, professional and efficient’.

Real estate

At Clifton Ingram LLP Solicitors, Tim Read acted for timber, building and fencing supplier Lawsons in respect of the sale of one of the client’s depots for development as a student accommodation site, as well as advising Just Eat on its London and Bristol property leases. Other clients of note for the practice include Country Estates and Darcliffe Homes. Ian Graham heads the department, with other significant figures including Chris Baggs and senior associates Lewis Djemal and Jonathan Foulds.