Job Title:
Director
Services:
I graduated with a law degree in 1991 and completed the Solicitors’ Finals at the College of Law, Guildford. I joined Whitehead Monckton in 1992 as a Trainee Solicitor, gaining valuable experience in a wide range of legal disciplines and qualified as a Solicitor in 1994. I then became a Partner with the firm in 1999.
I was the Assistant Deputy and then Deputy Coroner for Mid-Kent & Medway between 1999 and 2011, conducting Inquests into violent or unnatural deaths in the local area. In September 2019 I was appointed to sit as a Recorder in the Family Courts of the South-East Circuit, where I either hear disputes between parents or between parents and the local authority over what should happen with their children.
Although I was originally a litigator when I first qualified, I have in fact been a Tax & Estate Lawyer for most of my professional career. In doing so I have developed a significant wealth of experience helping clients with a whole range of issues from wills and estates to complex tax planning for high net worth individuals and, in particular, the rural community.
I am also a member of the Court of Protection’s Panel of Professional Deputies. This means I act for a large number of clients as Deputy for Property & Affairs looking after their finances where they are incapable of doing so themselves but where they do not have a Power of Attorney in place and either have no one in their family who can or wants to act or where there is a dispute.
Finally, I was the firm’s Managing Director between October 2011 and September 2020.
I have expertise in:
I am also a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and a key figure in the Rural Business Team.
When I can, I love going on holiday and travelling; during my gap year I lived in Australia. I enjoy eating out, the theatre, reading a good book. I gained my private pilot’s licence in 2007 and more recently have taken up sailing yachts, particularly in the Mediterranean.
