Office growth accelerated with two senior appointments

Howes Percival’s Milton Keynes office is celebrating further growth with the appointment of two new Directors. The regional law firm, with offices across the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, from Norwich to Milton Keynes, has appointed Tom Redman to its Corporate, Commercial and Banking team and Jennifer Laskey as head of its Contentious Probate team.  

Tom Redman joins Partner Andy Harris in the Milton Keynes office, where the team is expecting further growth in the New Year.

“We’ve been expanding our Corporate, Commercial and Banking teams across all of our offices, and Tom is a must-have hire for our MK region. I’ve known and worked with him for over five years so know that he brings not only top-drawer, complex M&A experience, but also specific expertise in relation to automotive retail transactions, as well as venture and private equity.”

Director Jennifer Laskey has been appointed to head up the firm’s Contentious Probate work and brings with her a wealth of experience in acting for clients in a range of disputes relating to wills, trusts and the administration of estates. With over 20 years’ experience in litigation, Jennifer has a reputation for pragmatic advice to clients.

Chairperson and Head of the firm’s Dispute Resolution team, Geraint Davies said:

“We are really excited about Jennifer joining us in Milton Keynes. She brings extensive legal knowledge and her appointment is part of our strategic plan to grow our presence in the area and widen the reach of our legal services. In the coming months we will be expanding our private client services even further and Jennifer’s arrival is a great springboard for that.”

Jennifer specialises in advising clients where there is a dispute about the validity of a will or a claim is to be brought against an estate. She will work closely with the firm’s Private Client, Family and Agriculture teams; helping to provide the breadth of legal expertise clients expect of a firm the size of Howes Percival.

At the beginning of the summer, the office welcomed Partner Marcus Carter who joined to head up the firm’s Commercial Property team in Milton Keynes. The success of his appointment has been obvious in the growth of that team from two members of staff to six in the time since Marcus arrived.  The team – including home-grown talent Fleur Chapman, who trained with Howes Percival and is now an Associate – are winning work at such a pace they will be expanding further early in 2022.

“We have seen an influx of new client work since I joined the firm,”

said Marcus.

“It is a testament to the depth of the team and their expertise that new clients as well as existing ones are instructing us and we are delighted to see instructions increasing. It is pleasing, too, that a number of large London clients are looking to instruct legal firms outside the capital and we are winning that work again and again.”

Recent transactions carried out by the team include a multi-million pound per annum lease completed for a client based in London and a similarly sized investment purchase for a client in Milton Keynes.

The firm’s office in Milton Keynes is headed by Partner Simon DeMaid, an employment law specialist who is well-regarded for his ‘fair and balanced’ advice (Legal 500).  He is delighted with the way the firm’s plans to build on its offering in Milton Keynes are coming to fruition.

“Howes Percival identified a number of years ago that Milton Keynes is a strong growth region as well as a great place to live and work.  As one of the UK’s fastest growing cities we knew that our unique blend of high-quality legal advice and a down-to-earth approach would be a great fit.  Our investment in Milton Keynes has paid off and we have seen the office in Milton Keynes grow by a third in the past 18 months – no mean feat during a pandemic.

“With Tom and Jennifer joining us, we really are even better placed to service the needs of the 14,000 or so businesses in Milton Keynes and the people who live and work in the town. We plan to expand further in the coming months and as a firm we are thrilled to welcome these talented new lawyers to our team.”

Read more about Howes Percival and its Milton Keynes-based team.