Law firm Clarke Willmott has been awarded “Private Client and Family Team of the Year” at The British Legal Awards, hosted by Dara O’Briain at Old Billingsgate Market in the City of London.
Judges particularly praised Clarke Willmott’s focus on staff development, as demonstrated by the series of back-to-basics lunchtime seminars created to enable fee-earners to put in context the mix of legal and financial issues. U nlike other law firms, Clarke Willmott is regulated by both the Financial Services Authority and the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which enables the firm to advise on both legal and financial issues including planning, taxation and accountancy work. The firm also has a dedicated trusts department and is an ISA manager with approval from HM Revenue & Customs.
The accolade also recognises the firm’s technically innovative approach to legal issues, including the use of the inheritance tax (IHT) death in service exemption for war veterans. Peter Nellist, Clarke Willmott’s private client sector leader, one of the UK’s most qualified legal financial advisers and twice winner of the FT’s Money Management “Financial Planner of the Year” award, has been campaigning on behalf of war veterans. He recently achieved a total refund of inheritance tax using this exemption, winning back £400,000 plus £24,000 interest for the family of one client, a Second World War veteran who died in 2006 aged 91.
Robert Smeath, managing director of the firm’s private client operations, said: “We’re thrilled to win this award and I’m very proud of our team. We have 90 people across the UK and together we have achieved a 25% increase in fee revenue over the past year and advised on cases involving more than £170 million. We’re doing everything from grants of probate - we have processed 300 so far this year – to offshore tax work”.
The awards ceremony was dominated by several of the top five law firms, including Eversheds, Ashurst and Linklaters, all of which won two categories each. In its category, Clarke Willmott’s entry beat competitors Berwin Leighton Paisner, Forsters, LG, Mills & Reeve and Pannone.