BRIGHT & SONS (SOLICITORS) LIMITED - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Private Client Consultant
Amanda joined the family firm in 1987 and was admitted as a solicitor in 1989. She became a partner in 2004 and is now an associate director of Bright & Sons Solicitors. Amanda is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and the Law Society's Probate Section and Solicitors for the Elderly.
Amanda's private client practice is wide ranging and she is sought out for her expertise in mitigating inheritance tax and advising on succession to farms and businesses.
Amanda advises on powers of attorney and Court of Protection matters, including statutory wills, deputyship and applications for permission to make lifetime gifts. She deals with the administration of estates of all sizes, from a straightforward application for probate, up to estates involving complex inheritance tax issues.
Bronwyn joined Bright & Sons in 2013.
Over the last seven years has developed a very wide range of experience of residential and commercial property experience while working as an assistant to our Managing Director, Simon Fothergill. During this time she has studied for and is awaiting her final exams to become a fully qualified licenced conveyancer.
As a Property Executive, Bronwyn deals with all aspects of residential conveyancing and also assists the commercial property team in corporate transactions. She is a very popular and respected member of the team and has excellent working relationships with local professionals and clients alike.
Job Titles:
- Residential Property Associate
Carla qualified as a Licensed Conveyancer in 2005 and joined Bright & Sons Solicitors in 2020.
Carla has gained a wealth of experience in all aspects of residential conveyancing over the past 20 years to include part exchanges, high value and possessory title applications.
Job Titles:
- Company Commercial Consultant
Christopher, joined the practice in 1985 and specialises in business law and agricultural law.
Christopher has strong links to the farming community in Essex and is involved practically in the family farm. Praised by clients for his clear analytical approach to problems with being able to ‘think out of the box' when it comes to offering practical solutions to difficult problems.
Much of Christopher's work is specialised and referred to him by accounting practices and professionals but he also receives instructions directly from clients.
Christopher has acted in reported cases both in the Court of Appeal and in the High Court. He provides support and advice to other areas of the firm where farming and business interests are involved.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director
- Private Client Associate Director
Daniel was admitted as a solicitor in 2008. Since qualifying he has worked exclusively within all areas of private client and joined Bright & Sons Solicitors as associate director in 2019. He specialises in inheritance and capital gains tax planning, estate administration, trusts, wills and probate matters.
Daniel assists his clients with wealth and business planning including tax planning through protective trusts and other means, helping to ensure the most tax efficient way of handing down assets. He has a wealth of experience in the administration of complex and high net worth estates, including businesses and foreign assets.
He acts as a professional trustee on various family trust funds and charitable trusts, dealing with contentious trust matters for both trustees and beneficiaries. He has played a lead role in several high profile contentious probate cases and is highly regarded for his work in this area.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate Director
- Solicitor
- Property Associate Director
Emma qualified as a solicitor in September 2004 and joined Bright and Sons in November 2006. Emma is an Associate Solicitor and specialises in residential and commercial property with a particular interest in landlord and tenant and commercial lease renewals.
Emma regularly deals with high value and complex residential transactions including land affected by overage and sales of part with negotiation of rights, easements and covenants
Emma also regularly acts for commercial lenders in taking security and for client restructuring property related debt. Clients include national retailers, energy companies, trustees and charities as well as individuals and businesses.
Job Titles:
- Dispute Resolution Associate
Gareth joined Bright & Sons Solicitors in December 2019. He qualified as a solicitor in 2012 and has many years of civil litigation experience.
Having previously worked in the City of London advising major insurers on a range of issues including road traffic accidents, industrial accidents and the defence of fraudulent claims Gareth has experience of handling serious and complex claims as well as acting for individuals and businesses alike.
Gareth provides a detailed and thorough service for private and business clients in a wide range of disputes including Probate, Employment, Property and Debt matters. He always seeks innovative and cost-effective solutions for clients whenever possible, but where agreement or mediation is not possible his robust approach to litigation can secure the right outcome.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Head of Child Law
- Member of the Law Society Children Panel
Gary, director joined Bright & Sons in May 2004.
Having previously worked for Essex County Council in their advocacy team specialising in all areas of child care, Gary is sought after by both local authorities and guardians representing children.
Gary specialises in public law care proceedings. He undertakes his own advocacy in The High Court, County Court and Magistrates' Court and has represented children in a number of high profile cases attracting national media attention.
Gary is a member of the Law Society Children Panel and the Association of Lawyers for Children. He speaks fluent Spanish and has represented clients in child cases in Spain.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director
- Property Associate Director
Gemma is an associate director and head of residential property.
Gemma qualified as a Licensed Conveyancer in 2007 and joined Bright and Sons in 2012.
Gemma has a wealth of experience dealing in all aspects of residential property. Her principal areas of work include sales and purchases, mortgages, re-mortgages and transfer of property.
Gillian has a degree in business law and a masters degree in agricultural law.
Before joining Bright & Sons in 1996, Gillian spent seven years working in Lincolns Inn before moving to Brentwood where she became a partner in Capstick Dale & Partners. Gillian was a partner in Bright & Sons from 1998 until she retired in 2012. She now works for Bright & Sons as a consultant in the firms commercial and residential property departments.
Job Titles:
- Private Client Consultant
Julia qualified in the City's largest magic circle firm, specialising in Residential Property and Commercial Property. Whilst there she started her specialisation of acting for overseas investors in English property. Julia later joined a prestigious Lincoln's Inn firm where she expanded her residential property experience to include acting for landed estates.
During the 1990s, Julia travelled both nationally and internationally, particularly to Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, where she developed a considerable client base of investor clients seeking all aspects of UK residential property and focused on lender requirements, being client partner for two prominent private banks in London. Julia continues to act for many of these overseas clients to this day and, in October 2015, was conferred the Malaysian title and honour "Datoship" for her legal services to Malaysian clients. Her full Malaysian title is Dato' Julia Wilson, D.S.A.P (Honorary).
As a partner for 9 years in London law firms, Julia also built up a significant expertise in residential leasehold enfranchisement, lease extension work acting for London block management companies, enforcement and general lease negotiation. Building on experience Julia gained in relation to inheritance tax and succession issues while advising on the structuring of property investments, she wrote the theses required to qualify as a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners in 2006. Julia offers private client, wills and probate advice to local, national and international clients, both expatriates working abroad and overseas investor clients neither resident nor domiciled in the UK. She is very experienced in complex probates involving property and other assets, especially those with a foreign element (for example, the deceased or the deceased's beneficiaries resident abroad and/or some of the deceased's property situate abroad). She has also developed an understanding of Sharia Laws of Succession.
Examples of Julia's work include:
Purchase and sale of high value residential property both freehold and leasehold in London and elsewhere throughout England and Wales
Lease extension and enfranchisement of blocks of flats and acting as company secretary for block management companies and advising on legal aspects of management of the building
First registration of unregistered land at the Land Registry, especially in relation to rural land and advising on rights and covenants affecting land and development potential
Preparing Wills and Trusts for UK and non-UK resident/domiciled individuals and liaising with foreign advisers on forced heirship issues applying under local law (Sharia Law, French Law, etc.)
Declarations of Trust of property and family property arrangements
Preparing Lasting Powers of Attorney and advising generally on elderly client issues
Obtaining Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration and administering deceased's' estates
Job Titles:
- Chartered Legal Executive
Job Titles:
- Agents
- Licenced Conveyancer
Kerry has over 30 years property experience. She joined Bright & Sons in 1996 and qualified as a Licensed Conveyancer in 2000.
Highly regarded by local estate agents Kerry is a busy residential conveyancer, experienced in a wide range of residential property work including unregistered land, right to buy, transfers of equity and remortgages.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Commercial Property Associate
Kim Corby, Associate, qualified in 2012 and specialises in all aspects of commercial property law.
Kim qualified in a large regional law firm, having obtained a degree in Law and American Law from the University of East Anglia (spending one year studying in Kentucky USA). She also has a Masters in Legal Practice from Anglia Ruskin University. Whilst at Anglia Ruskin University, Kim won the Client Interviewing Competition for England and Wales, and secured second place in the Louis M. Brown International Client Consultation Competition held in Las Vegas.
Upon qualification, Kim practiced in Chelmsford acting on a range of both City based and local property transactions before joining Wilson & Co.
Kim's practice areas include a particular focus on Landlord and Tenant matters for London household name retailers and restauranteurs, as well as acting for local landlords and tenants on leases of office space and industrial units. Kim also acts for local residential developers on sales of plots and carries out property management work for owners of large residential developments in London.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director
- Private Client Associate Director
Leigh joined Bright & Sons Solicitors in 2019 shortly after qualifying. Leigh specialises in dealing with contentious issues and probate claims but advises on all aspects of private client work including wills, probate and trusts.
Leigh assists clients with estate and inheritance tax planning to ensure assets are passed down in the most tax efficient manner. She is experienced in complex estate administration including multi-jurisdictional wealth with cross border elements.
In addition, Leigh is a Dementia Friend and advises clients on issues of capacity and Lasting Powers of Attorney.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director
- Child Law Associate Director
- Member of the Law Society Children Panel
Lorraine joined Bright & Sons in September 2014 from a regional practice having worked exclusively in private practice since qualification.
Lorraine specialises in Children's Law, her main expertise being the representation of guardians, parents and family members in public law care proceedings issued by local authorities. Lorraine also acts for time to time for clients making Private Law applications under the Children Act 1989, Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the Family Law Act 1996.
Lorraine undertakes all her own advocacy in The High Court, County Court and Magistrates' Court.
Lorraine is an accredited member of the Law Society Children Panel and Association of Lawyers for Children.
Job Titles:
- Trainee Solicitor
- Private Client Solicitor
Megan joined Bright & Sons as a Trainee Solicitor in 2021, having graduated from the University of Essex with a first-class degree in Law and achieving a Distinction in her Masters Degree in Legal Practice from the University of Law in London.
Megan has experience in working in child and family law, commercial conveyancing, and she is now a qualified Solicitor working in our Private Client Department. Megan advises on the making of Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney, in addition to assisting in probate matters.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Head of Property
With substantial city experience and a degree from Cambridge University, Simon joined Bright & Sons in 2013, became a partner in 2014 and is now a director of Bright & Sons Solicitors. He became managing director in 2019.
Simon qualified as a solicitor in 1986 and is experienced in all areas of commercial property work and in particular complex property transactions including options, overage arrangements, leasehold property, secured lending and development site acquisition, assembly and sale.
Simon has specialist knowledge in agricultural sales and purchases and advises on agricultural tenancy issues. He also deals with high value residential transactions including sales and purchases of central London properties and country houses and estates. His clients include blue chip companies, institutional investors, local authorities, developers, national retailers and farmers.
Job Titles:
- Associate Member of the Chartered Institute
- Private Client Executive
Yvonne is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and has worked in private client for over 10 years.
Yvonne joined Bright & Sons in 2018. She specialises in wills, lasting powers of attorney, deputyship applications and probate.