Thursfields’ Family Law team tops The Legal 500 rankings | Charity law

The Family Law team at Thursfields Solicitors has been promoted to Tier 1 in the latest edition of The Legal 500, the “industry bible” of the legal sector.

The guide praised the team for its success covering the full range of family issues, and for generating work from local, national and international clients.

The Legal 500’s citation for Thursfields reads: “Premier League footballers and other high net worth individuals are among the clients who turn to the firm for family law advice.

Shane Miller leads the team whose experience includes complex financial, separation and children cases, it is becoming increasingly active in divorce cases involving family farms and other wealth protection matters.”

Various testimonials were quoted in Thursfields’ new ranking, including one which simply says: “A well organised and committed family team delivering good outcomes across the range of family law disciplines.”

Another reads: “Thursfields would be one of my ‘go-to’ firms for family finance work in the Midlands. They have a large number of offices and are very professionally presented.”

A third testimonial says: “Thursfields has gone from strength to strength in recent years, recruiting very well indeed to assemble a team of family law specialists that would be envy of any firm.”

The Legal 500 praised Thursfields for various recent work, including advice on a pre-nuptial agreement, divorce proceedings and resolution of matrimonial finances, permanent relocation of children outside the UK, the care of grandchildren, and a private law adoption.

Shane Miller, Director of the Family Law team said: “We’re delighted that our wide range of expertise and high-quality customer service has been recognised by this prestigious publication.”

The Legal 500 also noted Jenny Smith as a leading individual in the Charities and Not-For-Profit section, ranking at Tier 2, where it was commended for providing a full range of legal services.

The guide noted how Thursfields served national, regional and local churches, other faith organisations, hospices and alms houses, local political and non-political clubs, sports clubs and charities.

Thursfields was praised for its focus on special educational needs and rape victim support issues, and for its advice on GDPR, Charity Commission investigations and internal charity disputes.

The Charities team was commended in testimonials as “professional, friendly and always willing to help,” and “always thorough, professional and accurate in the work they carry out”.

Another comment reads: “Very experienced in charity and trusts; punching above its weight for a small firm compared to other charity teams in the sector.”

Jenny Smith, who heads the Charities and Communities Sector team, said: “We’re really pleased to have received such praise which reflects our hard work for so many diverse clients.”

Elsewhere in The Legal 500, Thursfields lawyers commended were Gareth Burge and Tim Edwards for their mergers and acquisitions work, Tim Lawrence as “a key figure” and Stephen Rome as “an absolute star” in dispute resolutions, and Lauren Hartigan-Pritchard as “highly regarded” for her insolvency work.

Thursfields’ Employment Team, led by Michelle O’Hara,  was noted for its particular focus on the retail and leisure and healthcare sectors, and increasing client work supporting corporate restructurings and share option schemes..

Other mentions in The Legal 500 guide included dispute resolution expert Bernadette Mackie for her “exceptional” handling of cases.