Many of our clients see us as their go to solicitors when they need a practical, business savvy and responsive service in their core area of work. But they don’t necessarily know the full width of our offering. With over 280 staff, 4 offices and around 1,500 clients we’ve got more bases covered than you might at first think. Click on a letter to discover the unexpected about Devonshires.
A Bigger Firm
Devonshires is a bigger firm than you might think. We have over 280 staff, 4 offices (Colchester, Birmingham, London & Leeds) and work for approximately 1500 clients.
To find out more about the people who make up Devonshires, visit our People page.
Banking
Over the past year, our Banking team have acted on some ground breaking deals in the RP sector, including acting on the housing sector’s first loan facility using the SONIA interest benchmark, and acting on a £250million Private Rented Portfolio Bond Issue.
To find out more, please contact Julian Barker or Gary Grigor in our Banking, Governance & Corporate team.
Cake
We didn’t allow 2020 to get in the way of our usual efforts to fundraise for our Partner Charites. Our ‘Bake-offs’ went virtual, but many calories were still eaten and pounds raised.
You can read more about our CSR initiatives here.
Debt Recovery
Our Debt Recovery team is placed in Tier 1 in the latest Legal 500 rankings. They refer to us a providing ‘a fantastic service from start to finish’.
To find out more about how we can help you in recovering debt, please contact Robert Edge, Chartered Legal Executive in our Litigation & Dispute Resolution team.
Enforcement
We can help you with advice on the best method of enforcing county court judgments or other court orders, whether against individuals or companies. For example, we were instructed to assist a client to recover an outstanding judgment for the sum of £5,000. We instructed an enforcement agent who made a number of visits and contacted the debtor by phone, where a payment arrangement was agreed and full payment was received by the client.
For more information, please contact Robert Edge.
Fundraising
Devonshires (and the Devonshires Foundation) are committed to CSR. Covid didn’t stop our fundraising efforts in 2020, although we did have to adapt with our virtual flower show and online art show. We also collectively logged our walking, cycling and running miles to travel between our three office (Leeds, London and Colchester) raising money for our 4 partner charities (Friends of the Elderly, The Spitz, SkyWay and St Georges Crypt) as we went.
For more information, please contact our CSR Partner Chris Drabble.
Green
With Decarbonisation set to be one of the biggest housing issues for the next decade, our dedicated Decarbonisation, Energy & Renewables team assist our clients delivering the ‘Green Agenda’, from estate ESCOs through to large scale Solar PV projects.
For more information, please contact Hannah Langford, Partner in our Real Estate & Projects team.
Hospital (Nightingale)
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Partner Caroline Mostowfi has advised clients on use of their accommodation and facilities for the provision of potential surge hospital facilities.
For more information, please contact Caroline Mostowfi, Partner in our Real Estate & Projects team.
Interventions
On behalf of our own profession’s regulator, The Solicitors Regulation Authority, we often close errant solicitors firms at short notice, advising their former clients as to the actions that they need to take to continue with their cases and seeking to protect any stolen monies.
For more information, please contact Philip Barden, Partner.
Joint Ventures
Over the years, we have built up an unparalleled expertise in establishing and operating property Joint Ventures. Recent examples include a Joint Venture between Greater Manchester Combined Authority and ten Registered Providers, who now aim to deliver additional market sale homes in the North West, and London & Quadrant’s accession to Barking Riverside Limited.
For more information, please contact Partners Jonathan Jarvis or Jonathan Corris.
Key Workers
We have advised clients on developments which include the provision of Key Worker accommodation, providing workers (and their families) with affordable accommodation in close proximity to their place of work. One example of this is advising A2Dominion in connection with its development of approximately 144 new flats for Key Workers at the Churchill and John Radcliffe Hospitals in Oxford.
For more information, please contact our Real Estate & Projects team.
Litigation (Dispute Resolution)
Our Litigation & Dispute Resolution team act for clients in the areas of Insolvency, Debt Recovery, Criminal Law, Public Inquiries and Coroners Inquests.
You can find out more about the team here.
Mentioned
We have been mentioned in the latest Legal 500 and Chambers directories. In the 2021 Legal 500 Guide, we were ranked as Tier 1 in Social Housing Finance, with our practice being described as ‘Exceptionally experienced and knowledgeable’.
Partners Julian Barker and Sharon Kirkham in particular were mentioned for their commitment, work ethic and ongoing advice. Our Construction practice were also mentioned as ‘commercially sharp and client-focused’. You can read more here.
We have also been mentioned as one of the top 200 firms in England and Wales in The Times ‘Best Law Firms 2021’ rankings. You can read more here.
Nizam
Devonshires advised the younger grandson of the Seventh Nizam of Hyderabad in a dispute that had run for more than 70 years. In October 2019 the High Court ruled that the Government of India and the late ruler’s relatives, rather than the State of Pakistan, were entitled to £35 million that had accrued in a NatWest bank account since 1948.
For more information, Please contact Philip Barden or William O’Brien.
Overhang Licence
When acting for developers or purchasers, we know to watch out for balconies overhanging land not contained within the red line boundaries of the development site. We have advised a number of our development clients on licences from the Highways Authorities where balconies overhang the public highway.
For more information, please contact Triya Maicha or Nat Cartwright in our Real Estate & Projects team.
Property Charging
We have the largest specialist social housing property charging team in the country, with extensive experience in security arrangements ranging from traditional core facilities to capital markets issuances.
For more information, please contact Sharon Kirkham, Partner in our Securitisation team.
Quoted
We are regularly quoted in a wide range of publications and articles. We’ve appeared in publications such as Social Housing, Inside Housing, Insider Media, The Lawyer, Thomson Reuters Practical Law, People Management, Insurance Day, and The Business Desk.
For more information about our Press Coverage please contact our Head of Business Development, Sara Stenhouse.
Recognised
We have been recognised as leaders in the latest Legal 500 and Chambers directories.
In the 2021 Legal 500 Guide, we were ranked as Tier 1 in Social Housing Finance, with our practice being described as ‘Exceptionally experienced and knowledgeable’. Partners Julian Barker and Sharon Kirkham in particular were recognised for their commitment, work ethic and ongoing advice. Our Construction practice were also recognised as ‘commercially sharp and client-focused’. You can read more here.
We have also been ranked as one of the top 200 firms in England and Wales in The Times ‘Best Law Firms 2021’ rankings. You can read more here.
Slow Worms
Devonshires have experience dealing with all types of unusual requests. Charlotte Sawyer, Solicitor in our Real Estate & Projects team, was recently instructed to deal with a licence to relocate slow worms from a development site to neighbouring land.
For more information, please contact Charlotte Sawyer.
Tenanted Stock Transfers
Our dedicated stock rationalisation team (known internally as The Rats) continue to act on a large number of projects, large and small, for the acquisition, disposal or swap of tenanted homes. Recently, we acted for The Guinness Partnership on the record breaking stock swap with Paradigm Housing Group, involving circa 2,500 residential units.
For more information, please contact Elad Yasdi, Partner in our Real Estate & Projects team.
Updates
We publish a broad range of updates, informing clients of new developments in legislation and case law. For example:
– ‘IT’S THE LAW’, a monthly publication aimed at development staff, looks at a single topic that regularly crops up.
– Our Housing Management team host Housing Management update sessions every 6 months, covering all of the latest developments in housing legislation, policy and case-law.
– We also publish monthly editions of ‘Commercial Property Information’, providing an in-depth look at all things commercial property law related and exclusive to those on our InLaws mailing list.
Did you know you can easily join our mailing lists? Make sure to visit our mailing list sign-up page to receive regular updates from us!
Vaccination
Partner Caroline Mostowfi acted for clients completing licence arrangements for the NHS to occupy their buildings as COVID-19 vaccination centres. Licences were agreed in a matter of days to facilitate the Government’s roll-out of the all-important COVID-19 vaccination programme.
For more information, please contact Caroline Mostowfi, Partner in our Real Estate & Projects team.
Webinars
Our Webinar programme has gone from strength to strength since launching in early 2020. As of January 2021, we’ve hosted 84 webinars with a total of 4,131 delegates. Make sure to catch up on our past webinars by viewing our webinar hub here.
Contact our Events Team for more information on our training programmes.
(e)X parte injunctions
We regularly make applications ex-parte (without notice) when urgent relief is sought in Court proceedings. We frequently seek without notice injunctions to restrain serious nuisance and anti-social behaviour.
For more information, please contact Donna McCarthy, Partner in our Housing Management & Property Litigation team.
Yorkshire
Our growing presence in Yorkshire and the North since the opening of our Leeds office back in 2017 has not slowed down! In December 2020 we were awarded with the Banking & Finance Award at the Yorkshire Legal Awards, and we have firmly established ourselves as a renowned practice in the Northern social housing sector.
For more information, please contact Partners Gary Grigor or Chris Drabble who jointly head up our Leeds Office.
Zoom
What else? With flexible working coming to the forefront in 2020, and most meetings taking place online, Zoom has definitely had an impact for us (and countless others) this year! Our Employment team have been advising clients on home-working policies, including strategic or operational issues that can arise from home-working. You can read their article which outlines the top 5 points employers need to consider regarding their agile working policies here.
For more information, please contact Kirsty Thompson or Katie Maguire, Partners in our Employment, Human Resources & Pensions team.
