Hugh James

Company Profile

Hugh James is a top 100 UK law firm, employing more than 500 staff from its headquarters in Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Plymouth. 

Hugh James has been established for more than 60 years and has built its success on offering expert advice through a personal and friendly service to its clients. A highly innovative firm, it creates a competitive advantage through a blend of excellence in client service, bespoke technical systems and the expertise of its people. 

The Hugh James Private Wealth group remains split in to sub departments, each undertaking HNW work in its own right and continues to be headed on a day to day basis by partner, Matthew Evans. 

Whilst continuing to undertake considerable national work out of our South Wales headquarters, particularly the work undertaken for financial institution clients, the team is now more national, with Private Wealth work also undertaken out of our London and Southampton offices. 

The 3 departments are: • Trusts and Estates Administration • Wills and Estate Planning • Contested Wills, Trusts and Estates. The Trusts and Estates Administration team undertakes estate administration on behalf of the firm's own trust corporation, individuals and a roster of fiduciary clients. The trust administration team continues to receive significant instructions for fiduciary clients. The team administers a full range of estates and trusts, including high value and complex matters involving business and cross jurisdictional assets. Other work undertaken includes trust deed and LPA writing services, both for individuals direct and for customers of its fiduciary clients. 

The Wills and Estate Planning team is split broadly into two. One part of the team acts on an individual basis for high-net-worth individuals, including a significant amount of advisory work on cross-jurisdictional tax issues and complex tax and estate planning for resident non UK domiciled individuals and UK ex-patriates. The team has represented a number of high profile business people. The team also refers a significant number of referrals from the HNW brands of its longstanding corporate partners (such as Lloyds Mayfair Private Wealth and Schroders Wealth) 

The other half of the team is one of the leading players in the market providing UK wide services to high street financial institutions as well as household brand names. The team continues to work closely with the distribution channels within the networks of commercial partners to maximise the opportunities within those organisations. The team continues to build its presence in the employee benefit sector and is in advanced talks with several challenger banks and financial institutions to launch new products in 2023. The team will also be launching a new digitalised will writing product in 2023, to harness the significant customer base of its existing financial institution clients, and to provide services at a high volume on a national level. 

Hugh James’s Contested Wills, Trusts and Estates team is indisputably the largest dedicated team in Wales, and amongst the largest in the regions, and has an established team of four lawyers in London, a partner in Southampton and anticipated growth in Manchester in 2023. Although the team continues to act for its traditional client base across Wales and the regions in the core practice areas of contentious probate and advice for the leading financial institutions, the team now boasts specialism in high value, complex onshore and offshore (including Channel Island) trust and estate disputes and has made significant inroads in the charity/legacy dispute sector, acquiring a number of charity clients.