Who we are
Victoria Knight (TEP)
Solicitor
Victoria Knight is a Director and Solicitor specialising in Inheritance and Succession Planning Wills. She is a full member of the Society for Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
Victoria has many years’ experience and an innovative approach to safeguarding assets tax efficiently and maintaining assets in the right structure leaving the family with real control over its own wealth through the use of bespoke wills and trust structures. Asset protection is an increasing concern particularly the effects of divorce, bankruptcy, nursing home fees and the protection of children’s inheritance.
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Victoria also advises on the use of the immediate inheritance tax exemptions, capital gains tax implications of gifts and setting up tax efficient appropriate trusts for lifetime gifts plus the use of pension and death in service death benefit trusts. She also advises clients with regard to mental capacity issues and has considerable expertise in the drafting and registration of Lasting Power of Attorney documents and the registration of Enduring Power of Attorney documents.
She has extensive experience of dealing with the administration of estates including inheritance tax and the resolving of family issues, business property relief, agricultural property relief and normal expenditure out of income relief, where appropriate.
Victoria trained and qualified as a Solicitor in Birmingham in 2006 at Putsman.wlc (now part of the merged firm Shakespeare Martineau) before moving to Clarke Willmott and later regional law firm Higgs & Sons. Victoria joined Russell & Co in 2012 to head the Private Client Team before setting up her own practice, Knight Read Solicitors, in 2015. In 2019 Knight Read Solicitors merged with Russell & Co and Victoria returned to the firm as one of three owner directors.
Wills & Estate Planning
Probate
Power of Attorney
Bally Sandhu
Solicitor
Bally is a Solicitor, Director and Head of the Family Team, having started her career at Russell & Co in 2005 as a trainee solicitor. Demonstrating her competence and specialist knowledge, Bally holds The Law Society Children Panel accreditation.
Bally has extensive experience in dealing with all aspects of family law including complex financial issues and divorce and representing clients in ancillary relief proceedings. She has developed a reputation for providing robust and proactive specialised advice to achieve the best outcome for her clients.
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Bally has specialised in assisting families with the breakdown in contact and living arrangements, negotiating terms and where necessary supporting clients through the Court process to allow parents and wider family members to maintain their most important relationships with children.
Bally also advices and represents unmarried families including in cohabitation agreements and disputes arising as well as pre-martial and post-marital agreements.
Bally provides her clients with an excellent and supportive service at a very stressful time with her wealth of knowledge and expertise.
Family Law
Scott Cammish
Solicitor
Scott qualified as a solicitor in 2002, before working at a law firm based in central Birmingham for 13 years. He joined Russell & Co. in 2016 and has been a Director since 2018, specialising in Wills (including the preservation of family wealth), the administration of estates, obtaining Probate, Lasting Powers of Attorney, Deputyship applications and the creation of Trusts.
He deals with both modest and high value estates, including overseas, agricultural and business assets, claiming all relevant Inheritance Tax reliefs. Scott seeks to make clients feel at ease, has a friendly and approachable manner, and ensures that they have a clear understanding of the work he is undertaking on their behalf. This will often involve explaining complex legal processes in as straightforward a manner as possible.
Wills and Estate Planning
Probate
Power of Attorney
Julie Sutherland
Consultant Solicitor and PA to the Directors
Julie Sutherland is a Consultant for Russell & Co Solicitors, initially working as a Solicitor in the Firm’s Property Team before moving into the role of PA to the Directors in 2023. Julie assists the Directors with the day to day running of the Firm and spends her time between Head Office in Malvern and our office in Ledbury. Having worked in Ledbury and the surrounding area for most of her career, Julie is a familiar face to many of our clients and is happy to deal with initial enquiries so that they can be referred to the appropriate member of our team.
Julie Fisher
Legal Executive
Julie is a member of our litigation team having joined the firm in 2023. Julie brings a wealth of experience to the firm in terms of dispute resolution, having over 20 years of experience in this area of law. She enjoys working with clients to help them achieve the best outcome in their disputes whether that be helping steer them through the Court process, mediation / alternative dispute resolution matters or simply assisting with correspondence. Julie’s clients consist of individuals, companies and partnerships.
Dispute Resolution
Charlotte Leach
Solicitor
Charlotte qualified as a Solicitor in May 2023, having joined the firm in April 2021 as a Trainee Solicitor.
Charlotte has a natural flare in the field of litigation and aims to ensure you understand the issues you face and what risks are involved. She believes early identification of the key issues and a client’s objectives are key to maintaining a pragmatic approach to solving problems for early resolution. If matters need to progress through the formal channels of proceedings, she will ensure that this is achieved with clear and robust advice and in the most cost-effective way to achieve the best outcome for you.
Charlotte has a particular interest in mental health and supporting those with additional needs.
Dispute Resolution
Jacqui Wheeler
Residential Conveyancer
Jacqui’s background of having worked in various different industries prior to working in law assists her in providing a practical down to earth and methodical approach to conveyancing transactions. Her training in CILEX and her experience of over 15 years dealing with property covered a wide range of both leasehold and freehold sales and purchases including equity transfers, trust, mortgages etc within Devon, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire during that period. She endeavours to deliver clients a clear and efficient service in an ever changing and sometimes challenging property environment.
Residential Property
Rachel Gray
Legal Executive
Rachel is Head of the Property Team. She joined Russell & Co in September 2022 and has over 20 years’ experience as a conveyancer, specialising in residential conveyancing. She qualified as a Legal Executive in 2005 whilst working for a Somerset law firm, having previously worked for 10 years in the Court Service in Wiltshire. In 2012, Rachel obtained an additional diploma qualification in Land Registration Law and Practice. Rachel has an extensive knowledge of residential conveyancing gained from working for a number of well-established law firms, including firms in Somerset, Hereford, and Ledbury, before joining Russell & Co.
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Rachel can assist with a wide range of property transactions for individuals and businesses including residential and commercial freehold and leasehold sales and purchases, unregistered land transactions, voluntary land registration, new build purchases, re-mortgages, adverse possession applications, transfers of equity, equity release and shared ownership, option and overage agreements.
Rachel believes that it is important to provide an effective and efficient service and for clients to view their legal representative as approachable and reliable. Rachel understands how important good communication is and is happy to speak face-to-face, over the phone or via email.
Commercial Property
Residential Property
Donna Ingram
Licenced Conveyancer
Donna is an experienced Licensed Conveyancer who deals with residential property. Donna qualified with the Council for Licensed Conveyancers in 2000 and has worked in Herefordshire and Worcestershire throughout her career. She deals with all aspects of residential conveyancing including leaseholds, new builds, remortgages, transfers of equity, help to buy and equity release schemes. Donna has a strong reputation for guiding clients through the conveyancing process in an efficient and friendly manner always with the aim of making moving house as stress-free as possible.
Residential Property
Cristian Cass
Trainee Solicitor
Cristian joined Russell and Co as a trainee solicitor in August 2023 after previously working at Law firms in the Gloucestershire area. Having been raised in Worcester Cristian is familiar to the local area and has a deep affiliation with Worcestershire and the three counties. He is currently taking the SQE course to qualify as a Solicitor.
Cristian has worked in a number of legal departments during his training but has chosen to remain within the Private Client department as he finds Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and probate matters the most interesting and personally rewarding.
Wills and Estate Planning
Probate
Power of Attorney
Lianne Curtis
Paralegal
Lianne joined Russell & Co in 2015 as part of the Property Team. Initially Lianne worked as a legal assistant and has progressed into the role of a Paralegal handling residential sale and purchases. Having lived and worked in Malvern and the surrounding area, Lianne is well known member of the team with much of her work coming from repeat clients and recommendations from local estate agents and professional contacts.
Residential Property
Henrietta Atkins
Paralegal
Henrietta (Hen) joined the firm in 2023 and is a Paralegal in the Family Department. Hen started her family law career as a legal secretary in 2010 and quickly progressed on to become a legal assistant. In 2022 Hen completed her formal paralegal training and now works alongside Bally Sandhu who is a Director of the firm and Head of the Family Department.
Family Law
Ella Waldron
Paralegal
Ella is an experienced Paralegal within the Private Client Team. She advises on Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Estate Administration.
Ella has a particular interest in setting up and administering Charities. Ella is currently studying with CILEx to qualify as a Chartered Legal Executive.
Wills and Estate Planning
Probate
Power of Attorney
Linda Beddoes
Consultant Solicitor
Linda joined Russell & Co as a Consultant Solicitor in 2021 having previously been a partner at a firm in Ledbury. Linda has experience in both commercial and residential property matters. She provides assistance to our Property team with the more complicated commercial property transactions and also provides holiday cover for other members of the team from time to time.
Linda enjoys guiding her clients through their property transactions and aims to make the process for them as stress-free as possible.
Residential Property
Commercial property
Miesha Heyworth
Consultant
Miesha joined the Private Client team in 2024 as a Consultant. Having worked both for her own legal company and as a Consultant at Solicitors practices in Warwickshire, Worcestershire and London, Miesha brings over 18 years of experience in this area of Law, specialising in Probate, Wills, Powers of Attorney and Court of Protection
Wills and Estate Planning
Probate
Power of Attorney
James Rogers
Consultant
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Family Law
Rachel Stokes
Paralegal
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Commercial Property
Kathryn Griffiths
Receptionist Ledbury
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Annette Barlow
Receptionist Malvern
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CONTACT US
reception@russelllaw.co.uk
Malvern
Holland House, 125 Church St, Malvern, WR14 2AH
01684 892000
Ledbury
4 High St, Ledbury HR8 1DS
01531 826 373