Team member profiles:
Nigel Priestley
Nigel is Ridley & Hall's Senior Partner. He is a member of the Law Society's Childcare Panel.
In 2002, as President of the Huddersfield Law Society Nigel set up a twinning committee with the Uganda Law Society. This link has led to the establishment of a legal resources centre in Kampala. Solicitors from Huddersfield provide training on an annual basis for local lawyers in Uganda.
He has pioneered challenges to local authorities in the area of financial and other support for kinship carers. He is a Trustee of the Family Rights Group and works closely with the Grandparents Association and other organisations.
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Sarah Young
Sarah is a Partner and specialises in personal injury law. She has a Masters Degree in Advanced Personal Injury Law and is a senior litigator member of the Association of Personal Injury Law and the Law Society's Personal Injury Panel.
Sarah has a particular interest in catastrophic head injury cases and is a panel solicitor member of Headway and a member of the Huddersfield Headway Support Group.
Another area of interest is professional negligence claims against firms who have handled personal injury claims badly.
She is also experienced in pursuing claims on behalf of children where local authorities have negligently delayed in commencing care proceedings.
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Clare Wills
Clare is a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives’ (ILEX), achieving her membership of ILEX by specialising in Probate Law and Practice, Land law and Equity and Trusts.
Clare deals with Wills, Probate, and Enduring Powers of Attorney cases. She also gives advice on minimising Inheritance Tax within estates, and shielding your assets from home fees.
Clare is currently studying to become a member of STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), which is a specialised qualification within the Probate and Trusts areas.
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Janet Watson
Janet is a senior Legal Executive having qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) in 1982. She has been involved in all aspects of civil litigation and family law since qualifying. For the last 10 years she has specialised in Personal Injury law.
Janet has experience in a wide range of personal injury work, including tripping and slipping cases, accidents at work, occupiers' liability, road traffic accidents, product liability and Criminal Injury Compensation claims.
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Julie Devenport
Julie is a senior solicitor who qualified in 1990. She has worked in the commercial departments of firms in Sheffield and Derby and is now settled in Huddersfield. Julie specialises in commercial property transactions, which covers;
1. Purchase and sales of freehold/leasehold property (and associated business);
2. Leases – acting for landlords and tenants
3. Mortgages and Charges to lending institutions
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Clive Yeadon
Clive joined Ridley & Hall in 1994 after a distinguished career as a Social Worker, and Social Policy specialist with the children's charity Barnardos. Following his appointment, the firm's reputation in the fields of Community Care and Education Law has developed consistently, leading to its current national profile in these areas of public law.
Clive manages the Education and Community Care Law team, which also has responsibility for Social Security law matters.
As an expert witness in his own right, Clive is particularly well placed to identify trends in Social Services policies, especially those that have potentially damaging impacts on clients or potential clients of the firm.
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James Wilson
James is a solicitor. He worked for an inner London local authority social services department and a homelessness charity before qualifying in 2003. James' main areas of work are education and community care.
James has successfully represented many parents and pupils in challenges to schools and local education authorities over admissions, exclusions and special educational needs. He has conducted many successful judicial review actions where local authority social services departments have failed to adequately assess and meet the needs of children and adults with disabilities. His cases regularly feature in the law reports.
James also undertakes a substantial amount of licensing work and has steered several contentious licensing applications through the application process.
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Johanna Allen
Johanna is a paralegal in Family Law and has assisted the Partner in the Family Law department in this role for the past four years.
Johanna has experience in Divorce and Separation as well as private Children Act issues, including Residence and Contact Applications.
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Graham Smith
Graham Smith is a Senior Paralegal and is presently the firm's longest serving employee with over 30 years experience of dealing with Court of Protection and related matters.
He also has experience in the preparation of Wills, Powers of Attorney and the administration of Estates.
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Alison Mason
Alison is a Licensed Conveyancer and the head of the Residential Conveyancing Department. She specialises in the buying and selling of homes.
Alison has at least 20 years experience of property matters and has a strong professional relationship with many estate agents and builders. She works closely with many Banks and Building Societies.
Alison is assisted by a committed team, which works closely together to provide clients with an excellent quality service.
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Dawn Hook
Dawn is a fully qualified Licensed Conveyancer with 20 years experience in the legal profession, particularly in recent years in the field of residential conveyancing.
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Alison Welsh
Since qualifying as a solicitor in 1990, Alison has specialised in family law. She has experience of a wide range of work including divorce and ancillary relief as well as applications relating to children (residence and contact). Alison is head of the Family Law team.
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