- Managing Partner: Stephen Hewitt
- Senior Partner: Eileen Pembridge
- Number of partners: 12
- Solicitors: 48
- Total staff: 121
THE FIRM Started in 1975, Fisher Meredith is an award winning London law firm with a national reputation for the strength and breadth of its litigation teams and non-contentious legal services for individuals, businesses and organisations.
The firm has won a number of industry awards over the past few years. They include:
•‘Lexcel’ the Law Society Practice Management Standard Kitemark
• Law Society Race Equality Award
• Law Society Gazette Centenary ‘Excellence in Practice Standards’ Award
Many of the firm’s lawyers are recognised as ‘leaders in their fields’ of law.
Fisher Meredith offers a diverse range of legal services that will address many of life’s legal problems. The firm has a national standing in the sector for the quality of legal advice and representation in the fields of family and children law, litigation, property and private client legal work.
Fisher Meredith’s commercial legal services can help with business legal problems ensuring they are solved quickly without disruption. Company and commercial solicitors can give legal advice on setting up or restructuring a business, chasing debt, updating contracts or moving premises amongst others.
As well as acting for individuals and commercial organisations, the firm also undertakes legal work for government bodies, foreign government embassies, voluntary sector agencies, local authorities, country councils, trade unions and charities.
PRINCIPAL AREAS OF WORK
Family: Eileen Pembridge and Louise Barretto head a nationally renowned team of 15 solicitors with expertise in all aspect of family law. The Department offers a broad range of legal services to help clients deal with family disputes or make arrangements before entering into a relationship by drafting cohabitation and prenuptial agreements. It also offers Collaborative Law and Mediation. The Department is recognised for its quality service at reasonable rates. The firm also has a separate department specialising in children matters.
Children: A team of 11 solicitors with expertise in public and private law children cases headed by Maria Healy. The department offers representation of parents, children and other family members in any child protection matter including care proceedings, Special Guardianship applications, abduction, and adoption in both the domestic and international forum. Trained mediators can assist family members in reaching solutions that are acceptable to them limiting the need for court proceedings.
Civil & Commercial Litigation: A large team of solicitors with varying expertise can help individual and business clients with their disputes in relation to consumer contracts, contentious probate, property and building, professional negligence, employment, and debt recovery.
Education Law: The Education team focus on Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disability discrimination work, school admissions and exclusions, higher education as well as judicial review challenges. The team also deals with related community care issues concerning, in particular, disabled children.
Residential & Commercial Property: The Property department encompasses all aspects of residential property including conveyancing (both through private sale and auction) and re-mortgaging as well as commercial property in respect of the acquisition and disposal of commercial property (through private sale and auction), non-contentious landlord and tenant matters and secured lending (advising both lenders and borrowers in this respect).
Private Client: The Private Client department offers a wide range of services for the individual including wills and estates, probate, lasting powers of attorney, and trust work.
Employment Law: The firm acts for employers and employees in contentious and non-contentious matters and specialises in complex cases with a focus on race and sex discrimination and disability issues.
Immigration Law: Established immigration team which provides commercial immigration advice to businesses, high net worth and highly skilled individuals. The team is also known for its work in entry clearance, leave to remain, asylum and human rights applications.
Criminal Law, Road Traffic & Regulatory Matters: The department has a wealth of expertise in general crime, business crime, extradition and road traffic as well as handling investigations by regulatory bodies.
Police & Prison Law: An experienced team of solicitors deals with all aspects of police law and related disciplinary matters with a proven track record of successful claims against defendant police forces. The department is regularly instructed in a number of high profile prisoners’ rights issues and civil claims.
Public Law & Human Rights: The firm acts for organisations and claimants across a wide range of specialist areas and has an outstanding reputation for its public law and human rights expertise.
Landlord & Tenant/Social Housing: The team of 7 solicitors headed by Jenny Hunt deals with social housing issues for claimants and legal issues for private landlords. The department has a particular expertise in disrepair and possession cases, and civil Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs).
Mental Health and Mental Capacity: The department has considerable expertise in mental health law (including lawfulness of detention and appropriateness of treatment for those detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, Nearest Relative displacement proceedings and s.117 aftercare); mental capacity law (in particular, welfare proceedings and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) challenges in the Court of Protection) and community care law (with particular expertise in acting for those subject to the leaving care provisions and people with no recourse to public funds).