Legal firms win rural royal appointment

Law firms Burges Salmon and Clarke Willmott have joined the Crown Estate’s panel of advisors to offer advice on the estate’s rural property portfolio.

The high-profile appointment will see the firms provide legal services for five years from the beginning of April.

Burges Salmon will handle high value work, while Clarke Willmott will manage the estate’s low value work.

The appointment follows the Crown Estate’s restructure of its legal services, which saw it halve the number of firms handling the rural portfolio.

In addition to Burges Salmon, the estate was using Foot Anstey, Manby and Steward, and Aaron & Partners on the £673m property portfolio, which includes the Windsor Estate.

Vivienne King, Crown Estate’s head of legal, said the estate was keen to ensure closer working partnerships with their rural property advisors.

Bob Smyth, client partner and senior partner at Burges Salmon, said the firm was looking forward to advising on the Estate’s “unique” property portfolio.

“We have enjoyed a long relationship with the Crown Estate and we have been aware of the growing impact of economic, technological and social changes on the countryside.

“Our challenge is to help the estate while having regard to the nature of the estate’s rural portfolio.”

The Crown Estate is one of the largest rural estates in the UK, which includes 108,000 ha (267,000 acres) of agricultural estates and 10,700 ha (26,500 acres) of forest across England, Wales and Scotland.