Adams Harrison Solicitors, Team Members

We are a team of dedicated law professionals, ready to support all your legal requirements.

Partners

Melanie Pratlett

Melanie Pratlett

Senior Partner / Solicitor

Qualified 1988

Melanie Pratlett qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and has been with Adams Harrison since 1993 becoming a Partner in 1996. Melanie Pratlett is our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP).

Jennifer Carpenter

Jennifer Carpenter

Managing Partner / Solicitor

Qualified 2000

Jennifer Carpenter became Managing Partner of the firm in January 2014. She was appointed as a Partner in January 2005, having qualified as a solicitor in 2000. She is head of our Dispute Resolution/Litigation department. Jennifer is also the person responsible for the quality of all the services we provide to clients, and the person who will deal with any complaints. She is also our Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration (COFA) and our Data Protection Officer.

Richard Booth

Richard Booth

Partner / Solicitor

Qualified 2000

Richard Booth is a Partner of the firm and Head of Property Department. .Richard qualified as a solicitor in 2000.
As Head of Property Department, which covers both Residential and Commercial Property work, he is also the Senior Responsible Officer under the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS).
Richard is also our Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) and Money Laundering Compliance Officer (MLCO)..

Jack Stewart

Jack Stewart

Partner / Solicitor

Qualified 2016

Jack Stewart is a Partner and assists Richard Booth with running the Residential Conveyancing team.

Emma Bilsborrow

Emma Bilsborrow

Partner / Legal Executive

Qualified 2014

Emma qualified as a Legal Executive in 2014 and joined Adams Harrison in February 2023 becoming a Partner in July 2023. She is head of our family department which covers divorce, financial matters and matters relating to children. Emma is a member of Resolution.

Wills and Probate

Melanie Pratlett

Melanie Pratlett

Senior Partner / Head of Department / Solicitor / TEP

Qualified 1988

Melanie Pratlett qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and has been with Adams Harrison since 1993 becoming a Partner in 1996. She specialises in the Wills Estates and Trust areas of the practice and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
Melanie Pratlett is our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP).

Sarah Bruce

Sarah Bruce

Legal Executive

Qualified 2000

Sarah Bruce joined the firm in 1995 as a trainee legal executive working within the Probate department. She qualified in 2000 as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives (FCILEx). Sarah is able to assist will Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and all matters relating to Probate and Trust administration. Sarah works mainly in the Haverhill and Saffron Walden offices but can meet clients also in the Sawston office or via telephone or zoom meeting if preferred. Home visits can also be arranged for those who would find it difficult to travel to one of our offices. Sarah places great importance on getting to know her clients personally and supporting them through difficult times and dealing with sensitive issues.

Leanne Mayes

Leanne Mayes

Legal Executive

Qualified 2015

Leanne Mayes joined Adams Harrison 2002, and has progressed at the firm from office junior/receptionist to legal executive and qualified in 2015 as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives (FCILEx), when she also won the Cambridgeshire and District Law Society Trainee Lawyer of the Year Award 2015. Leanne specialises in the preparation of Wills and Administration of Estates and can also deal with various aspects of Powers of Attorney and Deputyship Order applications. Leanne is based at Haverhill office but can meet clients in any office as well as by telephone or remote video meeting. Leanne is also able to visits clients at home if necessary.

Christine Gee

Christine Gee

Qualified Paralegal

Qualified 2000

Christine Gee has over 40 years’ experience in the law but has specialised in Wills and Probate for the last 23 years having gained a Specialist Paralegal Diploma in April 2000. Christine is based at our Sawston office and can also visit clients at home, or via telephone or remote video meeting. Christine is able to assist with Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, Probate and Estate Administration and Court of Protection Deputyship Orders.

Tracy Bonham

Tracy Bonham

Probate Assistant

Tracy joined the firm in 1989 and has progressed from office junior through secretarial roles to Paralegal and has been assisting Melanie Pratlett since 2003. She specialises in dealing with the administration of estates from start to finish. Tracy has a wealth of knowledge in this area having been trained and supervised by Melanie over a number of years.

Property

Richard Booth

Richard Booth

Partner / Head of Department / Solicitor

Qualified 2000

Richard Booth is a Partner of the firm and Head of Property Department, which covers both Commercial and Residential Property work. Richard qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and has worked in the local area for the last 11 years following a career break spent travelling.
Richard has considerable experience in dealing with all aspects of property work and has a personable and client focused approach. He is responsible for the Residential and Commercial property work undertaken in all three offices and is the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) Senior Responsible Officer.

Jack Stewart

Jack Stewart

Partner / Solicitor

Qualified 2016

Jack Stewart was appointed a Partner on 1st January 2023. Jack deals in all areas of residential property work and prides himself on his approachability and client orientated service which he feels is key during what can be a stressful and testing process.

Cathy Buck

Cathy Buck

Legal Executive

Qualified 1999

Cathy Buck is a Legal Executive specialising in residential property work at our Haverhill office. She joined the firm in 1993 as a trainee Legal Executive and qualified as a Fellow (FCILEx) of the Institute of Legal Executives (now Chartered Institute of Legal Executives). Cathy is able to assist with freehold and leasehold sales and purchases of a wide range of properties, including buy-to-let, new builds and shared-ownership properties. Cathy is also able to advise on transfers of equity, re-mortgages, the granting of easements (including prescriptive easements), and adverse possession.

Stefonie O’Marra

Stefonie O’Marra

Legal Executive

Qualified 1999

Stefonie O’Marra joined the firm in November 2021 and works in our Saffron Walden office. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and has over 21 years legal experience and over 8 years’ experience in Residential Conveyancing. Stefonie is able to assist clients in all aspects of residential conveyancing including sales and purchases of both freehold and leasehold; new builds, shared ownership and help to buy; equity transfer and equity release; re-mortgages; lease extensions; right to buy purchases; land purchases and first registrations.

Matthew Darmon

Matthew Darmon

Solicitor

Qualified 2019

Matt Darmon joined Adams Harrison in July 2015 as a paralegal in the commercial property department. He completed his training contract, focussing on residential and commercial property work, and qualified in 2019. After a brief stint working as a commercial property solicitor in a Cambridge firm, Matt rejoined Adams Harrison in the Conveyancing department in 2020 and is currently based in our Haverhill office. Matt is able to assist clients with residential conveyancing work covering sale and purchase of freehold and leasehold properties. Also transfers of equity, lease extensions, re-mortgages, advice on easements and overage. He is also able to assist with commercial property work.

Rhodri Rees

Rhodri Rees

Employed Consultant / Solicitor

Qualified 1988

Rhodri Rees retired as a Partner on June 30th 2022, but remains an employed Consultant and specialises in Commercial Property and Business and Commercial work.

Family Law

Emma Bilsborrow

Emma Bilsborrow

Partner / Head of Department / Legal Executive

Qualified 2014

Emma Bilsborrow heads up our Family team and specialises in privately funded family law cases. She has a working knowledge of trust law, which helps her when dealing with those complex cases where substantial assets are held in trust by one or the other party involved in divorce proceedings. Emma deals with all disputes surrounding divorce and financial matters, including high net worth divorce cases, and advises on how best to deal with pensions with regards to making equal capital or income, and aims to deal with these cases amicably. Emma also specialises in privately funded Children Act proceedings such as applications for Child Arrangements Orders, Prohibited Steps Orders and Specific Issue Orders and helps and assists families at what is a particularly tough time. Additionally, Emma is experienced in preparing Cohabitation and Separation Agreements and both Pre and Post Nuptial Agreements.

Emma is a member of Resolution and is committed to approaching cases in a sensitive and non-confrontational manner in order to avoid animosity between married and separated couples; however, she similarly assists our client’s in exploring all possible ways of resolving disputes, to include litigation where needed.

Tanya See

Tanya See

Solicitor

Qualified 2022

Tanya joined the firm in September 2023, working within the Family department and is able to assist with all aspects of divorce, financial and children matters. Tanya is able to meet clients in any of our offices at their convenience. Alternatively, if preferred Tanya can also meet clients via Zoom meetings or Teams meetings.

Litigation

Jennifer Carpenter

Jennifer Carpenter

Managing Partner / Head of Department / Solicitor

Qualified 2000

Jennifer Carpenter is Head of the Dispute Resolution/Litigation department. She specialises in Employment, property dispute litigation and contentious probate. She has over 20 years experience of representing clients and assisting them in resolving a range disputes. She represents client at mediation, courts and tribunals. Jennifer prides herself on applying the law in a practical and pragmatic way to reach resolution as swiftly as practicable for clients; and where ever possible avoid the need for court proceedings. She considers herself as approachable and takes the time to explain the process and the legal position for clients.

Anton Bilinski

Anton Bilinski

Legal Executive

Qualified 2010

Anton Bilinski is a Chartered Legal Executive working within the Litigation Department having qualified in 2010.
Anton’s area of expertise is in Personal Injury Law having acted for a number of clients with their claims following Accidents at Work, in a Public Place and Road Traffic Accidents with a high success rate. Achieving above average payments for his clients. He is member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).
Anton can also advise on matters across a broad range of civil litigation including advising Landlords in connection with possession claims and recovery of rental arrears as well as disputed debts for individuals and companies.
Anton joined the firm in 2001 and has built up a longstanding relationship with local clients and businesses throughout this time.

Trainee Solicitors

Luke Gardiner

Luke Gardiner

Trainee Solicitor

Luke Gardiner joined the firm in November 2022. Having completed both his law degree and Legal Practice Course,

Luke also holds the LLM qualification. Luke is currently in his first year of his training contract and is completing training seats in both residential and commercial property, litigation and employment law.

Administration

Louise Taghi

Louise Taghi

Practice Manager

Louise Taghi joined the firm in November 2021. Louise has many years’ experience in the legal profession and the experience ranges from Solicitors to Barristers’ Chambers from single office High Street firms to the 12th largest law firm in the world.

She brings a depth of experience to the Practice and is an Associate Member of the Institute of Legal Finance & Management (ILFM).

Louise is responsible for day to day management of the firm and works closely with the Partners.

Alison Helbert

Alison Helbert

Accounts Manager

Alison Helbert joined Adams Harrison in July 1981 and has progressed to the Partnership’s Accounts Manager.

She is therefore responsible for a wide range of the organisation’s financial matters. This includes working with accountants and auditors to ensure the accuracy and validity of company accounts; ensuring financial compliance with legal, regulatory and policy requirements; management of income and expenditure; financial reporting; contributing to the development of budgets and forecasts; managing organisational cash flows.

She is supported by an accounts assistant and works closely with the firm’s Partners.

Rebecca Monk

Rebecca Monk

Accounts and IT Assistant

Rebecca Monk joined the firm in December 2009 as a Trainee Accounts Assistant/Office junior, and has progressed to her current role of Accounts and IT Assistant.

She supports the Accounts Manager in the efficient running of the Accounts Department.

In her role as IT Assistant Rebecca resolves problems and facilitates upgrades, liaising with providers when necessary. She maintains the case management system, and aims to make the system more efficient for users.

She provides training to staff on both Accounts and IT.