Our People

Robert Gibson

Senior Partner - Employment

Robert is a Senior Partner at Samuel Phillips and specialises in employment and business matters. He advises in relation to employment and shareholder disputes, including pensions and related issues. He deals with contracts and discrimination claims, as well as advising businesses on methods of avoiding disputes. He also provides training on employment and business-related matters. Having considerable experience in running a business, he understands how businesses operate. He is experienced in Shareholder Agreements, LLP and Company Disputes and business transfers., whether as going concerns or insolvencies.

He works within the Health and Education Sector. He has represented Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Police in employment-related matters for a number of years. He has conducted a number of high profile discrimination claims.

Robert grew up in the North East, attending Durham Choristers School, and the Newcastle Royal Grammar School. He graduated from Newcastle University with a 2:1 in law in 1981 and was admitted as a solicitor in 1984. He is a Deputy District Judge and a Past President of Newcastle Law Society. He is also an ACAS approved arbitrator. He is also a keen rugby supporter having been involved in the sport for many years.

Qualifications and Memberships
LLB hons[2.1] Newcastle University
Past President Newcastle Law Society
Deputy District Judge
Employment Lawyers Association

Jennifer Goldstein

Senior Partner - Family Law

Jenny is a Senior Partner and one of the leading Family Lawyers in the North East, with over 30 years post qualification specialist experience across all areas of Family Law.

The first 13 years of Jenny’s career was spent in Northumberland, where she established her reputation for complex work including Farming Divorces and High Court family work. For the last 20 years, Jenny has worked in the City Centre at Samuel Phillips Law, where she is a joint owner of the firm.

Due to her high level of specialisation, Jenny has obtained full accreditations from the Chartered Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and as a Family Mediator through the Family Mediation Association. Jenny is the only Solicitor in this area qualified in both areas.

The majority of her workload is dealing with casework which is progressed through the Court system, with most cases ending with a negotiated settlement.

Jenny aims to provide clients from first engagement with reassurance. Her knowledge and experience are evident from the first meeting.

• The client is given a legal overview of their situation;
• Parameters around possible settlement outcomes;
• A realistic understanding of costs and timescales;
• The various possible routes available to resolve issues;

Jenny can offer in addition to her daily work, Mediation at Samuel Phillips Law, giving the parties an opportunity to sort out the issues, by agreement, instead of going down the Court process.  Clients who instruct her for Mediation do so jointly and sign up for a series of meetings whereby Jenny facilitates Clients reaching their own agreement.

In addition, Jenny was the first Solicitor in the North East to be accredited and licensed to hold private hearings as a Family Law Arbitrator.  This means that clients can jointly appoint her to hear their financial case and provide them with an Award which automatically will be adopted as a final judgment by the Court.   This is particularly useful for people who are waiting in the Court system or need an urgent decision to conclude their case.

Arbitration is regulated through the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

In addition, Jenny has been Accredited to the Law Society’s Children Law Scheme for over 25 years and as a result has significant experience representing Guardians, children and family members in care proceedings.

These cases require a high level of understanding, expertise and a commitment to providing direct advocacy herself.

Jenny will say that she has enjoyed a multi-disciplinary career within Family Law. She enjoys the pleasure now of significant knowledge and experience built up over several decades so her clients have the very best of her at this stage of her career.

Jenny also attributes her success to a fantastic Family Law Team who works alongside her, both in terms of administrative and legal support.

Jenny said “Our clients are faced with a brand new situation, the foundation of their lives and understanding of the future has been wiped away from them, the legal and financial implications look pretty awful at this stage.

By the time she has had her first meeting, which she refers to as a “birds-eye meeting”, they leave the office feeling that they have much more information; they can see a future.

Jenny works out where we need to go and how we are going to get there within a range of possibilities.  She is very clear with clients about the costs.  She receives fantastic feedback.

Jenny’s outside interests over the years and presently, includes being a Trustee and then Chair of Northumberland Women’s Aid (6 years) Trustee of Relate Newcastle upon Tyne (3 years), and, presently North East Chair of a Fostering Panel for a national organisation.

Qualifications
BA (Hons) 2.1
Post-graduate: Common Professional Examination and Law Society final examination
Mediation – all issues
Advance certificate in Family Arbitration
Law Society Children Law Scheme
Resolution – Complex Financial Remedies and Children Law

Membership
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Family Mediation Association
Resolution
Law Society

Sharon Boyd

CEO

Sharon joined the firm in 2017 having enjoyed a successful career in the Business Support, Engineering and Education sectors.

Prior to joining Samuel Phillips Law, Sharon had supported the firm in 2009 as part of her regional role as a Specialist Business Advisor for the Law and Professional Services sectors.  From 2008 until 2011, she worked with most of the high profile law firms in the North East, to support them with business strategy, turnaround and workforce development following the financial crash.  She built a great relationship with the firm and was delighted when the opportunity to join the firm arose.

Her background also includes the project management of a number of Government and EU funds for North East SME’s and OMB’s to support international trade, workforce development and research and development, as well as her work as an adviser to a large utility company and regional airport.  She is very customer-focused, people orientated and commercially astute and this in turn brings a balance to the firm.

Latterly, just before joining the firm, Sharon held a position as an Innovation Specialist working on a number of very exciting, disruptive and high profile projects with businesses across the North East.  These skills are integral to the transformation of our firm as digital services start to encroach into the law sector.

Sharon oversees the running of the business and is responsible for building key relationships and collaborative partnerships.  If you would welcome the opportunity to discuss business to business opportunities, please do not hesitate to contact her.

Laura Wilson

Practice Support Coordinator

Laura began working in law firms in 2004. Laura chose to join Samuel Phillips Law in 2011 to follow her ambition to work for a well-established city centre law firm where the work would be fast-paced and varied.

Laura is our Practice Support Coordinator and is responsible for a wide range of functions within the firm including HR, IT support and the overall management of the practice, she also assists and/or organises events for the firm. Laura has played a key role in a number of strategic projects for the firm such as the move to our Grey Street offices and the implementation of an IT upgrade and associated case management system.

Laura works closely with our CEO, Sharon Boyd and is integral to ensuring that the firm runs in a smooth and effective manner.  Laura also has extensive secretarial experience and before becoming our Practice Support Coordinator, she was the PA to one of our Partners, Sally Lomas Fletcher, in the Employment Department.

Jane Fiddes

Partner - Residential Property

Jane is a Partner and head of our Residential Conveyancing Department.

She studied at the University of Northumbria and undertook her training contract with us. Jane qualified as a Solicitor in 2002 and is accredited under the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme.

Jane has a wealth of experience in dealing with all aspects of Residential Property. She has great working relationships with local estate agents, developers and mortgage advisors. She also has excellent knowledge of the local area and provides a personalised and quality service to her clients.

Interests
Outside of work Jane enjoys keeping fit and loves to go running.

Sarah Ward

Partner – Family Law

Sarah is a highly experienced divorce and family law specialist. She joined Samuel Phillips Law as Senior Associate in September 2019.

Prior to joining Samuel Phillips Law, Sarah was a Director at one of the UK’s leading family law firms, who specialise in complex, high net worth and international cases and have been involved in some of the highest profile cases of recent years.

Sarah advises on all legal issues resulting from the breakdown of a relationship and also advises on pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and cohabitation agreements. She has significant experience in dealing with complex and high-value financial disputes, often involving trusts, off shore assets, pre-acquired assets, inherited wealth and hidden assets.

Sarah also advises on private children law matters. This includes residence and contact disputes, relocation, parental alienation and financial claims on behalf of unmarried parents.

Her clients range from diverse backgrounds, including stay at home parents, business owners, financiers, legal and medical professionals, sports professionals and media personalities. With a reputation for being a tough negotiator where required, Sarah is committed to achieving the best outcome for all of her clients.

Having been divorced and with a young family herself, Sarah understands the difficulties faced by clients during a relationship breakdown. She quickly builds a rapport with clients, offering robust legal and practical advice in a cost-effective, constructive and compassionate way. She is highly praised by her clients and the majority of her work is through recommendations from her former clients.

Education and Training

After reading Business and Economics, Sarah completed the GDL and LPC (with Distinction) at Northumbria University. She undertook her training contact with a Legal 100 firm based in Mayfair, London. Sarah qualified as a solicitor in 2004.

Phil Dean

Consultant and Head of Commercial Property

Based in the North East, Phil has a diverse range of experience within all aspects of commercial property including residential developments for some of the UK’s biggest builders, working with NHS Trusts on new schemes and advising landowners on making the most out of their sites. He worked on the Bannatyne’s Groups purchase of Living Well, he advised Nottinghamshire Council on their Academy conversions and he’s advised national retailers Burtons, The Works Stores and Ponden Mill on their portfolios.

Having run his own business, Phil understands what businesses need in their day to day dealing with Lawyers and is happy to help them understand the problems and pitfalls which can occur on Property transactions.

Phil is a regular speaker for the regional surveyors on matters relating to telecoms masts and the new Communications Code and has substantial experience of dealing with wind farms. Phil prides himself on being easy to approach and good at explaining legal complexities in an open and frank manner.

He is renowned for his work with high profile businesses and he and his former team were nominated at the Insider Property Awards 2019.

Tim Mellors

Consultant - Family Law

Tim has over 30 years specialised experience of all aspects of Family Law.

Tim was previously Head of Family, Partner and business owner of Barber Titleys in Harrogate and joined our Family Law team here at Samuel Phillips Law in March 2019 as a Consultant.

Tim has dealt with all aspects of family law work including divorce and the financial aspects, child-related matters, nuptial agreements, cohabitee disputes, injunctions and inheritance act claim and two of his substantial asset cases were reported in the National press.

Edward Pybus

Consultant

Edward was admitted as a solicitor in 1973 and is exceptionally well regarded in the North East for his extensive experience and knowledge across a wide range of areas.

He is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (‘STEP’).

Edward’s principal areas of practice are property, where he is largely concerned with land assembly projects, options and other forms of development agreement and mineral rights; and Wills, Probate and Trusts, including Lasting Powers of Attorney, Court of Protection applications and tax and succession planning.

As a Consultant, Edward now acts exclusively for his longstanding clients and their families, whilst offering the benefit of his extensive technical knowledge to colleagues across the firm.

Sarah Bowes

Associate Solicitor - Wills Probate & Trusts

Sarah is an Associate Solicitor with over 10 years experience advising families about Wills, Trusts, Estate Administration, Lasting Powers of Attorney and issues concerning mental capacity and care.

As well as being an experienced solicitor, Sarah is also a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioner (STEP) and holder of a STEP Diploma in Trusts and Estates.  STEP is the leading worldwide professional body for practitioners in the field of trusts and estates. Full members of STEP are the most experienced and senior practitioners in their field.

Sarah acts for a wide range of clients, taking the time to get to know them so that her advice is tailored specifically to their unique situation and needs. As addressing the legal issues are often only one part of the bigger picture, Sarah routinely collaborates with professionals in other disciplines, such as accountants and financial advisors to ensure that her clients receive a holistic service and are able to lay the best possible foundations, legally and financially, for themselves and their families in the years to come.

Owing to her experience and technical expertise, Sarah is instructed in relation to many of the more complicated and technical matters dealt with by our team, including estates with business and/or agricultural assets. This also makes Sarah exceptionally well placed to provide succession planning advice to those wanting to minimise their Inheritance Tax liability and plan for the passing of their business and other assets to the next generation.

Outside of work, Sarah is involved with the Northumberland business and tourism community and assists in the running of her family’s guesthouse in Alnwick. She can often be found on a weekend serving breakfasts to guests, before heading out to enjoy the Northumberland coast and countryside!

William Jarvis-Smith

Solicitor - Commercial Property

Will is an excellent commercial property lawyer with a wealth of experience and expertise in this sector, having previously worked for a number of large national firms in Manchester and qualifying at a well respected firm in Northumberland.

Will has experience in all aspects of commercial property, with a particular expertise in landlord and tenant matters. Will currently provides bespoke commercial advice to a range of client’s including high net value individuals, small to medium sized companies, partnerships, charities and lenders.

In all matters, Will has developed a strong reputation for providing sound no-nonsense legal advice in an approachable manner. This ensures that transactions are regularly completed in a timely manner, without hassle or additional costs.

Qualifications
History and Politics BA (Hons); Post-Graduate Diploma in Law (PgDip); Legal Practice Course (LPC); Masters in Legal Practice (LLM).

Membership
Member of the Commercial Real Estate Legal Association. Member of the Agricultural Law Association.

Roisin O’Donnell

Solicitor - Wills Probate & Trusts

Roisin is a Solicitor in our Wills, Probate & Trusts Department. She obtained her Law degree at Newcastle University and was admitted as a Solicitor in September 2018. Roisin has developed an expertise preparing straightforward and bespoke Wills, the administration of Estates and the preparation and registration of Powers of Attorney.

Roisin also has experience in applying to the Court of Protection to obtain Deputyship Orders for property and financial affairs as well as assisting professional Attorneys with the management of Attorney appointments, primarily supporting individuals with their financial management. She is very approachable and provides her clients with an excellent and efficient service. Her work is supervised by an Associate or Partner within the Wills, Probate & Trusts Department.

Roisin is also a Founder of a networking group called Fresh Connection North which focuses on building relationships between professionals at similar stages of the their careers across a variety of sectors.

Before studying law, Roisin travelled the world as a principal and backline dancer in Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance. She is a qualified Irish dancing teacher and teaches children from beginner to World Championship level in her spare time.

Thomas Cumming

Solicitor – Commercial and Litigation

Thomas is a solicitor in the Commercial and Litigation department advising a range of clients on a regional and national basis. Prior to commencing his role at Samuel Phillips Law, Thomas trained in a regional firm in Northumberland and qualified in Spring 2019.

Litigation:

Thomas has a keen interest in property disputes; an area which he has a natural propensity to, having spent a proportion of his training in real estate. Aside from undertaking proceedings to evict tenants on behalf of landlords Thomas has experience in:

• Boundary disputes;
• Nuisance claims; and
• Easement disputes.

Thomas has also supported existing clients in a range of civil and commercial disputes and welcomes instructions in this area including for:

• Breach of contract claims;
• Shareholder disputes; and
• Debt recovery proceedings.

Commercial:

Thomas works closely with the firm’s Senior Partner, Robert Gibson, in respect of commercial instructions and is able to accept instructions in respect of:

• Drafting bespoke Articles of Association;
• Shareholders’ Agreements; and
• Partnership Agreements.

Qualifications

LLB (Hons) (Teesside); Legal Practice Course (Northumbria).

Martha Craven

Solicitor – Employment

Martha is a solicitor in the Employment department. Martha undertakes non-contentious work on behalf of companies and individuals including advising on settlement agreements and employment contracts as well as day-to-day HR queries regarding absence management, disciplinaries and grievances. Martha also undertakes contentious work and acts for both claimants and respondents in employment tribunal proceedings.

Martha has advised a range of clients including individual employees, SMEs and listed companies across various sectors including education, technology and retail. Martha has a keen interest in the technology sector, and, in particular, the effects that developing technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning will have upon the world of work.

A recent client testimonial praised Martha’s “dedication, commitment and professionalism”, and Martha believes that the key to every matter is to get straight forward, pragmatic advice from the start.

Education and Training
Martha completed the MLaw (LPC Exempting) course at Northumbria University and graduated with First Class honours in 2016.

Prior to joining Samuel Phillips, Martha worked as a paralegal in the employment department of a global construction and support services company, before undertaking her training contract at a commercial law firm with offices in Reading and London.

During her training contract, Martha assisted with a range of projects, including a large-scale TUPE exercise involving approximately 800 employees on behalf of a FTSE listed company. Martha also assisted with a range of employee engagement projects including trade union resilience planning and advising on employee forums. Martha qualified in Spring 2019.

Following her training contract, Martha returned to the North East and worked for a commercial firm in Newcastle, specialising in employment matters.

Martha conducted work on behalf of both claimants and respondents, including employment tribunal claims involving equal pay, unfair dismissal and discrimination.

Martha also provided support and advice to both employees and employers regarding disciplinary and grievance processes, redundancy exercises and the coronavirus job retention scheme (furlough scheme).

Hobbies and Interests
Outside of work, Martha is a self-confessed “foodie” and thoroughly enjoys trying out new restaurants in the region. Martha also enjoys hosting movie marathons with friends and has a particular penchant for horror movies.

Lucy Velasco

Solicitor - Residential Property

Lucy graduated from Northumbria University in July 2016 with a First Class Honours Master of Law degree. Lucy joined Samuel Phillips Law in June 2017 as a paralegal and is now a trainee solicitor. Lucy has experience dealing with purchases including new builds, part exchanges, sales and re-mortgages.

Lucy lived in Spain for three years when she was younger and as such speaks fluent Spanish. Outside of work Lucy enjoys eating out and spending time with family.

Felicity Nelson

Solicitor - Wills Probate & Trusts

Felicity graduated from Northumbria University with a First Class Masters Degree in Law in 2017 and was admitted as a Solicitor in January 2020. Felicity completed her training contract at a local firm where she gained experience in Private Client and Residential Conveyancing. Felicity joined Samuel Phillips in 2020 to specialise in Wills, Probate and Trusts. Having a background in Conveyancing, Felicity is keen to continue to educate home buyers on the importance of making Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney and works closely with the Residential Property team in order to assist clients with these matters alongside their property transaction.

Felicity also has experience in administering estates and assisting elderly clients with their private client matters.

Outside of work, Felicity enjoys spending time with family and friends and can often be found sipping prosecco on a weekend. Felicity is also a keen dancer, having achieved grade 6 ballet alongside other disciplines. Felicity also competed in dance at University and remains close to her team mates to date.

Liam Murray

Trainee Solicitor

Liam graduated from Northumbria University in 2017 with a Masters degree in Law.

After graduating, Liam worked in a regulatory compliance department for a multinational banking group. However, in order to pursue his interest in Property Law, Liam joined Samuel Phillips Law in 2018 working in our Residential Property department as a Paralegal. Liam now deals with purchases, sales and part exchanges of properties.

Outside of work, Liam has a keen interest in fitness and is an accomplished skier and climber.

Joan Oliver

Paralegal - Commercial Property

Joan has been working within the legal profession for many years and has vast experience in all things property related.  She supports Phil Dean and William Jarvis-Smith in the Commercial Property Department.  Her expertise includes Stamp Duty Land Tax, Commercial Property transactions and Residential Conveyancing.

Joe Bradbury

Paralegal - Residential Property

Joe is a Residential Property Paralegal with several years of experience. Having worked for firms large and small in the North East and North West of the UK, he has gained a wealth of knowledge of clients’ needs and the legal process.

Joe has a particular focus on client care and he feels that a “down to earth approach” is greatly appreciated with clients who can be completely new to conveyancing and understands the pressure and stress that can be involved with buying and selling property. Because of this Joe has had many greatly appreciative clients who have been happy to return or recommend.

When he is not in the office Joe enjoys watching movies, playing video games and has an early interest in Blacksmithing as a hobby which he hopes to pursue further soon. He has also always had an interest in computers and technology.

Catherine Browne

Legal Secretary - Wills, Probate & Trusts

Dana Bland

Administration Assistant

Kelly Bloomfield

Receptionist

Alex Buck

Legal Secretary - Litigation and Commercial Property

Anne Johnson

PA to Edward Pybus - Wills, Probate & Trusts

Erin May

PA to Jennifer Goldstein - Family Law

Hannah Ralphs

Legal Secretary - Family Law

Alison Whitfield

PA to Robert Gibson – Employment