Nicola specialises in agricultural and rural work, acting for farmers, landowners and landed estates. She advises farmers and landowners on a full range of agricultural property matters including acquisitions, development and disposals of farms, woodland and bare agricultural land with single farm payment entitlements, farm business tenancies, agricultural holdings act advice, agricultural residential tenancy advice, business leases of diversified buildings and dealing with the grant of easements.
Recent/significant transactions include:
- The sale of 339 acres of woodland including substantial areas of newly established woodland subject to woodland grant schemes and a carbon sequestration agreement.
- The sale of different parcels of development land using option agreements, conditional contracts and overage provisions.
- Succession claims under the Agricultural Holdings Act.
- Reorganisation of family business, dealing with the property aspects and liaising with the corporate and private client departments in relation to the farming partnership and trusts matters respectively to offer a whole service to the client and complete all aspects of the reorganisation.
Nicola is a member of the Agricultural Law Association and established the local ALA: The Next Generation South Midlands Branch in 2009 as an avenue for local professionals in the agricultural industry to meet on a regular basis and network. Nicola runs this group with a committee comprising a rural surveyor, a banker and an accountant representative and each quarterly event is received well by a high number of local agricultural professionals in Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties.
Nicola represents the firm at stakeholder meetings of the Oxfordshire Fresh Start Academy, an industry supported academy designed to encourage young people in the area into agriculture.
Nicola is a keen supporter of charities that have links to the firm and sits on the local Oxfordshire County Committee of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution.
Nicola trained at Birkett Long in Colchester and qualified in 2006 into their rural business team. Nicola joined Henmans in 2008 and has been chosen as the firm's candidate for The Lawyer Assistant Solicitor of the Year award 2010.