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Rachael Kitchman has been promoted to Associate with effect from 1 April. 
Rachael, who has a degree in Law from Hull University, joined the firm in 2006 and qualified as a Solicitor in October 2008, specialising in Employment Law and Civil Litigation.
As an Associate, Rachael will be taking a greater role in practice development activities.
Following Martin Wilson’s retirement as a Partner, Adam Waller has taken over as Head of Residential Conveyancing from 1 April.
The Partners are pleased to announce that Richard Palmer will become Senior Partner of Graham & Rosen with effect from 1 April.
Born in Lincolnshire, Richard went to school in Stamford before studying Law at Cambridge University.
After training at Mills and Reeve in Norwich, Richard was admitted as a Solicitor in 1979 and he joined Graham & Rosen shortly afterwards, specialising in commercial, property and agricultural law. Richard has always taken a keen interest in IT, being the person responsible for introducing the first computer at Graham & Rosen.
A founder member and enthusiastic supporter of TEN (a grouping of European lawyers) Richard served as the organisation’s Secretary from its foundation in 1991 until 2011. Richard is also a past President of the Hull Incorporated Law Society and is currently the Society’s Treasurer.
Richard is a keen and successful golfer, having been awarded a golf Blue whilst at Cambridge. He has for many years organised the Hull Incorporated Law Society’s golf section.
Richard’s role as Senior Partner will involve representing the firm at marketing and other public events as well as acting as Complaints Partner. He will continue as Head of Commercial.
Martin Wilson is retiring as a Partner in Graham & Rosen and st
epping down as Senior Partner with effect from 1 April.
Martin first became involved with the legal profession in 1967 when he started work with Payne & Payne as a trainee Legal Executive. In 1972 he joined Stamp Jackson & Procter where he stayed for 11 years within which time he qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives and completed his Solicitor’s Articles, now known as a Training Contract. He qualified as a Solicitor in 1983 and then joined Peter Barker in a firm that became known as Barker Wilson. In 1988 he and Neil Oakes established their own firm, Wilson Oakes, from which Neil Oakes retired in October 2001. In 2002 Wilson Oakes amalgamated with Graham & Rosen and Martin joined us as a partner, specialising in commercial and property law. Martin’s staff including Glenis, Shelley, Kath and Vicki Moulds joined us at the same time.
Martin became Senior Partner in 2010 and has concentrated on marketing initiatives for Graham & Rosen. This has included a series of Friday lunches, where clients and professional contacts are invited into the office for lunch in the Boardroom, and the successful hosting of the 2011 TEN meeting in Hull.
Martin is a former President of the Hull Incorporated Law Society and has served as Honorary Secretary to the Society for a number of years.
Martin will continue to work part time for Graham & Rosen as a Consultant solicitor, specialising in Property and Commercial law.
Adam Waller, Commercial Lawyer at Graham & Rosen comments on the Stamp Duty Land Tax reforms in the budget
Stamp Duty Land Tax – an unavoidable evil, or is it? If you’re like me then it probably is unavoidable and you’ll have to pay it.
Stamp Duty Land Tax avoidance schemes do exist, but generally only for the very wealthy. With the new rate of 7% for properties over £2Million people will be considering using them even more. But be careful, hidden in the budget was a warning: retrospective legislation will be used to close down SDLT avoidance schemes where necessary.
One easy alternative was to buy high value residential property in a company name – OK, so you paid the same rate initially but you could recoup most of that with a higher selling price in the future – selling the company on, with the buyer paying only 0.5% on the value of the shares.
Lots of high value residential property is owned by Companies, including offshore companies who pay little or no UK tax- currently this includes residential institutions, schools, halls of residence and the like as well as mansions and large houses. The government is clamping down hard.
In future companies will pay 15% SDLT on residential properties over £2Milion – a huge incentive to stop companies being used to avoid SDLT or put off foreign companies from buying here. Added to this the lib-dem “Mansion Tax” is being considered. This would be a yearly charge on the company owner (in addition to that 15% Stamp Duty land tax charge on purchase) with proposed rates starting at £15,000 per year.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel though – the government will change the legal definition of residential property to remove things such as schools and large institutional buildings so some may be safe. If you are a residential lettings company owning south-east countryside properties though could be Game Over for Stamp Duty Land Tax avoidance and you could be putting your hand deep into your pocket. If you’re thinking of buying such a company will it be worth it in the long run?