Boyes Turner announces new partner promotions for 2025

We are proud to announce four partner promotions as we continue to build on our ambitious growth plans as a leading full-service Thames Valley law firm. The promotions have taken place across our  commercial and private client practices.

Sophie Payne has been promoted to Partner in our Corporate team, after joining as a trainee solicitor in 2011. Having built a reputation in largescale M&A transactions, Sophie has recently developed the firm’s technical investment and re-organisation specialism, expanding the team’s capacity to take on multiple deals, as it continues to grow its reputation in the South-East’s mid-market deal space.

Rachael Allison has been promoted to Partner after joining our Special Educational Needs (SEN) team in 2018. Rachael has been closely involved in developing services to make them accessible to a wider market. The team have been helping children and young adults with learning disabilities get the support they need for over ten years now and Rachael’s strong links with many schools in the South-East and London together with charities, has been key to the team’s growth.

Sue Clark becomes a Partner in our nationally recognised Court of Protection (COP) team, as we continue to act as professional deputies for vulnerable people to support with decisions on money, property, health and welfare. Sue is also a Director of the Boyes Turner Trust Corporation Limited and has played a key role in recruiting, managing and supporting the ever-growing COP team, currently line-managing ten members of the team.

Also making Partner in these latest promotions is James Pantling-Skeet, who joined our Firm in March 2022. Since joining, he has built a niche Community Care and Welfare practice from scratch. His specialist team provides advice on how to access education, health and social care support, whilst also challenging decisions made by public bodies in this area. James also supports the firm’s COP and SEN teams and has also expanded the scope of services provided to our growing number of family, clinical negligence and personal injury clients.

In addition, Lauren Ainsley has been promoted to Senior Associate. Lauren specialises in residential development including site acquisitions and disposals, development finance and land promotion. She acts for a variety of developers and private landowners, as well as having experience of acting for lenders providing development finance. Lauren has been key to expanding the team’s existing and new property and construction client base and is actively involved in mentoring junior colleagues across the firm.

Barry Stanton, Managing Partner said: “Nurturing and developing home-grown talent is a strength that Boyes Turner is proud of. We are deeply invested in the success of our people, and this latest series of promotions shows how critical fostering and supporting career paths is to our culture and future as a firm. Each one of our new partners will play a critical role in Boyes Turner’s ambitious growth plans and I’m looking forward to working closely with them.”

The latest promotions follow a series of strategic senior hires for our firm, in 2025, which include the appointment of Duncan Kay to Partner in our Corporate team, Emily Neale as Partner and Head of Residential Property and Matt Briggs as Partner within the Private Wealth team.