About Us
Our Values
We believe in giving the best personal service you can find. We are property people and will treat you like people, not numbers. We strive to establish a good working partnership with our clients in which we can both introduce ideas for discussion. In short, whilst we work for you we believe it is important to work with you. This is why we have been able to establish long–standing working relationships with our clients for our mutual benefit.
Our History
Roy Palmer founded the firm in 1975 with his daughter Jill Palmer. Since then the firm has grown steadily with emphasis on our core values, quickly developing a reputation for giving strong pragmatic advice in the property field, not just in Bedford and Cranfield but further afield where our clients nationwide property interests lie.
Sara Palmer joined the firm in 1993 adding strength to our leasehold property and retail business. Jill Palmer became the senior Partner in 1990.
In 2001 our agricultural practice was strengthened when Harry Fowler joined from another Bedford Practice, and our latest solicitor Rachel Nicol joined the firm in 2010 bringing a new dimension in property litigation expertise having been involved in litigation on behalf of Palmers for several years. Rachel also qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst and Young.
We are all centralised in our offices in Hassett Street, Bedford which mix modern facilities with traditional personal service. We have facilities for the disabled and use modern technology alongside more traditional communication methods to suit the wishes of our clients to communicate in different ways.
Our People
We use our collective enthusiasm and experience as a sounding board if there are any particular features of your matter that might be unusual. This sharing experience means we can offer a high degree of specialism and is part of our ongoing commitment to train and equip our members of staff to the highest degree possible.
See below for brief details of our principal people.
Jill Palmer
Jill became a solicitor in 1984 after training with another local Firm and her father Roy. She joined the firm shortly after – being the youngest female Solicitor in a mixed practice Partnership.
Jill has specialised in residential property since she qualified. Her wealth of experience guarantees her Clients a close attention to detail, along with a superb working knowledge of all areas of property law. Jill has acted on a broad range of transactions, including Transfers of Equity, Remortgage, Freehold and Leasehold purchases, Assents and Land transfers, Right of Way and Boundary queries. Jill has a particular interest in equestrian property.
Jill is married and has two children. In her spare time she competes her show ponies at national level, last year being supreme at the Royal International Show and qualifying for and competing at the Horse of the Year Show.
Sara Palmer
Sara joined the firm in 1993 as an articled clerk to her sister Jill and qualified as a Solicitor in 1995. Since then she has acted for a broad range of clients in all areas of general commercial property transactions, acquisitions and disposals of office industrial and retail properties and acing for both landlords and tenants in negotiating leases. She also has experience in other ancillary issues such as licences to underlet, alter and assign. She has particular expertise and experience in acting for retail tenants working closely with their shopfitting and project management teams. She also acts for a number of landlords with portfolios and investment properties which include management issues. She has experience in handling complex and demanding property development projects advising both developers and landlord owners acquiring or disposing of sites for residential or commercial development including option agreements, contracts conditional upon planning or related matters and uplift/overage/clawback agreements.
Sara is married to a lawyer and has three children. In her spare time she has a passion for running and has completed four London Marathons raising thousands of pounds for national and local charities.
Sara also loves to cook for friends, experimenting with new recipes and especially creating artistic dessert plates
Roy Palmer
Roy has a wealth of experience in all types of land development and commercial property transactions. As the founder member of the firm he has always taken great pride in providing a service to each client which is second to none. Combining a practical common sense approach to resolving issues, many years experience in his speciality and fine attention to detail with his speciality personal service and a good dose of humour he is a hard act to follow. Roy also has considerable and numerous years experience in other private client matters such as Tax, Trusts, Wills and Probate.
In recent years Roy has rekindled his passion for art and spends many evenings painting in his studio at home. His preference is working with acrylics and is particularly good at landscapes. He has spent several holidays with his wife on painting expeditions. Much of his artwork is on display in the gallery at our offices for all to view and enjoy!
Roy is the Chairman of a public company and a past President of the Bedfordshire Law Society.
Harry Fowler
Harry became a Solicitor in 1984 and joined the firm in 2001. Before then he was a Partner in one of the oldest practices in Bedford.
Harry has experience of all types of Property work but is particularly interested in Land and Farming, and is the head of our Agricultural Department. He deals with Estate Planning and Will drafting, particularly for Farming and Agricultural clients.
He is a member of the Agricultural Law Association, the Country Land & Business Association, the Bedfordshire Law Society, and a member and past President of the Bedford Surveyors 1921 Club,
In addition to his legal work Harry is the Chairman of a Private Medical Insurance Company.
Outside work he is an active member of the Rotary Club of Bedford, being a past President of that club and is about to learn to drive tractors as an added service to Farming Clients so that he can hold meetings with our Farming Clients in their offices
Rachel Nicol
Rachel joined the firm in May 2010 having previously been a Partner dealing with Dispute Resolution in another local firm. Rachel carried out Litigation work on behalf of Palmers' clients before the firm brought its Litigation function in house in 2007 and we've known her for some years
More recently Rachel was engaged by a local authority to advise on Dispute Resolution matters, specialising in Property Litigation.
Rachel will advise on all manner of disputes arising from Property ownership and landlord and tenant relationships as well as Employment Law and is happy to advise on issues facing business and commercial clients as well as individuals.
As well as the inevitable court experience of a Litigator, Rachel is an Advocate of alternative methods of dispute resolution including formal mediation where costs can be saved.
Outside the office Rachel enjoys family time and dinghy sailing and has been known to play the violin and piano if time permits.
Janet Ribbans
Janet is a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives specialising in will drafting, probate and powers of attorney. Janet is the recipient of a number of prizes from the Institute of Legal Executives.
Janet is renowned for her caring and sympathetic approach to clients in what can often be very difficult and emotional circumstances.
Malcolm Day
Malcolm is a conveyancing executive in our residential property department.
Malcolm has a wealth of experience in conveyancing having previously worked for a national house builder.
Malcolm offers a thorough and conscientious approach to what is often the major transaction in a client's life.
Bill Fudge
Bill is one of our Consultants dealing with disputes and in particular employment law problems. A solicitor and former part–time Judge he brings a very sage approach to any case. Outside the office he is a very accomplished pianist and organist.