Leading South coast law firm Lester Aldridge is pleased to announce the promotion of Laura Guntrip to partner, and the appointment of associate solicitor, Graham Mclean.

Laura began her career with Lester Aldridge in 2004 when she joined as a placement student. Following completion of her degree, Laura was invited to return to the firm, where she subsequently worked as a paralegal before completing her training contract with us. She then qualified into our specialist healthcare team led by Peter Grose in 2010. Since that time, Laura has played a pivotal role within the healthcare team, helping it grow from strength to strength. She has also developed a reputation as a respected specialist in the regulation of health and social care, representing many leading national organisations in the sector.

Laura advises providers of adult care homes, nursing homes, supported living facilities, independent hospitals, children’s homes and schools on a range of issues. Her work includes representing clients in defending action by regulatory bodies (such as the Care Quality Commission), safeguarding investigations, coroner’s inquests, police investigations and criminal prosecutions. She is also well known for her regulatory due diligence work, having undertaken regulatory due diligence on the majority of the sales and acquisitions of large national care providers in recent years.

Graham joins the disputed trusts, wills and probate team, led by new head of team Victoria Jones, from another Dorset based firm. As an associate member of the Association of Contentious Trust & Probate Specialists (ACTAPS), Graham specialises in disputed wills and estates and he also has extensive experience of other civil and commercial litigation. Graham is dual qualified, as both a (non-practising) attorney in South Africa and also as a solicitor in England and Wales.

Michael Giddins, managing partner at Lester Aldridge, comments: ‘I would like to welcome Graham to Lester Aldridge and to congratulate Laura on this very well deserved promotion.’

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