Will the partner I meet at the first appointment run my file, or will it be handed down to a paralegal?

The Pembroke Road office is deliberately structured around three named partners by practice area: Stuart Ruff for Family (direct dial 01732 496 460), Nick Gabay for Corporate and Commercial (01732 496 468), and Richard Ludlow for Restructuring and Insolvency (01732 496 493). The partner you meet at the opening conversation is the partner responsible for the file. Day-to-day work may be supported by a solicitor, a chartered legal executive or a paralegal from the same team, but the partner stays on the file and signs off every milestone. Wills, Tax and Administration and Residential Real Estate work at Sevenoaks is routed to the firm-wide heads of those teams, who also take the meeting at Pembroke Road.

Can Thackray Williams Sevenoaks handle a divorce that also involves a Kent business interest or a Sevenoaks-district listed-building home?

Yes. This is precisely the work the Pembroke Road office is built to do. Divorce and Family sit in the same office as Corporate and Commercial and as Restructuring and Insolvency, so a settlement involving a Sevenoaks-village home with listed-building consent paperwork and a settlement involving shares in an owner-managed Kent company (with valuation, pre-emption rights and minority-protection questions) can be handled jointly across the three partners without the file being referred out of the firm. Stuart Ruff leads the Family side, Nick Gabay the corporate side, and Richard Ludlow where any insolvency or director-liability question arises.

Why does Thackray Williams keep a Sevenoaks office when the firm also has Bromley, the City and West Wickham?

Sevenoaks is the firm's Kent door. Bromley is the registered office and the historic headquarters; the City of London office serves London-side commercial clients; West Wickham is the local high-street office for Bromley-and-Beckenham residential clients. Pembroke Road is for Sevenoaks-district matters specifically: Kent village residential conveyancing, Kent owner-managed business work, Kent family law, and the Sevenoaks-district estate work that flows from those. Same firm, same matter-management system, same fees, same standards, three named Sevenoaks partners on Pembroke Road who answer 01732 lines directly.

Do clients have to come in to Pembroke Road in person, or can the whole matter happen by video?

Pembroke Road is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, for in-person appointments and walk-in pickups, and Sevenoaks-office phone lines are answered 7am to 9pm Monday to Saturday. Every partner also takes video and telephone appointments as standard. Estate-administration clients living elsewhere in the UK, separated couples now living apart, and commercial clients across Kent and London routinely instruct without ever coming into the office. The first conversation is confidential and free of charge, in person or remote, whichever suits.

What does the 4.8 / 701 rating on ReviewSolicitors actually mean in practice?

ReviewSolicitors publishes a public, audited star rating for every solicitor's firm in the UK, built from individual client reviews submitted after a matter completes. The Sevenoaks page for Thackray Williams sits at 4.8 across 701 reviews. The Bromley page is at 4.9 across 761, West Wickham at 4.9 across 746, City of London at 4.8 across 689. The rating is not a footer logo and it is not curated by the firm; it is the firm's most-public independent commitment to service. Client praise patterns: prompt communication, named partner running the file, clarity on the cost from the engagement letter, residential completions on straightforward purchases inside a few weeks.

Thackray Williams Solicitors, Sevenoaks. 15 Pembroke Road, Kent.

The Kent door of Thackray Williams, on Pembroke Road since the firm came to Sevenoaks.

The Sevenoaks office at 15 Pembroke Road, two minutes north of Sevenoaks station, is the firm's pure-play Kent practice. Three named partners answer 01732 lines directly: Stuart Ruff on Family (01732 496 460), Nick Gabay on Corporate and Commercial (01732 496 468), and Richard Ludlow on Restructuring and Insolvency (01732 496 493). Wills, Tax and Administration and Residential Real Estate are routed to the firm-wide team heads, who take the meeting at Pembroke Road. The ReviewSolicitors page for the Sevenoaks office sits at 4.8 across 701 reviews; over 2,800 reviews across all four offices of the firm.

4.8 / 701 ReviewSolicitors, Sevenoaks page

Chambers UK 2026 and HNW 2025 ranked

Legal 500 Family: Kent, Surrey, Sussex

Lexcel Law Society Practice Management

Four practice areas on Pembroke Road. The named partner on each is the partner who runs your file.

A Kent practice deliberately structured around three Sevenoaks-based partners by area, with the firm's two further team heads taking the meeting at Pembroke Road for Wills, Tax and Residential Real Estate. The combination of Family with Corporate and with Restructuring and Insolvency in one Kent office is what lets the firm handle Sevenoaks-district matters where two of the three overlap, without referring the file elsewhere.

01 / Family

Divorce, financial settlement, children. Resolution-aligned where possible.

Stuart Ruff, Partner and Head of the Family Team

Divorce and civil partnership dissolution, and the financial settlement that follows, including pension sharing and matters involving Kent-village listed-building homes and owner-managed Kent businesses. Child arrangements, pre and post-nuptial agreements, and cohabitation agreements. ToLATA property-ownership disputes (married, unmarried and inherited interests). International family law where one party or one asset sits abroad. Stuart Ruff qualified in 2001 and leads the team; the direct dial to the Pembroke Road office is 01732 496 460.

Direct dial 01732 496 460

02 / Corporate & Commercial

Owner-managed business work: M&A, MBOs, share-for-share, joint ventures, share schemes.

Nick Gabay, Partner in Corporate & Commercial

Sale and purchase of owner-managed Kent businesses, management buy-outs, private-equity-backed transactions, corporate reorganisations (demergers, share buybacks, share-for-share exchanges), shareholders' and joint-venture agreements. Employee share incentive schemes including EMI options. Nick Gabay joined the firm in 2021 from another leading Kent practice and is known for a pragmatic, efficient approach. Direct dial 01732 496 468.

Direct dial 01732 496 468

03 / Restructuring & Insolvency

Director-liability defence, disqualification proceedings, personal insolvency, bankruptcy.

Richard Ludlow, Partner in Restructuring & Insolvency

Insolvency litigation for and against insolvency office-holders, defending directors against claims by liquidators and administrators, director-duty breach claims, director-disqualification proceedings. Personal insolvency, bankruptcy petitions and annulments, and trustee-assisted property sales. Richard Ludlow has appeared in the County Court, the High Court and in mediation. Direct dial 01732 496 493.

Direct dial 01732 496 493

04 / Wills, Tax & Estate Administration

Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, full estate administration, inheritance-tax planning.

Wills, LPAs and probate for the Sevenoaks district

Will drafting and reviews when life changes (marriage, children, second marriages, blended families, the sale of a business). Both Lasting Powers of Attorney drafted in the same appointment as the will and registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. Full estate administration after a death, including obtaining the Grant of Probate, dealing with HMRC on Inheritance Tax, and distributing to beneficiaries. Contentious probate and wills disputes handled separately by a dedicated team. The firm holds the Law Society's Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme accreditation.

Direct dial 01732 496 496

One firm, four offices, one Kent door. Thackray Williams in Sevenoaks since the practice came to Pembroke Road.

Thackray Williams LLP was incorporated at Companies House on 21 December 2007 (number OC333759), with the registered office at the long-standing Bromley practice on London Road. The firm grew from Bromley into a multi-office Kent and London practice through the 2010s, opening Sevenoaks at 15 Pembroke Road, the City of London office for Central London commercial clients, and West Wickham for Bromley-and-Beckenham residential work.

Pembroke Road is the firm's pure-play Kent practice. Three named partners answer 01732 direct dials there: Stuart Ruff (Partner and Head of the Family Team), Nick Gabay (Partner in Corporate and Commercial), and Richard Ludlow (Partner in Restructuring and Insolvency). The firm carries the Law Society's Lexcel, Conveyancing Quality Scheme and Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme accreditations, and is ranked in Chambers UK 2026, Chambers High Net Worth 2025, and Legal 500.

A clean 4.8 across 701 ReviewSolicitors entries on the Sevenoaks page, and over 2,800 more across the rest of the firm. Three named Sevenoaks partners on Pembroke Road, two minutes from the station. From the firm, /about-us/

Tell us briefly what you need. The enquiry goes to the right Pembroke Road partner.

One short form, routed by practice area to Stuart Ruff, Nick Gabay, Richard Ludlow, or to the firm-wide heads of Wills, Tax and Administration or Residential Real Estate, who take the meeting at Pembroke Road. We reply by close of the same working day Monday to Friday, or you can phone Pembroke Road on 01732 496 496 from 7am to 9pm Monday to Saturday. Initial conversations are confidential and free of charge.

Reply by close of the same working day, Monday to Friday.

Or speak to the Sevenoaks office directly on 01732 496 496.

Conflict-check, engagement letter and fee estimate before any work begins.

First conversation is free, in person at Pembroke Road or by video.

The Kent door of Thackray Williams, on Pembroke Road since the firm came to Sevenoaks.

Four practice areas on Pembroke Road. The named partner on each is the partner who runs your file.

Divorce, financial settlement, children. Resolution-aligned where possible.

Owner-managed business work: M&A, MBOs, share-for-share, joint ventures, share schemes.

Director-liability defence, disqualification proceedings, personal insolvency, bankruptcy.

Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, full estate administration, inheritance-tax planning.

One firm, four offices, one Kent door. Thackray Williams in Sevenoaks since the practice came to Pembroke Road.

One Pembroke Road door, three partners on file, four practice areas. Built for Kent district matters where two of those areas overlap.

Family + Corporate, in one office

Corporate + Insolvency, in one office

Family + Estates, in one office

ReviewSolicitors is the public, audited record. The Sevenoaks page sits at 4.8 across 701 reviews.

Three named partners on Pembroke Road, photographed and directly dialled.

Tell us briefly what you need. The enquiry goes to the right Pembroke Road partner.

Enquiry · Sevenoaks office

15 Pembroke Road, Sevenoaks

Bromley, City of London, West Wickham

Pembroke Road open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. Sevenoaks phone lines staffed 7am to 9pm Monday to Saturday.

Five questions worth answering before you instruct.