Helen Freely

Partner
h.freely@druces.com
Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7216 5521

Helen Freely is a Partner in the Private Client team. Her background encompasses a broad range of private client work incorporating Wills, probate  including UK and foreign domiciliary estates, trusts, court of protection work, lasting powers of attorney, tax planning and charity law. She particularly specialises in Contentious Probate work. Her practice currently is made up predominantly of the following sort of work: contentious trusts and probate, including acting as interim independent administrator; capacity issues, incorporating trusts for people with physical and learning disabilities and court of protection work; and  smaller and start up charities.

Helen is a member of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS);  Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), Solicitors for the Elderly, Mencap, The Thomas More Society, and the British German Jurists Association.

She speaks fluent German and is happy to take on cases with a German or Austrian element. Publications of note include articles written for the Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, LexisNexis, the Private Client Adviser and appearing on BBC Breakfast Television and BBC Radio Solent discussing a range of private client subjects. In her spare time, Helen enjoys the theatre, arranging charity fundraising events, tennis and scrabble.

Legal 500

In Legal 500 2020, Helen is commended as ‘an excellent solicitor‘ for her work on Charities and not-for-profit. She is ‘always available, efficient, knowledgeable and wise in her dealings‘. The charities team is ‘absolutely dedicated to its clients and will go to great lengths to service them‘, earning ‘enormous respect‘ among its clients. Helen heads the Contentious Trusts and Probate team skilled at advising on a broad range of matters.

In Legal 500, 2019 Helen is described as always being ‘really pleasant and willing to fully engage with her clients while at the same time showing a great degree of humanity’. This is regarding her work with charities and not-for-profit, work for which she is praised for being ‘excellent’. Helen is also recognised as being ‘very good tactically’ and ‘deals with difficult situations extremely well’ within contentious trust and probate, and personal tax, trusts and probate. Previous editions have referenced Helen’s ability to put ‘clients at ease and immediately reassure them’, she ‘is able to come up with commercial solutions which go a long way towards achieving her clients’ aims’.