New lawyer in Commercial Property Team - Jan 07 

Cheltenham law firm Rickerbys is delighted to announce the appointment of new assistant solicitor Frank Smith.

Frank joins Rickerbys’ successful Agricultural Property Team which is rated by Chambers and the Legal 500 in Commercial Property. Frank will be assisting partner Robin Beckley where he plans to build upon his previous commercial and residential property experience to enhance the team’s rural property business expertise.

Having spent five years at Wragge & Co, Frank is well-regarded in commercial property having worked on large developments such as the Castlepoint shopping centre, the redevelopment of Arsenal Football Club at Highbury and the development of New Century Park, Coventry. In addition Frank is experienced in site acquisition, planning and environmental matters and landlord and tenant work.

Robin Beckley, head of the firm’s Rural Business team, is delighted to see his team strengthened by Frank’s arrival. “Frank’s arrival demonstrates Rickerbys’ commitment to building and sustaining a significant presence in rural and agricultural property in Gloucestershire and the South West. With his rural background and sporting interests Frank has the crucial affinity with rural clients that is so important in this sector.”  Robin advises many rural landowners including trustees of large estates on varied property transactions.

About Frank

Frank’s professional career commenced at Wragge & Co in Birmingham.  He started his training contract in 2001 after having successfully completed his legal training at the College of Law in Guildford. Frank qualified into Wragge’s Real Estate Group in 2003 specialising initially in Commercial Property and then moving on to Residential Property Development.

Frank enjoys the diversity of work acting for both commercial and residential developers. In residential development Frank specialised in acquiring and developing both brown and green field sites for a number of the U.K.’s largest house builders.  Frank’s previous work included procuring definitive titles, upgrading long leasehold titles, defective title insurance and the release of restrictive covenants adverse to development.

Frank originally comes from Herefordshire and his family have farming and rural business interests. He is also a fluent Italian speaker and active member of the British/Italian Lawyer’s Association as well as the Italian Chamber of Commerce. Frank is a business mentor for the Prince’s Trust Charity and a keen member of the Countryside Alliance.