Birketts has expanded its presence in Bristol with the appointment of two highly experienced family law specialists— partner Will MacFarlane and senior associate Sarah Dodds—marking the launch of its new family team in the city. The hires further strengthen the firm’s growing national family law practice.
With 17 years of post-qualification experience, Will MacFarlane advises high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients on both domestic and international family matters. His practice focuses on complex financial claims, cohabitation issues and nuptial agreements. He is ranked in the Chambers and Partners Ultra High Net Worth category and recommended in both the Spear’s Family Lawyer Index and The Legal 500.
Senior associate Sarah Dodds brings over a decade of experience advising on all aspects of relationship breakdown, with particular expertise in complex and high-conflict child arrangements. A trained collaborative solicitor, she is also recognised in the Spear’s Family Lawyer Index and has a strong interest in legal issues around modern families and family creation.
Commenting on the appointments, Katie Beaven, partner and head of the family team, said the firm was ‘thrilled to welcome Will and Sarah to launch our family team in Bristol’. She added that their ‘elite experience and commitment to growing their practice in the south west make them outstanding additions’. Will MacFarlane said he was ‘excited to return to the city where I trained nearly twenty years ago’, while Sarah Dodds said Birketts’ ‘collaborative culture really stood out’ and that she was ‘looking forward to working with the growing team in Bristol’.
