Penelope Reed KC
King's counsel / Mediators

Penelope Reed KC

Call to Bar:1983

Appointment to Silk:2009

Chambers and Partners UK Bar

"Her knowledge of trust law is second to none and she has a brilliant way with clients. She cuts through the detail and gets straight to the point before offering good, robust options as to strategy and potential solutions."

Penelope Reed KC has a broad traditional chancery practice focussed on trusts, wills, inheritance disputes, proprietary estoppel and equitable remedies.

She is a Civil Recorder and Deputy High Court judge.

Penelope is an accredited mediator, trained through ADR Chambers.

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Chambers and Partners Global 2024

“Penelope is regarded as a pre-eminent name in offshore litigation.” and “She's an ideal person to have on your team for a difficult trust problem.”

Chambers and Partners Global 2024

“Penny combines expertise at a very high level with excellent client service.”

Chambers and Partners Global 2022

"Extremely accomplished and someone whose advocacy is very commanding. Authoritative, when she addresses the court, she's polite but firm with the judge and totally in command of the room. Penelope is a complete all-rounder who has a particularly good rapport with clients."

Chambers and Partners UK Global 2022

"She has got to grips with the matter extremely quickly and has provided very clear and intelligent advice and strategic guidance."

Chambers and Partners UK Global 2022

" She's very calm, very user-friendly and effective in court."

Chambers and Partners UK Bar 2022

"Her knowledge of trust law is second to none and she has a brilliant way with clients. She cuts through the detail and gets straight to the point before offering good, robust options as to strategy and potential solutions."

Chambers and Partner UK Bar 2022

"Very thorough, detailed and insightful." "She is very client-friendly and knowledgeable, with great experience in the field."

Chambers and Partners HNW 2022

"Extremely accomplished and someone whose advocacy is very commanding. Authoritative, when she addresses the court, she's polite but firm with the judge and totally in command of the room. Penelope is a complete all-rounder who has a particularly good rapport with clients."

Chambers and Partners UK Bar 2020

"An exceptional practitioner and an expert this area." "She is very nice to deal with and her advocacy style is very persuasive; she's calm, compelling and makes everything seem very clear."

Legal 500 2020

"Extremely measured and a very effective litigator."

About Penelope Reed KC

Professional Reputation

Penelope is recommended for her trusts, estates and personal tax work, and for her work in the Court of Protection in the current editions of The Legal 500, Chambers UK, and Legal Experts.

“Penelope is excellent and her experience in Court of Protection matters is exceptional. Her advice is always sensible and easy to follow.”

“She’s wonderful and approachable, as well as being fiendishly clever, and she’s always commercial and sensitive with clients.” 

“Highly recommended in trust dispute cases and someone whose reputation goes before her. She is a pre-eminent name in this industry and she has a stellar track record.”

“An extraordinarily effective advocate, who has the ear of the judiciary. What she says carries weight.”

“Incredibly well respected and has the rare talent of never rubbing people up the wrong way.”

“She is on the majority of leading cases for contentious trust and probate matters.”

“A stalwart of the Chancery Bar who can distil complex issues into practical and sensible advice.”

“She has a wealth of experience.”

Chambers and Partners UK Bar 2019

‘She is outstanding.’

‘Immensely knowledgeable, practical in her advice and very easy to work with.’

‘She is very good at looking at things from different angles.’

Legal 500 2019

“Penny is faultless. Her advice is delivered succinctly and without hesitation, inspiring the greatest of confidence in both her instructing solicitors and her clients.” “She had a good grasp of complex trust issues, provided practical advice and was helpful in guiding the client to a pragmatic solution.”

Chambers 2017 Chancery Traditional

“She’s an absolute pleasure to work with and frighteningly clever.” “She’s a staggeringly brilliant advocate.”

Chambers 2017 Court of Protection Property & Affairs

“She has a great following and gets in lots of big cases.” “She is super smart and a wise, guiding hand. She strategically steers the case beautifully.”

Chambers 2017 Trusts

“Remarkably bright, and has an extraordinary breadth of expertise”.

“Utterly reliable, quick, efficient and supremely client-friendly. A first choice.”

“Excellent with difficult cases and has a knack for dealing with difficult opponents in a calm yet persuasive manner. She is attractively modest in her style.”

“An impressive advocate.”

“Very good at keeping the best interests of the party she’s representing in mind”.

Wills and Probate
  • Ilott v Mitson [2017] UKSC 17, [2015] EWCA Civ 797, [2015] 2 FCR. 547 (family provision for an adult child)
  • King v Dubrey [2016] 2 WLR 1 (donatio mortis causa)
  • Watts v Watts [2015] EWCA Civ 1297 (will forgery)
  • Wooldridge v Wooldridge [2016] Fam Law 451 (family provision)
  • Loring v Woodland Trust [2014] EWCA Civ 1314 [2014] STI 3239 (will construction)
  • Simon v Byford [2014] EWCA Civ 280 [2014] WTLR 1097 (testamentary capacity)
  • Berger v Berger [2014] WTLR 35 – (extending time for Inheritance Act Claims)
  • Re Christou Deceased [2014] EWHC 79 (Ch) – (will forgery and want of knowledge and approval)
  • Burgess v Hawes [2013] WTLR 453 – (capacity and want of knowledge and approval)
  • Green v Astor [2013] WTLR 1489 – (application for directions by administrator and costs)
  • C v D [2012] EWHC 3214 (Ch) – (admissibility of previous conviction in evidence in a probate claim)
  • Perrins v Holland (the Court of Appeal held that the principles in Parker v Felgate (1883) LR 8 PD 171 in relation to testamentary capacity were still good law.)
  • RSPCA v Sharp [2010] WTLR 855 [2010] EWHC 268 (Ch) (the Court of Appeal held that the correct construction of a will was that an amount of money up to the level of the nil-rate band and a property were to pass to named beneficiaries without any Inheritance  Tax being paid on those gifts. The tax was to be borne by the residuary estate, which had been given to the applicant charity)
  • Man v Blackman [2008] WTLR 389 (testamentary capacity)
  • Re Harding [2007] EWHC 3 (Ch) (construction of a Will)
  • Re Cunliffe [2006] Ch 361 (CA) (family provision claim by the widow of a short marriage)
  • Allardyce v Roebuck [2004] WTLR 779 (testamentary options)
  • Jones v Jones [2006] WTLR 1847 (execution and delivery of a deed/validity of a will)
  • Nathan v Leonard [2003] 1 WLR 827 (forfeiture clauses in wills)
Trusts
  • Presently acting for BNP Jersey Limited in Crociani v Crociani in the Royal Court in Jersey (breach of trust)
  • Fielden v Christie-Miller [2015] EWHC 2940 (Ch); [2015] WTLR (wide-ranging trustee dispute involving rectification)
  • Cotton v Earl of Cardigan [2014] EWCA Civ 1312 (trustees’ application for approval under Public Trustee v Cooper)
  • Brudenell-Bruce v Moore and Cotton [2012] WTLR 931 – acted for the trustees of the Savernake estate in their dispute with the Earl of Cardigan concerning the ownership of paintings and the self-dealing rule
  • Jiggens v Low [2010] EWHC 1566 (the High Court held that a deed of appointment made under a discretionary power by trustees of a settlement was void under the rule in Re Hastings Bass [1975] Ch 25 as the trustees had not intended to make an absolute disposal of capital to the defendant beneficiaries, which would have adverse tax consequences)
  • Alkin v Raymond (two trustees were removed where they had sanctioned the payment of an invoice to a company owned by one of them, but the invoice was not a properly drawn bill for money due to the company)
  • Hughes v Hughes [2007] EWHC 3133 (constructive trusts)
  • Price v Williams-Wynn [2006] WTLR 1633 (rectification/excess exercise of powers)
  • Hitch v Stone [2001] STC 214 (CA) (tax avoidance and sham)
Proprietary Estoppel
  • Arif v Anwar [2015] EWHC 124
  • Suggitt v Suggitt [2012] WTLR 931 [2012] EWCA Civ 1140
  • Thorner v Curtis [2009] 1 WLR 776 (HL)
  • Uglow v Uglow [2004] WTLR 1183 (CA)
Court of Protection
  • Re M [2013] WTLR 681
Rectification
  • Fielden v Christie-Miller [2015] EWHC 2940 (Ch) [2015] WTLR. (wide-ranging trustee dispute involving rectification)
  • Lloyds Bank v Crowborough [2013] EWCA Civ 107 (rectification of Tomlin Order)
Undue Influence
  • Drew v Daniel [2005] WTLR 807(CA) (actual undue influence)
  • Jennings v Cairns [2004] WTLR 361 (presumed undue influence)
  • Wright v Hodgkinson [2005] WTLR 435 (presumed undue influence)
  • Goodchild v Bradbury [2007] WTLR 463 (presumed undue influence)
Mediation

Since 2009 when she was accredited as a mediator, Penelope has undertaken 100s mediations, which have predominantly involved probate claims, trust litigation, applications under the Inheritance Act, and Court of Protection and proprietary estoppel claims and professional negligence claims in respect of all those areas. She is listed in the directories for her work as a mediator and has adapted swiftly to remote mediations during the pandemic. She also brings both her mediation skills and her experience sitting as a deputy High Court Judge to her work carrying out early neutral evaluations and private Financial Dispute Resolution hearings.

Qualifications

King’s College, London, Inns of Court School of Law

Professional Memberships

Penelope is a member of STEP, ACTAPS and the Chancery Bar Association.

Webinar Recordings

On 7th May 2021, Penelope Reed QC recorded a webinar titled Womble Bond Dickinson Trust Co – V – Glenn. A copy of this recording is available to view at your convenience by clicking here. 

On 5th February 2021, Penelope Reed QC and Tracey Angus QC recorded a webinar titled Privacy Orders. A copy of this recording is available to view at your convenience by clicking here. 

On 11th December 2020, Penelope Reed QC, Miranda Allardice and Barbara Rich recorded a webinar titled Virtual Dispute Resolution- Learning from experience. A copy of this recording is available to view at your convenience by clicking here.  

On 27th November 2020, Penelope Reed QC and Amanda Hardy QC recorded a webinar titled, The tax implications of compromising 1975 Act and probate claims. A copy of this recording is available to view at your convenience by clicking here. 

On 19th June 2020, Penelope recorded a webinar about Graham v Lynch – Issues in rectification. A copy of this recording is available to view at your convenience by clicking here. 

On the 11th May 2020, Penelope Reed QC, Miranda Allardice and Barbara Rich recorded a webinar on Mediation and ADR using online technology. A copy of this recordings is available to view at your convenience by clicking here.

Publications and Lecturing

Penelope has published widely and is:

  • Contributor to current issues in Succession Law (edited Charles Mitchell and Birke Hacker (OUP)
  • co-author of Risk and Negligence in Wills, Estates and Trusts(published OUP)
  • co-author of a Practical Guide to the Trustee Act 2000(published by Jordans)
  • co-author of the second edition of With the Best Will in the World(negligence in the preparation of wills) (published by Legalease)
  • author of the annotated Trusts and Estates Law Handbook (3rd edition)(published by Bloomsbury Professional)
  • contributor to Butterworths’ Forms and Precedents(Wills and Trusts)
  • contributor to A Practical Approach to Joint Property(published by Bloomsbury Professional)
  • co-author of Inheritance Act Claims(published by the Law Society)

Penelope lectures widely in the fields of trusts and estates.

Privacy Notice

Click here to view Penelope’s Privacy Notice.