Consultations — new matters are being opened for October and November.
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Juniper Branch Law reads contracts closely, answers in plain language, and tells you early when a dispute is not worth running. Employment, business, leases and succession — handled by the lawyer you actually meet.
We take matters where careful drafting or early advice changes the outcome. Where a different practice is better placed, we say so in the first conversation rather than after a retainer.
For employees weighing an offer or an exit, and for employers who want terms that survive scrutiny.
Not taken: matters already listed for hearing within ten days.
Day-to-day commercial paperwork for owner-run companies, plus the awkward conversations that paperwork is supposed to prevent.
Best value when we see the draft before it is signed.
Lease negotiation for shops, studios and light-industrial units, where the rent review clause usually matters more than the headline rent.
Residential tenancies are referred out.
Straightforward estate work, with particular attention to owners whose estate is mostly a going concern.
Contested estates are handled with co-counsel.
Ellis Marchetti opened Juniper Branch Law after a decade spent in-house and in general practice, mostly on the paperwork that sits between employers, founders and landlords. The practice was built small on purpose: files stay with the lawyer who took the call, and nothing is handed down to someone you have never spoken to.
In practice that means fewer matters at a time, longer first meetings, and advice that starts with what the document already says rather than what it could be argued to mean. Where a matter needs a specialist — tax counsel, a litigator for a listed hearing, a conveyancer for a freehold purchase — we bring one in and stay on the file as your point of contact.
Nothing starts billing until step two is signed. If the first conversation shows the matter is not worth running, that is the advice you get.
A scheduled conversation about what has happened, what you want to achieve, and whether law is the right tool for it. You leave with a view on your position and the realistic options, including doing nothing.
Bring: the document or correspondence at the centre of it, and any deadline you already know about.
A written scope setting out the work, the fee basis, what is excluded, and how we will keep you updated. Nothing outside that scope is started without a further note agreeing it.
You provide: identity verification and a signed engagement letter.
Drafting, review, negotiation or correspondence, with a short progress note at each meaningful stage. Drafts come to you marked up, so you can see what changed and why it changed.
You provide: prompt sign-off on drafts, and anything new that lands in your inbox about the matter.
A plain summary of what was agreed or achieved, what obligations you now carry, and the dates to diarise. Your file stays available to you for the retention period set out in the engagement letter.
You keep: executed documents, the closing summary, and a list of review dates.
Figures are agreed in writing before work starts. What follows is the structure we use, so you know which conversation to have.
| Work | Basis | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Initial consultation | Fixed | Up to an hour, a written note of the options, and a scope proposal if you want one. |
| Contract review | Fixed per document | Marked-up draft, a summary of the clauses that matter, and one round of questions. |
| Drafting | Fixed, agreed in advance | Drafting, two revision rounds, and execution guidance. |
| Negotiation | Hourly, with a capped estimate | Correspondence, calls with the other side, and progress notes at each stage. |
| Ongoing advice | Monthly retainer | An agreed block of hours, rolled over once, reviewed every quarter. |
| Disbursements | At cost | Filing fees, searches and co-counsel, approved by you before they are incurred. |
A few lines is enough to check for conflicts and decide whether we are the right practice for it. You will hear back either way.