Jill Joanne Thomas

Solicitor

SRA ID: 136701

Jill grew up in Kent, achieving the highest grades in her A-levels and winning an open exhibition to read law at Trinity Law, Cambridge, a college noted for its lawyers. After Law Society finals at the College of Law in Guildford, Jill served her articles at Girlings in Canterbury before admission as a solicitor in 1987, going on to become a partner and head of litigation and opening the firm’s sixth branch office in Ashford. Jill has been a partner in the litigation team at CooperBurnett in Tunbridge Wells and a senior associate and a key member of the litigation team at Brachers LLP in Maidstone, a large regional firm noted for its commercial and property litigation in Kent, Sussex, Surrey and the South East. In 2011, Jill founded ThomasHaywood solicitors as a niche litigation and matrimonial firm. The firm was a finalist in the Kent Women in Business awards and ranked in Chambers and The Legal 500. In 2020, having specialised in civil, commercial and property litigation for over 35 years, Jill founded Thomas Litigation, a specialist litigation practice, Jill was one of the first commercial mediators to qualify with the ADR Group in 1992 and has an almost unbroken record of settling all the mediations she has conducted, which run well into three figures. Jill is highly sought after for that reason. She acted as a mediator for what was then the Court of Appeal in its pilot scheme. She is a member of the Property Litigation Association, a former director of the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce and chairman and committee member of its Maidstone Economic Development Group. She was also a governor of what is now North Kent College. Jill deals with property disputes, contract claims, professional negligence, intellectual property, insolvency, construction disputes, company disputes (including disputes between directors and shareholders) and partnership disputes. She is an experienced advocate, appearing in the High Court and County Court and in international arbitrations. A formidable negotiator, Jill relishes winning complex litigation. The advice she offers is constructive, practical and timely, based on an understanding of her clients’ circumstances and businesses, and includes pre-emptive advice to avoid litigation where appropriate, such as drafting documents including terms of business, shareholders’ agreements and declarations of trust.