Alistair Latham

Alistair Latham is a partner in the corporate and commercial team based in our Beverley office.

Alistair joined the firm in 2022 with over 28 years of experience. He largely works as a trusted adviser to many family-owned businesses, with turnovers varying from £500k to £30m. He provides his expert opinion on business activities, guiding owners on areas of growth and profitability.

His works often sees him advising and negotiating both national and international supply chain contracts. He also regularly deals with partnership issues, family business disputes, succession planning and implementation, and business structures. Alistair also advises on protection and exploitation of intellectual property.

His clients are across a wide variety of industries and sectors, but they predominantly operate in agriculture and tourism and leisure sectors.

Key specialisms

Agricultural businesses

Alistair regularly helps businesses in the agricultural sector diversify into industries linked to farming. This often involves helping businesses create, record and implement business plans to help them achieve their goals.

He strategically analyses the business opportunity and provides assistance in deciding on the best approach to move forward with a project. His work also involves negotiating purchase documentation and supply chain contracts, in addition to protecting intellectual property rights.

Farming partnerships

Alistair works closely with his clients to understand, manage, and resolve complex partnership issues, visiting them on their own farming premises to gain a comprehensive understanding of both the client and the business.

He particularly specialises in strategy and negotiation for exits from farming partnerships and complex family arrangements. He advises remaining partners on the effects of the retirement, as well as managing expectations of the retiring partners. Alistair also advises on assets of the partnership at retirement.

Holiday parks

His work in the tourism and leisure sector sees Alistair advising on setting up holiday parks, in addition to the day-to-day operations. He often drafts pitch licences, sale agreements, park rules, and compliance documentation on behalf of his clients.

Alistair also creates and implements strategies for dealing with breaches of pitch licences, including removing residents from holiday parks.

Family business succession planning

He finds that family businesses often have complex structures and needs. Alistair takes the time to understand family relationships and helps them navigate through difficult dynamics for the benefit of the business.

He regularly reviews share ownerships, trusts, partnerships, and other business structures, advising on suitable options conjugative to longevity. Alistair gets to know the business inside out, advising on restructuring and ensuring the business is fit for the future.

Volunteer work and memberships

Alistair is a CEDR qualified mediator and secretary of the Old Hymerians Association. He is a member of the Driffield Agricultural Society. Further, he is a regional committee member of the British Holiday and Home Parks Association (BH&HPA) of which the firm is an associate member.

In his own time, he coaches university students and school pupils looking to enter a career in law. He helps them understand what an employer is looking for from applicants, guiding them on writing CVs and dealing with interviews.