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Our History

Boodle Hatfield has been providing first class legal advice to leading families, businesses and entrepreneurs since 1722.

Today we provide legal advice to clients from all over the world from our offices in London and Oxford.

Boodle Hatfield ® began when our founder, Robert Andrews, worked for the Grosvenor family in the county of Cheshire in 1722 and soon followed them to London to advise them on the development and management of their London estates. Boodle Hatfield continued to advise the Grosvenor family in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on the development of the Mayfair and Belgravia estates which saw them transform from countryside to the elegant streets and squares we see today.

The 1700’s

1722

Robert Andrews, aged 18, works as a legal clerk and estate manager for the Grosvenor family

1730

Following an Act of Parliament reforming the legal profession, Andrews is admitted as an attorney and then as a solicitor in London.

1750 - 1800

The firm gains new clients, including other aristocratic families with landed estates. By 1800 there are over one hundred clients.

1767

Edward Boodle, aged 15, is taken on as an articled clerk. He is the nephew of another Edward Boodle, who established and owned Boodle’s, still one of London’s most distinguished gentlemen’s clubs.

The 1800’s

1820

Partner John Boodle becomes the first clerk of the Grosvenor Place trustees, involved in a massive programme of house building which transformed London’s Pimlico and Belgravia.

1836

Our Brook Street offices are sold to the hotelier James Mivart, to become part of the hotel later known as Claridge’s. The firm moves to 53 Davies Street.

1849-50

The firm is involved on behalf of various major land-owning clients in sales of land to several regional railway companies as the rail network spreads across the country.

1898

George Frederick Hatfield, a solicitor at Freshfields, joins the firm which becomes Boodle, Hatfield & Co.

The 1900’s

1931

The death of senior partner Walter Boodle ends the family’s 164 year continuous association with the firm.

1939 - 1945

Part of the office is converted into an air raid shelter but the offices survive the London Blitz.

1986

The firm changes its name to Boodle Hatfield.

1994

Oxford office opened.

1998

The firm celebrates its 275th anniversary with a party at London’s Wallace Collection.

1999

As the firm’s international client base grew it became a Founder member of TAGLaw, now one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary alliances of independent professional services firms.

The 2000’s

2012

The firm becomes Boodle Hatfield LLP.

2014

Boodle Hatfield moves to its current location at 240 Blackfriars Road, London and opens a new Mayfair office at 6 Grosvenor Street. On 6th October 2014 The 6th Duke of Westminster opens the office at Bankside.

2015

Sara Maccallum was elected the first female Senior Partner at Boodle Hatfield. A long standing focus on meritocracy led to the firm being one of the first to have a 50% female partnership.

2020

Winner of Managing Partners Forum Exceptional Achievement by a Law Firm Prize, recognising the firm’s clear strategy for advising wealthy clients from around the globe on their personal, business and property needs.

2022

In 2022, the firm celebrated it's 300-year anniversary. The year comprised of a series of initiatives, each of which sowed the seeds for the future success of others – the local neighbourhoods, the wider legal profession, and of course our valued clients and our own team.

2023

Boodle Hatfield elects Andrea Zavos as new Senior Partner