Louise Lewis
Partner & National Head of Trusts, Estates & Tax | Oxford | Bristol
"Louise Lewis, an outstanding, highly articulate and dedicated lawyer who is passionate about supporting her clients and providing solutions and value, is a thoughtful and a collaborative problem solver, generous with her time, and very approachable in her working style. Louise is a complete pleasure to work with and a stand-out lawyer working in a very strong partnership."
The Legal 500, 2024
Call: 0186 578 1105 Mobile: 0781 621 9287
About Louise
Louise is a Partner and National Head of the Trusts, Estates and Tax team. She is a highly regarded private client lawyer who advises on a variety of matters. Louise qualified in 2005 and joined our firm from Penningtons Manches Cooper in June 2019.
Louise drafts wills, sets up and administers trusts, administers estates and drafts and registers powers of attorney. She has expertise in the field of mental capacity and advises on disabled persons’ trusts, deputyships for children reaching adulthood and other welfare-related issues. She prepares lasting powers of attorney and wills for clients with mental capacity issues and complex applications to the Court of Protection and High Court for mentally incapacitated people. These include applications for statutory wills, for gifts and trusts, for removal of incapacitated trustees and for welfare decisions. Louise was the Deputy Chair of the steering committee for (STEP)'s mental capacity special interest group between 2021 and 2023, and she chaired a session on mental capacity and welfare issues at STEP’s global congress in London in summer 2022. She regularly speaks on mental capacity topics and has presented for the Brain Injury Association and the Alzheimer’s Society among others. Louise is a Dementia Friend. In 2020, she completed an advanced STEP certificate in advising vulnerable clients, receiving a distinction.
In addition, Louise is a member of the firm’s private wealth initiative and is able to provide advice to business clients on estate planning at all stages of the business cycle. This includes tax advice and trusts for people exiting their businesses, advice on wills and the interaction of wills with corporate structures, advice on suitable structures for start-up owners and new partnerships, and advice on trusts to hold company shares. Louise also administers business interests following the death of business owners and advises on available tax reliefs for estates.
Louise has considerable experience of working with international clients and advises on residence and domicile and cross border estate planning.
In June 2023, Louise completed an advanced STEP certificate in UK tax for international clients, receiving a distinction.
In October 2023, Louise was awarded with Lawyer of the Year at the BBO Law Society awards 2023.
Louise Lewis is a Recommended Lawyer and recognised as a Next Generation Partner in the Legal 500 (2025 edition) in Personal Tax, Trusts and Probate. She is also ranked in Chambers and Partners (2025 edition).
Memberships
- Full member of STEP (TEPs)
- Former Deputy Chair of STEP’s global steering committee for mental capacity
- Member of the Governance committee for STEP
- Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA)
- Dementia Friend.
Contact Louise
Call: 0186 578 1105
Mobile: 0781 621 9287
Notable work & expertise
Recent work
- Setting up lifetime and complementary trusts in a will for a client to make provision for a second spouse and children from his first marriage. The inheritance tax saving as a result of this planning was approximately £70,000.
- Advising on a lifetime trust for parents with a mentally disabled child and assisting with financial planning. This included liaising with mental health professionals and financial advisers in order to ensure that the child’s ongoing financial and practical needs were catered for.
- Advising a family on discussions with charities over the provisions of a deceased relative’s will and negotiating with the charities and the Attorney General to save a potentially failed charitable legacy
- Writing a toolkit for lawyers covering all aspects of the law on digital estate planning, including privacy, intellectual property, data protection, contract law (ISPs terms of business) and licensing, as well as providing guidance on this field through the STEP digital assets special interest group
- Working with a family whose disabled child had died young, securing a retrospective gratuitous care claim for the family in the order of £700,000 thereby saving the estate approximately £280,000 in inheritance tax
- Raising funds for two Oxfordshire-based charities through legacy donations and preparing documents for those charities to facilitate donations. Other charitable work has included speaking at an event hosted by the Alzheimer’s Society on the tax benefits of donating to charity and hosting a wills clinic at an Oxfordshire based charity so that charity donors could receive advice on estate and tax planning.
Testimonials
LW
"Louise is a highly professional, approachable and empathetic legal practitioner. She has helped me and my elderly mother, firstly with financial a...
Louise Wheeler
“I honestly could not have endured it without your support and kindness. The absolute relief of having you representing us will be immense. These a...
Client testimonial
"I am very impressed by Louise Lewis who is our main lawyer at Freeths. She is an exceptional lawyer and a deeply caring and understanding person....
The Legal 500, 2025
"Louise Lewis is a hugely talented and creative lawyer with a true commitment to finding the optimum outcomes for her clients. Immensely empathetic...
The Legal 500, 2025
"Louise shows that she understands the demands of working with clients in vulnerable positions and is able to deliver solutions that would best sui...
Chambers & Partners, 2025
"Louise quickly grasps complex issues and advises and drafts concisely and effectively. She sees the big picture while mastering every necessary de...
Chambers & Partners, 2025
"Louise has always been very helpful and supportive."
Chambers & Partners, 2025
"I feel that Louise Lewis and her team are immensely supportive and caring about the position that their clients are in and incredibly kind. She is...
The Legal 500, 2024
"Louise Lewis clearly has a strong academic interest in the law she practises and I am aware that she has spoken at and led conferences. She will s...
The Legal 500, 2024
"Louise is a highly intelligent and committed professional who cares passionately about obtaining the optimum outcomes for her clients. She has a r...
Chambers & Partners, 2023
"Louise invokes a lot of trust with the people she works with. Combined with her high technical skills, it makes her the perfect package."
Chambers & Partners, 2023
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