Who? Tim Clark, 40-year-old civil litigation and finance partner at Canterbury firm Robinsons.


Why is he in the news? Represented Stephen Supple, who succeeded in having his father's will declared a forgery in the High Court. The document left the estate of farmer Leonard Supple, reported to be worth £18 million, to his daughter Lynda Supple, while his son was to receive £100 a year until his 70th birthday. Mr Supple died of a heart attack three years ago, and shortly after his death the document, purporting to be his last will and testament, emerged. The judge, Peter Leaver QC, concluded the document was a fake because Leonard Supple's signatures did not match earlier examples. Although he made no findings about who had forged the will, he branded Ms Supple a 'cunning, amoral, selfish and vindictive woman,' and ordered that a copy of his judgment and the full trial bundles should be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider whether criminal charges should follow. Since Mr Supple died intestate, his estate - largely made up of a 60-acre Kent farm - will be divided equally between his two children.



Background: Law degree at South Bank University followed by Law Society finals at the College of Law in Chester and articles with Essex firm Talfourds. He qualified in 1995 and joined Robinson & Allfree in Canterbury. In 2003 the firm de-merged and Mr Clark set up his current practice with colleagues.

Route to the case: 'Mr Supple was aware of us because we do pro bono work with Kent Law Clinic and he knew we did public funding work, which he required.'



Thoughts on the case: 'I have been involved in two fraudulent will cases in my career and both have involved homemade wills. This goes to highlight the importance of having a will professionally drawn up. All that is needed to produce a will is a document with two signatures attesting to the fact that they witnessed the author's signature. For my client, this case was not about the money, but about telling the truth about his father. We had strong handwriting evidence, but these cases are won on credible oral evidence and we produced witnesses to show Mr Supple senior's character. Really though, this judgment is only the beginning of the process for my client as he will now have to deal with the administration of the estate.'



Dealing with the media: 'As a rule I don't court the media, but my client, who is a qualified barrister, was approached on the second day of the trial and was happy to deal with the press. Following the judgment there has been a lot of media interest, and the press has been very sympathetic towards my client, which is unsurprising, as I never heard a judge be more critical of a defendant.'



Catherine Baksi