History
Cumberland Ellis can trace its roots to the 18th century. It is the product of various mergers and informal and more formal partnerships between central London solicitors. These include the firms of Young Jackson Beard & King and Ellis, Peirs & Co who merged in 1960, and Darley Cumberland. The core of the current firm was established by the merger in 1989 of Darley Cumberland and Ellis Peirs & Young Jackson to form Cumberland Ellis Peirs. The earliest known records for those practices – that of Young Jackson Beard & King - take us back to 1792.
During the 19th century, elements of what is now Cumberland Ellis practised in and near Gray's Inn, where the firm is now located. In 1857 James Jacob Darley was looking after his clients from chambers just opposite us, in Raymond Buildings; in 1892 Montague Ellis was already engaged as a solicitor in Bedford Row, adjacent to our Jockey's Fields premises. From there he negotiated to join the firm - already fifty years old - which later bore his name. Mr Ellis , incidentally, is said to have been one of the most successful London solicitors of his day. Several other smaller firms which joined Darley Cumberland over the decades also had their offices in the immediate area. Our move to Jockey's Fields in 2005 was thus, in a way, a return to the firm's early roots.
Cumberland Ellis has acted for the landed gentry, the clergy and the industrial elite and continues to manage many of their affairs, estates and diverse business interests. Its client base has since expanded to include the City, various livery companies and charitable and not for profit organisations, property companies, a long list of innovative and established businesses and high net worth individuals.
The firm was joined in September 2003 by Ellis Wood, with its substantial expertise in commercial property and charity law, and in 2006 by the commercial team of Taylor Willcocks. In 2008 we welcomed on board the established private client and commercial practice of Hyde Mahon Bridges, founded in the 1780s.
