Monika Bone arrived at Wilkin Chapman Rollits’ York office in February as the firm’s newest partner, bringing 15 years of Yorkshire legal experience with her. The appointment marks the latest addition to the wills, estates and tax planning division at the region’s largest law firm.
Timing matters here.
The hire comes less than a year after Wilkin Chapman and Rollits merged on 1 April 2025, creating a 530-strong operation spanning six locations across Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Bone previously worked as associate director at SJP Law, also based in York, and held a partnership at Harrowells earlier in her career.
Her journey started further afield. Originally from the Czech Republic, Bone completed her legal training in Huddersfield before building her practice across several Yorkshire firms over the past decade and a half. That background included developing particular expertise in agricultural law—a specialism with obvious relevance across the rural heartlands of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, where farmland succession and agricultural estates form a substantial part of private client work.
“This is a significant stage in Wilkin Chapman Rollits’ growth, so it’s a great time to join the firm,” Bone said. “I’m looking forward to working with colleagues across the region, and continuing to provide support and specialist advice to clients to help families and business owners pass on their wealth as they wish, and save on tax where they can.”
Her practice encompasses estate administration, wills and lasting powers of attorney, alongside bespoke succession and tax planning. What sets her work apart is the complexity: estates with international elements, digital assets, trust assets, agricultural property and business interests. The kind of files that require navigating multiple jurisdictions, asset types and family dynamics simultaneously.
Bone holds full membership of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners—the professional body for inheritance and estates specialists—and sits within the Law Society’s Private Client Section. Both memberships signal a commitment to technical depth in a field where staying current on tax legislation and estate planning vehicles separates adequate advice from genuinely valuable counsel.
Lucy Butterfint, partner and head of wills, estates and tax planning at Wilkin Chapman Rollits, acknowledged the significance of the appointment. “Monika is a highly respected private client practitioner whose experience will be a real asset to our team,” Butterfint explained. “Her depth of knowledge, particularly in complex estates and agricultural succession, is a great complement to the work we do for clients across the region.”
The firm now operates from Grimsby, Lincoln, Louth, Hull, York and Beverley, positioning itself as what it calls the region’s largest law firm with national capability. The merger brought together two practices with established histories—Wilkin Chapman founded in 1900, Rollits dating back to 1841—and created a footprint designed to serve both private and commercial clients across the two counties.
For Bone’s clients, the move offers access to a broader network of specialists across those six offices. For the firm, it strengthens capacity in a practice area where demand remains consistent: families and business owners seeking to structure wealth transfer, minimise tax exposure, and navigate the intersection of agricultural assets with inheritance planning. Whether that integration delivers on both fronts will become clear as the post-merger phase continues through 2026.
