Powell Eddison has acted as a solicitor in the Harrogate area since the late 19th century, when the firm of Powell, Eddison, Freeman and Wilks served as under-stewards for the Manor and Forest of Knaresborough from offices in the old Castle Yard Court House. The practice moved into Harrogate around 1900 to premises at 14 Albert Street, and today sits at Raglan House on Raglan Street under managing partner Andrew Parascandolo, who took on and reinvigorated the firm in 2013.
A two-century legal lineage, gathered onto one page for the first time.
A high-street practice run as four small specialist desks, with the same supervising partner on a matter from the engagement letter to the completion statement. Residential conveyancing is the engine; wills and probate sit alongside; commercial work and personal injury take the second floor.
Sales and purchases, freehold and leasehold, re-mortgages, transfer of equity, buy-to-let, auction sales, first registrations. Over fifty years of combined conveyancing experience between Elaine Tottie and Patrick Mulcahy. The named conveyancer on your engagement letter is the named conveyancer on your completion statement. The strongest single team in the firm by published 5-star review volume.
Will drafting, lasting powers of attorney, Court of Protection applications, full estate administration and obtaining probate. Laura Stafford is a Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) member and Solicitors for the Elderly member; the team is Dementia Friend trained, with capacity-aware client meetings and elder-financial-abuse safeguarding built into the way the desk runs.
Company commercial, commercial property, dispute resolution and commercial litigation, debt recovery, landlord and tenant, employment and HR matters. Andrew Parascandolo (LLB, qualified Barrister, sixteen years in business law) chairs the Leeds Property Association and sits on the National Landlords Association Advisory Board. Property landlords are a particular specialism.
Medical negligence, industrial disease (Yorkshire mill and mine legacy work still in scope), employment accidents, public liability and road traffic. David Cartwright qualified in 2001 with an LPC commendation from York Law School. Funding options, including conditional fee arrangements, explained in plain English before any chargeable work begins.
The Powell Eddison name reaches back into the late 19th century, when the firm of Powell, Eddison, Freeman and Wilks held the office of under-stewards for the Manor and Forest of Knaresborough. The under-stewardship was a real feudal office, not an honorific: it meant the firm held the court rolls of the Honour of Knaresborough, conducted customary land transfers, and presided over manor business from the upper rooms of Castle Yard in the old Knaresborough Court House.
Around 1900 the practice moved into the spa town, occupying premises at 14 Albert Street, Harrogate, where the firm served individuals and businesses through two world wars and the abolition of copyhold tenure under the Law of Property Act 1925, which ended the Knaresborough under-stewardship work and turned the practice fully into a Harrogate general firm.
In 2013, after a quiet century in Albert Street and Raglan Street, the Powell Eddison practice was acquired and reinvigorated by Avery Walters Solicitors under Andrew Parascandolo LLB, today the managing partner. The current limited company, Powell Eddison Freeman & Wilks Limited, was incorporated at Companies House on 30 September 2019 under number 12232730, with the firm continuing to trade as Powell Eddison in Harrogate and as Avery Walters Ellis at the sister office in Chapel Allerton, Leeds.
“The most professional, and informative solicitors I’ve ever used.” Mark B · one of more than sixty 5-star testimonials on file
The Knaresborough under-stewardship is one of those quiet pieces of English legal history that gets footnoted out of the modern legal directories. It was a real office: under-stewards held the manorial court rolls, presided over copyhold land transfers, and were the practical face of feudal land tenure in the Honour of Knaresborough for the better part of two centuries before Powell, Eddison, Freeman & Wilks were the last firm to hold the office.
The Law of Property Act 1925 formally ended copyhold across England and Wales on the first of January 1926. The Knaresborough under-stewardship ended with it. By then the firm had been working out of 14 Albert Street in Harrogate for a quarter of a century, and the move into general practice for Harrogate individuals and businesses was complete. A century later we sit four streets to the south, in Raglan House on Raglan Street, two minutes from the Stray and four from Bettys.
Powell Eddison Freeman & Wilks Limited is run by two partners, with three further solicitors and licensed conveyancers heading the day-to-day desks. The named solicitor on your engagement letter is the named solicitor on your completion statement; continuity of character is the operating rule.
B.A. (Hons), LLB, qualified Barrister. Chair, Leeds Property Association. National Landlords Association Advisory Board. Member, Employment Lawyers Association.
Heads the company commercial, commercial property, dispute resolution and employment desks. Sixteen years in business law before taking on the Powell Eddison practice in 2013.
B.A. (Hons). Qualified Private Client Solicitor. Known on the firm for an attention to detail and a love of numbers.
Runs accounts and finance for the practice. Supports the private-client team on figures-heavy probate and trust work.
Twenty-plus years as a Licensed Conveyancer. Dementia Friend trained. Named in more 5-star client reviews than anyone else at the firm.
Leads residential property: freehold, leasehold, buy-to-let, auction sales and first registrations. The conveyancing engine at Raglan House.
Solicitor since 2017. STEP member (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners). Solicitors for the Elderly member. Dementia Friend trained.
Heads wills, trusts, Lasting Powers of Attorney, Court of Protection and probate. The capacity-aware desk for older clients and their families.
Qualified solicitor since 2001. LPC commendation, York Law School. With Powell Eddison since February 2018.
Medical negligence, industrial disease, employment accidents, public liability and road traffic. Funding options explained in plain English on day one.
Selected from more than sixty 5-star testimonials on file at Raglan House. Conveyancing matters with Elaine, the private-client desk with Laura, the commercial team under Andrew.
“Patrick was our most recent conveyancer and did a superb job researching a complex title situation, ensuring our purchase was airtight.”
“Laura treated me with compassion and professionalism at all times when I was feeling very anxious and devastated.”
“Andrew was a great communicator, made things easy to understand and was extremely straightforward.”
A short form for an initial response by telephone or email. Once we understand the matter we can quote a fixed fee where the work supports it (most wills, mirror wills, lasting powers of attorney and straightforward conveyances), or hourly with an estimated total where it does not. We say so in writing either way, before any chargeable work begins.
Powell Eddison sits in Raglan House on Raglan Street in Harrogate, two minutes from the Stray and four from Bettys. The sister Avery Walters Ellis office is in Chapel Allerton, north Leeds. A matter opened at either address moves freely between the two.
Raglan House
Raglan Street
Harrogate HG1 1LE
27 Harrogate Road
Chapel Allerton
Leeds LS7 3PD
Yes. The named conveyancer on your engagement letter is the named conveyancer on your completion statement, so the person you spoke to at the start of the matter is the person who signs you out at the end. Elaine Tottie leads residential conveyancing, supported by Patrick Mulcahy and trainee Sayid Molik. If for any reason a hand-off becomes necessary (annual leave, sickness) you will be told in writing before it happens and the standing-in colleague will be named.
Both offices are the same firm under SRA 57734. The Harrogate office at Raglan House on Raglan Street trades as Powell Eddison, keeping the historic Yorkshire name in use; the Chapel Allerton office in Leeds at 27 Harrogate Road trades as Avery Walters Ellis, the name under which the wider partnership operates in Leeds. One telephone system, one client account, one team. You can be opened on a matter at either address and the file moves with you.
Yes for straightforward wills, mirror wills and lasting powers of attorney, where the price is quoted in writing before the appointment. Full estate administration is generally costed on a percentage of the estate value, with the figure quoted at the second meeting once we have seen the estate paperwork. Where a matter is too variable for a fixed fee, we say so in writing and explain why.
Yes. Laura Stafford is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and of Solicitors for the Elderly. The private-client team is Dementia Friend trained, which means client meetings can be paced and accompanied as needed. The conveyancing team is regulated under SRA 57734 alongside the rest of the firm. Solicitors for the Elderly accreditation involves a code of practice covering capacity assessments, dementia-aware client meetings and elder-financial-abuse safeguarding.
The Powell Eddison practice has roots in the area going back to the late 19th century, when the firm acted as under-stewards for the Manor and Forest of Knaresborough from offices in Castle Yard, the former Knaresborough Court House. The firm moved into Harrogate around 1900 to premises at 14 Albert Street, before settling into Raglan House on Raglan Street. The present limited company was incorporated in 2019 as part of the 2013 reinvigoration under managing partner Andrew Parascandolo, but the name on the door reaches back over 200 years in the local record.