E83 Ben Sharples: Pioneering Land and Policy

Ben Sharples heads up the Natural Capital Team at Michelmores and brings his dual qualifications as a surveyor and solicitor to assist clients engaging in the market for environmental services. As one of the first lawyers to engage with emergent policy on natural capital, having already completed numerous deals in this space and having been the architect in several novel and ground breaking natural capital-related schemes that have since become embedded as the norm, Ben wrote his first book entitled A Practical Guide to Payments for Environmental Services. Having practised as a agricultural litigator for over 20 years, Ben knows the importance of properly documenting deals that involve land. Ben is an accredited mediator and arbitrator so can assist in resolving disputes in any number of ways.This mix of contentious expertise and environmental experience is of particular relevance in this new and rapidly developing market where agreements need to be flexible enough to embrace as yet unknown future opportunities, and sufficiently clear so as to avoid disputes.