Paula Wakeling-Basham Consultant Conveyancing Lawyer

Paula is a highly experienced residential conveyancing specialist with a career in law spanning over four decades. Paula advises clients across England, acting for first-time buyers, high-net-worth individuals, investors, farmers, developers, builders and those undertaking self-build projects.  

Areas of expertise

• Freehold and leasehold residential transactions
• Auction sales and purchases
• Mortgage and remortgage work for sole buyers and portfolio clients
• Transfers of equity
• Land acquisition for the development and sale of plots
• New build transactions
• Deeds of variation
• Transfers of land to management companies following development
• Probate sales and retirement property transactions
• Unregistered land and first registrations
• Complex registered and unregistered land ownership issues, liaising with the Land Registry and surveyors
• Property transfers arising from matrimonial settlements by consent
• Creation, removal or variation of title restrictions

Approach to work and clients

Paula is recognised for establishing strong, long-standing client relationships and delivering a highly personalised, one-to-one service. She takes time to understand each client’s objectives and adopts a pragmatic, solutions-focused approach to overcoming obstacles. She prides herself on applying the same level of care and importance to every matter and particularly enjoys the satisfaction of seeing transactions complete successfully.

Career highlights & notable cases

Paula began her legal career as a paralegal, working in London and Cambridge between 1980 and 1986, before qualifying as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) in 1996. During her early career, Paula worked part-time for a large national firm highly ranked by Legal 500, while also building a successful conveyancing practice in Essex, where she held the role of Senior Conveyancer and played a key role in expanding the firm’s client base.

After a break from practice, Paula returned to the legal profession full-time in 2015 and has since held senior positions within highly regarded regional firms, including Senior Associate Head of Residential and Associate Partner roles. She has worked continuously as a Senior Residential Conveyancer for over nine years within Legal 500-ranked firms, bringing deep technical knowledge and practical experience to a wide range of complex property matters.

Her career highlights include advising on a highly complex first registration involving extensive farmland acquired over many years; working closely with Land Registry surveyors and legal teams; and resolving competing adverse possession claims. She has also assisted on a substantial residential development project involving a major developer and local authority, drafting and redrafting transfers to accommodate evolving site, infrastructure and landscaping requirements to achieve a successful 24-unit development.

Outside of work, Paula values time with her family and enjoys travelling with her partner, experiencing different cultures and landscapes. A keen lover of animals and the countryside, she spends many weekends exploring Dartmoor, appreciating its wildlife, scenery and open spaces.