Roger James Clements & Partners opened at 71-72 Bridge Street in 1972, founded by M. Roger James and John S. Clements. Today the firm is run by Matthew Clements, John’s son. Conveyancing across Wales, commercial property, wills and probate, family, employment, criminal. SRA 816275.
The firm has run a general high-street practice in Newport since 1972. Residential conveyancing and commercial property are the busiest lines today; wills, family, employment and criminal have all been part of the bench since the door first opened.
Buying, selling, transfer of equity and remortgages across Newport, Monmouthshire and the M4 corridor. Welsh Land Transaction Tax filed straight to the Welsh Revenue Authority (we are Welsh solicitors filing Welsh tax, not English). Indicative timeline 8 to 12 weeks freehold, 12 to 16 weeks leasehold.
Commercial leases (landlord and tenant), business sales, freehold transactions for Newport and South Wales SMEs. M. Roger James, our founding partner, leads on commercial and leasehold work as consultant. Indicative timeline 6 to 10 weeks once heads of terms are agreed.
Will-drafting, lasting powers of attorney, full estate administration, grant of probate. Home and hospital visits for clients who cannot get into the Bridge Street office. Indicative fixed fees for straightforward wills; estate work quoted in writing before instruction.
Divorce and separation, financial settlements, child arrangements, prenuptial and cohabitation agreements. Family Court appearances at Newport. We work in plain Welsh-English, not in jargon, because family work goes wrong when the client cannot follow it.
Employer and employee work covering contracts, settlement agreements, Tribunal claims, redundancy. Same-day phone consultations for time-critical settlement-agreement reviews; many employees see us free of charge under the employer-funded settlement-review convention.
Newport Magistrates and Cardiff Crown Court representation. Police station attendance under the duty solicitor scheme. Taxi and liquor licensing, road traffic, motoring offences. Out-of-hours phone for clients held at the station.
Roger James qualified in 1970, John Clements in 1973. They opened Roger James, Clements & Partners at 71-72 Bridge Street, Newport, and started a general high-street practice. Fifty-four years later, both names are still on the door, and the firm still occupies the same building. Continuity is not a marketing line for a high-street solicitor; it is the practice.
The firm today is led by Matthew Clements, John’s son. Matthew joined the firm in 2002, qualified as a solicitor in 2005, was made partner in 2010, and now serves as Managing Director. Roger James continues as a consultant on commercial and leasehold work.
The firm carries the names of both founding partners. John S. Clements, co-founder and consultant of over fifty years, was a part of the Bridge Street office until his death in March 2026; his work, and his standard of care for clients, remain the framework the practice runs on.
Wales has run its own conveyancing tax regime since 1 April 2018. Buying a house in Newport is not the same transaction as buying a house in Bristol or Gloucester, even where the property looks identical. A Newport solicitor files with the Welsh Revenue Authority in Cardiff, not with HMRC in London, and the numbers come out different. Three specifics most non-lawyers do not think to ask about.
The main residential LTT nil-rate band is £225,000 in Wales, against the English SDLT £125,000 (or £300,000 first-time-buyer band, which Wales has chosen not to match). A first-time buyer crossing the Severn from Bristol expects a relief that does not exist on this side of the bridge. We work the actual numbers in front of you on the day you instruct.
Wales raised the LTT higher-rate residential supplement to 5% on 11 December 2024 (the English SDLT equivalent surcharge is 3%). For Monmouthshire, Caerphilly and the Newport-Vale-of-Glamorgan buy-to-let market this added a working percentage point to every second-home calculation in writing of any prior quote. We recalculate every active second-home file on instruction.
From 1 December 2022 the Welsh tenancy framework was replaced by “occupation contracts”. A Newport landlord still operating on a pre-2022 English Assured Shorthold Tenancy is using the wrong document. We draft Renting Homes contracts in plain English, with the right notice periods (six months minimum for landlord termination of a periodic standard contract) and a fitness-for-human-habitation record on file.
A high-street firm runs on practice, not on rhetoric. These are the four standards Roger and John set when they opened the door, and the same four Matthew keeps now.
Roger James and John Clements opened this firm in 1972. The names are still on the door because the standards still are.
Your file is owned by one named solicitor. You get their direct line, not a case-management inbox.
Land Transaction Tax, Renting Homes Wales, Welsh Tribunal procedure. We file in Cardiff, not London.
No small print, no hidden extras. The fee for your work is agreed in writing before any of it begins.
Full team and contact details on the team page. Conveyancers Bethan Hughes, Jasmin Elsmore, Nia Parry, Consultant Mark Whitcutt, Practice Manager Andrew Hext.
A short form for an indicative quote. For conveyancing, the indicative number you receive by email is the all-in figure (fee, Welsh Land Transaction Tax, Land Registry, searches), not a teaser rate. For other work, we will confirm in writing the fee or fee basis before we begin.
71-72 Bridge Street
Newport, NP20 4AQ
Phone · 01633 257844
Email · enquiry@rjcp.co.uk
If your question is not here, ring the office on 01633 257844 or email enquiry@rjcp.co.uk. We answer in plain English (and in Welsh-English where you prefer).
Yes, and it has been since 1 April 2018. LTT is administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority (Awdurdod Cyllid Cymru), not HMRC. The residential nil-rate band is £225,000 (compared to £125,000 in England, with a higher band for English first-time buyers that Wales does not match). The higher-rate (second-home) supplement was increased to 5% on 11 December 2024, a percentage point above the equivalent English SDLT surcharge. We file LTT returns straight to Cardiff, not London, and the calculation we give you is the Welsh one.
From 1 December 2022 the Act replaced the old "tenancy" framework in Wales with "occupation contracts". If you are a Newport landlord still operating on a pre-2022 English-style Assured Shorthold Tenancy, the document is no longer the right one. Most contracts converted automatically, but landlords still owe new written statements, fitness-for-human-habitation evidence and the right notice periods. We draft Renting Homes contracts in plain English, not by copying an English template.
Yes. Conveyancing files at Bridge Street are owned by a named solicitor or licensed conveyancer for the full duration. Most often Matthew Clements, Samantha Collins, Bethan Hughes, Nia Parry or Jasmin Elsmore. We will tell you whose file it is on the day you instruct, and you will have their direct line. No anonymous case-management inbox.
Either. Plenty of clients walk in to 71-72 Bridge Street to sign in person; plenty do the whole transaction by post and email. Will instructions are often taken by home visit for older clients. We will not push a digital portal on you if Bridge Street suits you better, and we will not force a journey into town if remote suits you better.
Yes for criminal duty work; we are on the police-station and Magistrates Court duty rota for Newport. Family legal aid in Wales is very narrow since LASPO, but where domestic-abuse or child-protection eligibility applies, we will tell you on the first call and signpost the application. We will never bill a client privately for work they should be receiving on legal aid.