Tim Wheldon: Tributes paid to 'legal maverick' who represented Philip Larkin and faced down Robert Maxwell

Mr Wheldon was born in Hull, from what he humorously described as “a long line of whalers”. Educated at Woodleigh School in Malton and then Hymers College, he qualified as a solicitor, becoming a partner in Gosschalk Wheldon (now Gosschalks). Working in combination with his father, the East Riding lawyer Terry Wheldon, he quickly became a dynamic force in the East Riding business community.

Both father and son represented the great poet Philip Larkin, and in later years Mr Wheldon’s involvement in Larkin’s legacy and literary estate saw him form a productive association with literary executors Anthony Thwaite and Sir Andrew Motion, later the Poet Laureate. Moving in 1990 into the West Yorkshire market, he soon became a leading figure in one of the North’s top firms, Booth and Co, which he helped build into today’s 400- partner international law firm, Addleshaw Goddard.

Simon Kamstra, a partner at Addleshaw Goddard, said: “There, he acquired a reputation for dynamic deal-doing both in the UK and internationally. Practical, shrewd, charming, and above all energetic, he had an ability to make things happen, solve problems, and bring parties together. His clients were his focus, and they loved him; he brought with him attention to detail, a vivid room-filling personality, and uncanny commercial instinct. On one transaction in the publishing sector, sensing strokes being pulled and calling them out, he managed to get so far up the nose of the tycoon Robert Maxwell, that Maxwell personally called Wheldon (over the heads of MGN’s legion of lawyers), to berate him. A wasted phone call. Wheldon was likably rebellious, with a suspicion of power figures and related sycophancy. He once chewed out an executive from one of his firm’s most important clients for treating one of his lawyers badly, naturally earning the adoration of his team, for that principled but somewhat un-commercial bravery.

“He had a reputation amongst colleagues for delivering the impossible, often extremely quickly, and working with him on deals could be like being captained in a bobsleigh team down the Cresta Run. He kept his teams going with humour, a mastery of creative profanity, and an ability to see absurdity in grim situations.”

He became a leadership figure in the then newly merged firm Addleshaw Booth, becoming a board member, and finally head of its Leeds office, the largest legal firm in the city.

Mr Kamstra recalled: “Ever adaptive to changed markets and new opportunities, Tim became lead legal adviser on the innovative private financing of the Royal Armouries in Leeds, a deal which broke new ground for all involved.”

"In retirement, he bought a farm near Thirsk where he was content in a new, rural life and its tranquility - and mastering yet one more skill – this time sheep farming. He was able at last to enjoy more time with his four adult children, and finally and to his great joy, his grandchildren. To the end, he also remained a counsellor, problem solver and truly kind help,

to his enormous network of friends and contacts. It might be thought by outsiders to the legal profession that there are few corporate lawyers who are loved, but a few are, and Tim Wheldon uniquely so.”