Forbes Solicitors

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Billing & efficiencySector knowledge

Shirley Faragher

Shirley Faragher, Partner and Head of Housing Management has 15-years PQE. She has been working with Registered Providers since 2005 and has an excellent understanding of the challenges facing the sector. Shirley is a specialist advocate and has her Higher Rights qualification. As an experienced Solicitor Advocate Shirley attends trials and hearings throughout the country on behalf of Registered Providers. Shirley obtained the first without notice injunction from Preston County Court just days after Part 1 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 came into force. Specialising in ASB and Housing Management, Shirley advises on an array of issues including succession/ exchange, possession against trespassers, tenancy enforcement, mental health, equality and human rights. With a wealth of experience in addressing complex disability issues including lack of mental capacity and mental illness, Shirley works in partnership with her clients to find practical solutions whilst adopting a cost-effective approach. Shirley’s clients are enthusiastic advocates of the attentive service provided. Shirley regularly delivers training and has upskilled housing officers in several organisations enabling them to apply for their own without notice anti-social behaviour injunctions. This included bespoke training around preparing the applications and presenting at court. Mentoring and shadowing was provided to staff so that they felt supported through the process. Shirley has spoken at Forbes events in conjunction with partner agencies e.g. Police, Local Authorities and statutory bodies, to raise awareness around Cuckooing and County Lines. In addition, Shirley regularly provides internal training for client’s helping to upskill and empower staff

Catherine Kennedy

Catherine Kennedy is a Partner and Head of Housing Property with 37-years experience. She has extensive experience in development and commercial lease matters with commercial property transactions of all types, from Social Housing and Urban Regeneration to NHS estate reconfiguration, public private partnerships, funding/development scheme. Catherine’s acted for institutional investors, NHS, local authorities, charities, public bodies, registered providers, educational bodies, residential/ commercial developers on acquisitions, disposals and relating funding, planning, environmental and construction matters. Catherine specialises in complex redevelopment site assembly and disposals with related suites of development documents. She finds innovative solutions to complex site and title issues, unlocking sites for regeneration and development. She has worked closely with public sector clients to regenerate and rationalise their estates. Catherine’s worked with local authorities in connection with their redevelopment brief, devising streamlined procedures. Catherine is leading the team through substantial growth to achieve their ongoing development and commercial objectives . Catherine has overall responsibility for Property services and supports team members in dealing with complex transactions. She has extensive rationalisation experience devising efficient ways to undertake bulk transactions ensuring correct teams are put together to steer matters to conclusion in a timely manner.

Claire Opacic

Claire is a partner in the casualty team and deals with a mixture of employers' liability and public liability claims. She also handles claims with issues under the New Roads and Street Works Act and has experience with product liability claims under the Consumer Protection Act and Sales of Goods Act, acting for both manufacturers and suppliers.

Katy Parkinson

Katy is a Partner in the Commercial Employment team based in our Lancashire office. Katy takes a proactive and pragmatic approach to advising commercial clients on contentious and non-contentious aspects of the employment lifecycle. She prioritises developing relationships with her clients, taking time to get to know their business and understanding their objectives and the challenges they face. Katy has extensive experience of working closely with clients and providing strategic advice on complex projects such as company restructuring, collective redundancy processes, outsourcing and TUPE. Katy also represents clients when disputes arise, dealing with settlement agreements, ACAS Early Conciliation and Employment Tribunal proceedings. She enjoys working collaboratively with our other commercial teams, providing advice and support to clients on relevant employment law considerations. She works with the Corporate team on transactions, the Insolvency team where they are advising distressed businesses and the Dispute Resolution team on director/shareholder disputes, negotiating senior exits and enforcing restrictive covenants. Katy regularly provides training to clients on a broad range of topics, as well as presenting to the business community at both internal and external events. She prides herself on her Lancashire roots and feels privileged to advise and support SMEs in her local area, although she also regularly advises companies further afield, both nationally and internationally. Clients value her personalised approach coupled with her technical expertise and commercial awareness, and they consistently return to take Katy’s advice.

Ruth Rule-Mullen

Ruth has been our Head of the Public Sector Employment sine 2018 having specialised in employment law for over 25 She delivers sound strategic advice from a position of knowledge and experience, with an impressive understanding of the sector and the specific challenges public sector clients face. She is adept at identifying issues early and providing pragmatic advice to clients tailored to their desired outcomes whilst also offering support and reassurance as to the way forward. She advises on the more complex matters where experience is needed in managing clients’ teams; their trade union relations; their reputational risks; and has a sound understanding of the need for value in line with public sector principles and how clients utilise public money. During 2025-26, she is proud to have led a talented and hard working team who put clients at the forefront of their advice and support. Ruth has played an integral role in supporting, mentoring and developing the team by providing supervision and commercial strategic overview; supporting delegation of work and allocating clients to align with the right team members for them and their work. Ruth is recognised for her key role in securing new clients and managing client relationships; having worked via tender process and seizing opportunities within the sector; whilst still being available to clients to provide complex and technical advice. She works hard to engage with potential new clients; referrers and contacts at an early stage to understand their specific needs and explore ways of working that present quality and value in achieving desired objectives. This allows her to lead the team bringing niche ways of working and new ideas for development of markets where there is sufficient demand whilst sustaining long standing relationships. Ruth is frequently recognised by clients and contacts within the education and public sectors as someone who is a more than able communicator; direct, decisive, and pragmatic and is sought out by clients for her approachability and her ability to work with them to provide solutions. She is sought out regularly due to her reputation in the sector and is able to ably signpost clients to other colleagues in the relevant sectors. Ruth has a particular eye for detail, and has a strong client care ethic with willingness to listen and address the issues clients face which is demonstrated by her long standing relationships with clients. ‎ She is a Trustee for a multi academy trust which gives her another perspective on the issues her clients experience. She has represented both employees and employers at Employment Tribunal, including conducting her own advocacy on multi-day cases. Ruth is also highly experienced in negotiating complex settlements and exits for her clients, and is a skilled investigator. Ruth has carried out several complex and high-profile investigations on behalf of clients and provides strategic advice around complex redundancy and restructures, TUPE and complex discrimination cases. She has recently supported clients to work with colleagues who advise on exclusions and SEND issues arising from complaints received by clients in the education sector. Ruth is a trusted advisor to many clients and colleagues and is recognised as a regular and knowledgeable speaker at events. She has hosted regular Q&As for the Education sector on a variety of topics bringing different areas of law to the sector. She presents webinars and bespoke training sessions to clients including most recently sexual harassment; Employment Rights Act and pay negotiations – collective bargaining, the impact of AI on education. She leads on building profile and presence for the team working in partnership with the Key; ISBL; and LASBM in the education sector. Ruth was involved in speaking at a Panel session at the ISBL national conference in 2025 addressing business leaders in education and following her address was complemented for her understanding of the challenges faced in the sector. She is also a regular contributor on social media and in the press; having been quoted a number of times on press pieces in the education sector and updating the sector; being ahead of the curve on dealing with the real issues in education. She and the team have recently hosted Mock Employment Tribunals; frequent Q&A sessions and Mock Disciplinary cases to provide both paid training and added value for some existing clients and potential new clients. She also recognises the significant contribution of her immediate team and the wider Forbes Education and Housing team; who work together to support the growth and presence in the sectors.

Jennifer Smith

Jennifer joined the firm as a Partner in July 2021, to develop and lead on the firm’s Manchester employment strategy. In September 2024 she was promoted to the position of Head of Commercial Employment, covering both Lancashire and Manchester. Jennifer now leads on the firm’s overall commercial employment strategy, to grow and expand the employment department. A key achievement over the last 12 months, is the building of a solid international client base, which has brought significant additional revenue to the department. The commercial employment team has seen continued significant growth following Jennifer’s appointment, with impressive new client wins. Jennifer continues to work hard to establish strategic partnerships with other organisations and build the Forbes brand within Manchester and Lancashire. Forbes have a strategic relationship with Pro-Manchester and the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce. Jennifer uses her network to collaborate with other well-established businesses, to help build the Forbes brand in Manchester, including the Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub. Jennifer was invited to present alongside the UK MD of Hays Recruitment at an invitation only round table event, as a result of the positive feedback regarding Jennifer’s style. Jennifer is recognised and actively sought after as a speaker in the North West on employment and HR matters, regularly speaking at events hosted by the CIPD, charities, government bodies and collaborating with commercial businesses. As a result of her professional reputation as a leading employment law expert and accessible and attentive business advisor in the Manchester business community, Jennifer continues to be an executive director of Pro-Manchester, the largest business development organisation in the North West and has been voted to be the Chair in 2027. Jennifer takes a dynamic and pragmatic approach to finding workable commercial solutions for her clients and provides the best service possible by listening to her client's goals and then being honest and realistic from the outset. Jennifer advises and assists private sector clients, from local SMEs to large multinational companies and PLCs, with particular expertise in the retail, manufacturing and recruitment industries. Jennifer deals with complex restructures and highly sensitive board disputes. She has been invited to provide training and strategy sessions to a variety of different boards of directors, on matters such as sexual harassment in the workplace and difficult restructure touch points, to try and avoid litigation flowing from the process.

Pauline Wild

Pauline took the role of Managing Partner in 2022 and prior to this she was the Head of the firm’s Corporate team overseeing the firm’s commercial strategy. Alongside the other members of the Executive Committee Pauline sets the strategic direction of the firm and plays a leading role in the delivery of that strategy and in the delivery and performance of our teams. Pauline has led on the development of the firm’s Purpose, Vision and Values and passionately believes in the difference between Forbes and other law firms and how we as a business redefine how people feel about lawyers from both an internal and external perspective. Pauline is a passionate, authentic, empathetic leader who truly cares about the development of others. Pauline has dedicated over 22 years of her career to Forbes and is exceptionally proud to be custodian of the firm in her role as Managing Partner. Pauline is a very well-respected corporate lawyer who has been consistently accredited in the Legal 500 as a leading individual in corporate work. Her impressive journey at Forbes, her understanding of the firm’s culture, its people, its clients and her deep understanding of business leaves her very well placed to lead the firm in the next phase of the firm’s journey.