Harbottle & Lewis LLP

Neil is a partner and head of the firm's theatre practice. Neil advises extensively in the theatre sector and is recognised as a leading practitioner both in the UK and abroad. In particular he provides strategic and business advice to players in the theatre and wider entertainment industries. His clients include leading producers, theatre owners and operators, subsidised sector venues and touring companies. He also advises a number of high profile rights owners in connection with the management and exploitation of their rights across a wide range of media and platforms. Neil has a prolific international practice, regularly advising in connection with productions opening on Broadway and in other territories worldwide, on transfers from Broadway to the West End and in particular on UK/US financing structures. Productions he has advised on include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, War Horse, Dear England, The Lehman Trilogy and Wicked.

Gary is a well-known international tax partner (non-lawyer) with particular expertise in contentious tax matters. He previously held senior positions at HMRC and leading accountancy firms. He has particular expertise in complex structures, including trusts and funds both in the UK and overseas, and supports non domicile and international clients in identifying areas of risk in their tax affairs. Gary is an expert on the various overseas tax agreements, international transparency, exchange of information and the increasing need for substance. Gary has particular expertise assisting clients who need to make disclosures to HMRC or who are under Code of Practice 8 & 9 (COP8 and COP9), or criminal tax investigation. He advises on international tax issues, the OECD BEPS programme (UK implementation) and the EU Anti Avoidance Tax Directive. He also advises private clients, trusts and corporate clients on a range of complex tax issues such as restructuring, residence, non domicile/remittances, transfer pricing matters, employment and property tax and various other matters including VAT. Gary spends a considerable amount of his time helping high net worth and high-profile individuals and their companies on managing tax avoidance dispute issues and tax risks relating to overseas structures. Gary also advises, in collaboration with our reputation management lawyers, individuals on protecting what is rightfully theirs while at the same time limiting any media exposure. Gary is an author for Bloomsbury and a tax lecturer on international tax matters. He also leads for the tax profession in tax consultations with HMRC and the Treasury.

Catherine Bedford

Widely regarded as one of the UK's most revered family lawyers, Catherine leads the family practice and is the firm's senior partner. Catherine has established her reputation at the pinnacle of family law. Her practice encompasses the full spectrum of family law in instances of relationship breakdown, and she advises on the highest profile, highest value and most complex cases in the family courts. Her clients typically face significant public and media scrutiny; Catherine resolves their most personal issues with empathy, sensitivity, determination and discretion. She’s described as having an “incredibly impressive strategic approach” and “unparalleled” client care skills. In April 2024 she was elected as the firm’s first female senior partner. Depending on each client’s needs, Catherine’s approach is tailor made; whether that be successful negotiating outside of the court process or tough litigating within it. Her work frequently involves high net worth individuals, ranging from successful CEOs and investment bankers, to sports stars and entertainers. Catherine specialises in complex financial matters, frequently advising her clients with regard to assets and trust structures, including locating hidden assets. Catherine is also highly experienced in all private law children matters including residence and contact, leave to remove children from the jurisdiction (both achieving and preventing), specific issue applications and prohibited steps orders. Catherine is particularly concerned with mental health issues for children and adolescents; she has for some time been involved with the Anna Freud Centre and is a trustee. She is also a trustee of the National Gallery Foundation Trust.

Melanie is a partner and head of the real estate practice, who advises on both commercial and residential property matters. She is also co-head of the retail and fashion group. She deals with commercial landlord and tenant work for both occupiers and investors including having dealt with pre-lets in some of London’s best known trophy buildings. She also acts on residential conveyancing matters with years of experience in high value prime central London properties, for both local and offshore clients, working closely with our private client lawyers. Much of her work is confidential in nature and she is works alongside our reputation protection team in order to maintain client privacy. Melanie acts on behalf of well-known brands and ultra high net worth and well-known personalities in the film, theatre, sport, fashion and restaurant industries. She also acts for corporates in the media, gaming, hospitality and music industries. Many of her clients instruct her on both their personal and business real estate needs.

Amy is a partner specialising in reputation management, information law and data privacy. Amy has a wealth of experience helping clients protect their reputation, personal information and data. She has a litigation background and advises on all legal areas relating to reputation protection and media law including defamation, privacy, confidentiality, data protection, freedom of information and harassment. Amy’s practice is international and she acts for a wide range of clients including corporates and brands, global figures, business professionals, high net worth individuals and people in the media and entertainment industries. Clients often seek Amy’s advice at times of crisis, including when faced with the threatened publication of damaging allegations, private information or personal data by media outlets or others. Amy also has particular expertise in contentious data protection issues including data subject access requests, data breaches and complaints to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Harry is a partner in the firm’s theatre, film and television groups. He advises producers, creatives, investors and venues across the theatre industry on matters including commissioning, development, production, financing, national and international transfers, licensing, digital captures and other associated sector arrangements. He works with clients of all sizes, ranging from established West End and Broadway producers to alumni of Stage One producing workshops, on all aspects relating to the creation and exploitation of plays, musicals and other live stage projects. Harry provides legal and strategic advice to clients operating across the wider media and entertainment industries both in the UK and internationally, including major film and television production companies and SVOD platforms. He also acts for a number of high-profile individual rights-holders on the protection and exploitation of their intellectual property rights and assets.

Zoë is a private client lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience. She advises on wealth and succession planning and provides UK tax and trust advice to families based both within and outside of the UK. Zoë is a trust expert and also advises on the use of companies and partnerships as alternative family wealth and business holding structures. For many of her client families, philanthropy and responsible business practices are an integral part of their planning and, in response to this demand, she has been developing the knowledge and contact base to help families with their philanthropic and social goals. She has been listed as a ‘Leading Lawyer’, a ‘Prominent Figure’ and a ‘Power Woman’ in the Citywealth Leaders List. She has also been recognised as an outstanding practitioner in Who’s Who Legal: Private Client.

Lidia advises on all aspects of family law and the ramifications of relationship breakdown. She advises on divorce and dealing with spouse’s financial claims against each other, whether through court proceedings or using alternative forms of dispute resolution where appropriate. Lidia can obtain emergency injunctions for clients who may be at risk of physical or emotional harm from their partners. Lidia also acts for parents in disputes relating to children, for example, applications for child arrangement orders which regulate children’s living arrangements as between their parents, obtaining financial provision from non-resident parents for children and obtaining parental orders for the intended parents of children born via surrogacy arrangements. Lidia drafts and negotiates pre-emptive agreements which regulate financial claims on the breakdown of relationships including nuptial agreements in the case of spouses and cohabitation agreements for unmarried couples. Lidia’s clients come from a wide range of professional backgrounds including media, finance, fashion, sport and those with complex business interests held across jurisdictions in different corporate and trust structures.

Katerina Capras

Katerina advises founders, investors, businesses and charities on a broad range of corporate, commercial and governance matters. She has experience in advising on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder arrangements, early-stage fundraisings, share incentive schemes and joint ventures, with particular expertise in the media, entertainment and technology sectors and the wider creative industries. She also has a particular interest in working with charities, social enterprises and philanthropic individuals and organisations and has extensive experience advising on charity formation, governance, regulatory compliance and corporate transactions involving charities and not-for-profit entities.

May is a managing associate who advises on private client work. May advises UK and international individuals and families on structuring, succession planning and capital taxes. May has particular expertise acting for entrepreneurs, business owners and entertainment clients on their wills, trusts and wider estate plans. An increasing part of May’s practice focuses on working with clients on their philanthropy and charitable giving, as an integral part of their planning, and May is a true expert in this area. May has been named as one of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for the past three years. May has been named as a “Rising Star” by The Legal 500 in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Marian is a partner and founder of the firm’s employment group. Marian advises employer and employee clients on a full range of contentious and non-contentious employment issues. She has an long-standing reputation in acting for C-level executives (CEOs, CFOs, COOs and CTOs) and other senior executives particularly in the creative, media and entertainment industries, as well as TV, theatre, fashion, retail, advertising, financial services and publishing. She also advises HNW individuals and family offices in relation to their household staff. Marian specialises in providing pragmatic and strategic advice to senior executives on exit negotiations on termination of employment (with potential claims such as unfair dismissal, discrimination, harassment and whistleblowing) settlement agreements, appointments, and restrictive covenants and workplace issues. She also advises employer clients on complex employee relations issues (including disciplinaries and grievances and sexual harassment), restructures (including individual and collective redundancies) and on the full range of employment documentation including settlement agreements, employment contracts and policies. Some of Marian’s employer clients include Marv Studios (film), Cast & Crew LLC (film), Seven.One Studios (TV and film), Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, Nimax Theatres, Society of London Theatre/Theatre UK, International Car Wash Group (retail), Wolford and various internationally acclaimed musicians and producers. Marian has celebrated a career of 40 years at Harbottle & Lewis having joined the firm in October 1984, becoming a corporate partner in 1989 and founding the employment group in 2000.

Catherine Flood

Catherine is a managing associate who advises clients on the development, financing, production and exploitation of feature films, television programmes and other content across both traditional and new media platforms. Catherine’s primary practice is her work with major US studios and streamers, including extensive work with Apple and Amazon. Additionally, she serves a range of UK independent film and television producers, as well as individual rightsholders, with notable clients including Complete Fiction, Marv and DNA Films. Catherine has a particular specialism in development and production work, where she advises on the full scope of legal and business affairs matters, taking a commercial and pragmatic approach. Catherine’s involvement in projects includes initial rights acquisition, copyright and chain of title issues through to all stages of production (from prep to post), dealing with the negotiation of cast, crew, location, production services and supplier agreements, as well as clearances. Catherine is very knowledgeable on union matters and regularly advises on the application of collective bargaining agreements to UK projects.

Zoey works with a broad range of clients across the creative industries, with a particular focus on the publishing industry and rights acquisition and exploitation in the film, TV and theatre industries. Her areas of specialism include book publishing agreements, audio and podcasting agreements, copyright analysis and advice including chain-of-title research, and rights acquisition and exploitation including book-to-screen and book-to-stage deals.

Yvonne Gallagher

Yvonne is an employment partner and head of the firm’s employment group. She advises on a full range of contentious and non-contentious employment law matters, including board disputes, employment claims (including discrimination claims) and disputes of all types in relation to remuneration and benefit arrangements. She is highly regarded for her realistic and pragmatic approach to finding resolutions to workplace conflicts. Yvonne has longstanding expertise in relation to transfer of undertakings (TUPE) and practical management of the implications for businesses of TUPE transfer situations. She has developed a particular specialism working with employers to resolve complex board disputes. She has considerable experience in advising charities and not-for-profit organisations as well as corporates of all sizes and structures ranging from startups to listed entities. Her advice includes ensuring contracts and policies are fit for purpose and resilient. Yvonne carries out both senior executive and partnership work alongside a busy corporate employment practice. She regularly advises high profile individuals who are exiting their roles and taking up new positions. This includes advising on complex remuneration and incentive structures. She is also very experienced in advising on the enforceability of restrictive covenants in executive service agreements and negotiating the terms of appointments. Yvonne is well known in the market and is often quoted in national and specialist press in relation to employment and HR topics.

Sofie has acted on a number of international contentious trust and probate matters, frequently involving allegations of dishonesty. She has also represented victims of fraud, both companies and individuals in assisting them to recover through the civil courts the proceeds of fraud. Sofie initially developed her specialism in trust and fraud cases, including cases of undue influence and forgery, whilst working at Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy. It was in Allen & Overy’s trust, asset tracing and fraud group, where she gained experience of obtaining freezing and proprietary injunctions, search orders and Norwich Pharmacal orders. Sofie also has the advantage of having worked in-house. Between 2001 to 2005, Sofie worked in the litigation team at Lloyds of London. While she continued to work on cases where there were allegations of dishonesty or wrongdoing, her in-house experience provided her with an understanding of the importance of identifying at the outset of a case the client’s objectives and delivering a solution which meets those objectives.

Howard Hymanson

Howard is a partner with a leading reputation for conducting high-value contentious employment disputes, both in an internal disciplinary setting and externally in the Employment Tribunal and High Court. Howard pursues a strategic lead approach, working closely with clients across a wide variety of industry settings, including financial and professional services, sport, and media and entertainment. Dealing with reputational management issues is a key feature of much of the work Howard undertakes and as well as dealing with discrimination and harassment claims he has also a particular expertise in cases involving workplace bullying, burn out and stress. In recent years, Howard has been advising on a number of the most high profile internal misconduct investigations that have dominated the news headlines. This continues to be a growing area of work and combines reputation management with employment law advice in high pressured situations. A cross-over area of legal work in which the firm is uniquely well placed to advise.

Mark is a Partner within the firm's Family department. He handles all aspects of private family law with a particular emphasis on complex financial and children cases, and those with an international dimension. Mark’s expertise include negotiating financial settlements on divorce and separation, as well as nuptial agreements. He regularly advises on arrangements for children following relationship breakdown and the international relocation of children. Mark has dealt with numerous jurisdiction disputes where there are contested proceedings in multiple countries. Mark is known for his “pitch-perfect” and strategic approach to cases. His clients appreciate his down to earth manner and his ability to simplify complex matters. He has been described by a leading KC as having “calm, grace and a great determination to achieve his clients’ objectives”. Mark represents clients from all walks of life, including those in the public eye. Often his clients have significant family assets, business interests, offshore assets, or complex asset-holding structures such as Trusts. Mark advises trustees in the context of matrimonial proceedings. He also regularly represents clients seeking to uncover hidden wealth. Mark is experienced in a number of sectors where the valuation of business interests, international property, as well as music, literary and other intellectual property rights is required. He regularly advises entrepreneurs and those working in the private equity, sport and technology sectors. Mark is recognised as a leading lawyer in The Legal 500 and Chambers, and is a “Top Recommended” family lawyer in Spear’s 500, having won a number of industry awards. He has been a partner since 2016 and holds a number of management roles in the firm.

Kieran is a partner and head of the firm’s music practice. He represents high profile music and entertainment industry clients on all their commercial issues including A list artists, song-writers, producers and mixers as well as independent management, record and publishing companies. His clients include some of the UK’s most successful artists and leading music industry executives. Kieran advises on all levels and types of recording, publishing, management, live performance, merchandise and endorsement agreements. He specialises in advising clients at the beginning of their career and connecting them with the relevant contacts in the music industry to develop and grow their teams, partners and business. Kieran also has a growing practice representing leading UK music industry executives in respect of their employment and entrepreneurial arrangements. Kieran has significant experience in sports law, having spent a number of years as partner at Herbert Reeves & Co, advising leading Premiership footballers and managers, athletes and agents on playing contracts, image rights arrangements and endorsements, broadcast arrangements, regulatory and disciplinary issues.

John is a reputation and brand protection lawyer with over 30 years’ experience in media and information law. John is one of the leading lawyers in all aspects of media and information law and is actively involved at the forefront of this field. John’s work is international and he advises clients all over the world including in the UK, US and the Middle East. He acts for A-list clients in the entertainment industry, music and sport. He also represents UHNW clients and corporate clients. He has represented a host of well-known clients including the First Lady of the United States Melania Trump, Angelina Jolie, Madonna, Nicole Kidman, Steve Coogan, and Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne. John has developed Personal Protection Principles which are used to protect clients’ reputations, their family and their security. John is a sought after speaker on reputation protection and personal protection rights both in the UK, and internationally including in the US, Middle East and Australia. John is recognised as a ‘Leading Lawyer’ in Chambers UK, The Legal 500, Chambers High Net Worth and Spear’s Magazine and has been named ‘Reputation Protection Lawyer of the Year’ by Spear’s.

Ed advises founders, businesses and investors on a broad range of corporate, corporate finance and commercial matters. He has a particular interest and expertise in the creative industries, including film and TV, video games and music, and in the broader media, entertainment and technology sectors. His practice spans mergers and acquisitions, fundraises from pre-seed to series A and beyond, startups, growth equity investments, public takeovers, joint ventures, management incentive arrangements, including EMI options, and SEIS/EIS investments. He is actively involved as a speaker and mentor for a number of different industry accelerators and trade bodies, including Indielab, BAFTA and UKIE. Ed trained and qualified at Linklaters, where he spent five and a half years in the private equity M&A team acting for a variety of private equity houses and businesses on leveraged and non-leveraged buy-outs, growth equity investments, exits, management incentive arrangements and bolt-on acquisitions.

Sarah Lazarides

Sarah is head of the firm’s film and TV practice. She provides advice and support in all areas surrounding the development, production, and exploitation of audio-visual content. Sarah is an industry leader, advising global studios and streamers, indies, rightsholders and talent across film, television and other forms of scripted and unscripted content. She has extensive experience with advising on development, finance, production and distribution matters, as well as negotiating rights deals and handling complex chain of title issues. Sarah is valued for her business and commercial acumen and is ranked as a leading adviser across film and television by both The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. Her clients include major streamers (Apple, Amazon), US studios (Disney, Universal Pictures), market-leading indies (Working Title, Complete Fiction, New Regency, Neal Street) and unscripted producers (Box to Box) as well as talent such as Stormzy and rightsholders such as Rebellion and Hachette. Sarah is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion within the industry and runs a mentoring and networking programme geared towards women working in legal and business affairs. She is a trustee of the Screen Academy Foundation, a charity set up by Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan, Barbara Broccoli and David Heyman, amongst others, to support young people from minority backgrounds trying to make their way in the industry. Sarah was shortlisted as ‘Law Firm Leader of the Year (small to medium sized practice)’ at the Women and Diversity in Law Awards 2023.

Charlie Leveque

Charlie is the firm’s co-managing partner and head of the corporate practice. Outside of his management roles, Charlie advises on a wide range of corporate transactions from private and public mergers and acquisitions to investments, joint ventures, fundraisings and shareholder arrangements involving private equity, venture capital, family office and strategic parties. He has advised on a number of IPOs on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. His clients comprise investors, funds and companies of all sizes, from startups to international corporations in a wide range of industries; he is particularly experienced in advising clients in the technology, media, entertainment, retail and leisure sectors. He is also passionate about advising entrepreneurs, accompanying them from the inception of their ideas to exit.

Michael is a partner and specialist sport and entertainment industry lawyer. He advises players and athletes, professional clubs and teams, brand sponsors and sports governing bodies on contractual and regulatory matters. His work covers several sports including football, motorsport, golf, tennis, cricket, rugby, cycling and athletics. Michael’s work for sports men and women includes advising on contracts with their clubs and teams and image rights exploitation including endorsement contracts. He also advises various sports teams on commercial contracts including licensing, sponsorship and merchandising. His work advising brands and sponsors includes drafting and negotiating sponsorship agreements with sports teams or in relation to major events such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship and UEFA Champions League, the Premier League, the ICC Cricket World Cup and Formula One. Michael’s wider entertainment industry work involves advising a wide range of talent on contracts with brands and agencies. This includes many of the UK’s most well-known models, influencers and streamers. He also advises a number of creative agencies. Michael began his career as a sports lawyer working for the organising committee of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tony is the firm’s co-managing partner and co-lead of the firm’s venture capital and emerging companies practice. Tony advises on a wide range of corporate transactions, including investments and venture capital deals, buying and selling businesses and shareholder arrangements. Tony is widely recognised as one of the leading venture capital lawyers in the UK and is a trusted adviser to entrepreneurial businesses and to the investors in such businesses, with a particular focus on the technology, media and entertainment sectors. Tony frequently advises emerging companies and the founders behind such companies on their full lifecycle from inception of an idea through to funding rounds, exit and beyond as well as the venture capital funds and investors that invest in such high growth businesses.

Charles specialises in private client disputes, particularly international trust and estates litigation. Charles has been the head of Macfarlanes private client disputes group since 2001. Charles has particular expertise in international trusts and estate litigation for high-net-worth individuals. He has a depth of experience in advising trustees, beneficiaries, protectors, executors, administrators in contentious situations arising out of disputes involving these structures. In particular, he advises on disputes relating to the succession of valuable family businesses held in complex structures, involving trusts, foundations, partnerships and other corporate entities, as well as cross-border estates. He has a depth of experience in Shari’a law succession disputes. He also works increasingly at the point of intersection between traditional private client litigation, white collar criminal, regulatory investigations and fraud.

Kostyantyn Lobov

Kostyantyn is a partner and co-head of the firm’s interactive entertainment practice. He advises on all aspects of intellectual property, advertising and regulatory issues. Being a litigator by background, he can advise at all stages of a dispute; from early-stage strategy and negotiations to litigation in the High Court and beyond. A significant part of his practice involves co-ordinating advice for projects spanning multiple jurisdictions. He also advises on the practical application of advertising codes and investigations by regulators such as the ASA, CMA and Trading Standards. Kostyantyn works extensively with clients in the video game and esports sectors, including studios and publishers of all sizes. His wider client base includes brand owners, production companies and various members of the creative industries, tech startups, importers and distributors. They range in size from SMEs to multinational corporations with large in-house legal teams.

Tom is a corporate partner and co-head of the venture capital and emerging companies practice. He advises founders, growing entrepreneurial businesses, venture capital funds and angel investors on a broad range of corporate matters including acquisitions and disposals, exits, all forms of financing rounds (S/EIS, venture capital, venture debt, VCT, growth capital), joint ventures, corporate restructurings and share incentivisation schemes. Tom is seen as a rising star in the industry and is known for combining excellent technical skills alongside a pragmatic, commercial approach. Tom has a particular focus on advising high-growth technology companies and is equally adept advising on early stage investments or later stage transactions for both investors and investees alike. Tom is also part of the firm’s international strategy group, with a particular focus on the USA.

Leo Marino advises on a broad range of property matters, with particular specialism in the acquisition and disposal of properties held as investments, sale and leasebacks, property development, mortgage refinancing, business leases and lease renewals. He also advises on the purchase and sale of high value residential properties. Leo acts for a number of property investment companies and syndicates of investors, landlords and tenants, and property developers. Many investors are well known music artists. He also acts for IMO Car Wash, the world’s largest car wash operator with approximately 280 sites in the UK.

Daniel advises on all aspects of personal injury and sports law-related claims. He also specialises in high value clinical negligence claims. Daniel also has experience in media, defamation, phone hacking and privacy matters for both individuals and corporates, and also deals with reputation management advice. Daniel is also recognised as an expert in sports law and has acted for clients including Darrell Hair, Mike Tyson, Sam Allardyce and a number of Premier League footballers and other high profile individuals. He frequently advises on high-value employer liability and public liability claims (and often multi-party actions) involving many jurisdictions, with particular emphasis in the construction industry and the close protection industry. He is known for obtaining seven figure sums in complex claims.

Bob is a partner and has been head of the firm’s sports practice for over 25 years. He specialises in all aspects of sports law, with significant expertise in advising sports focused clients on both commercial and regulatory issues. Bob has particular experience in negotiating and providing advice on the terms of commercial sports agreements, particularly those relating to sponsorship deals, but also participation, staging, promoter and venue agreements, and advising on sports regulatory and disciplinary issues. He advises a cross-section of clients including governing bodies (such as Cricket West Indies), other sports rights owners (including the Professional Cricketers’ Association, The Queen’s Club and the World Cricketers’ Association), and a number of sports marketing and management agencies. In addition, Bob advises individual sportsmen and women (including the collective members of the England cricket team) on their arrangements with sponsors, governing bodies, agencies and teams. He also advises a range of brands such as Emirates and Diageo (whose brands include Guinness and Johnnie Walker) on their sponsorships of various sports rights properties. Bob was instrumental in the creation of the Team England Player Partnership (TEPP), the body that represents the England’s cricketers in relation to commercial, employment and disciplinary matters. He has acted for TEPP and the England players for the last 25 years. Bob is a member of the European Sponsorship Association (ESA) and until recently was a member of the ESA Board.

Chris Moorcroft

Chris is a private client adviser to individuals, families and trustees. He helps clients transfer wealth between generations, protect it from third parties, plan for death or incapacity, and manage complex cross-border tax and legal issues. He has significant experience acting for trustees in international disputes and also conducts the administration of estates which are the subject of dispute. He advises on will planning and probate, particularly those which involve multiple jurisdictions, and acts as executor and administrator of estates. He advises both international and domestic clients, with a particular focus on US-connected clients and those from LATAM and Africa. He has an interest in the ‘next gen’ of wealth owners and speaks extensively on the topic of transitioning wealth to millennials and Gen Z. He is globally recognised as a leading expert on trustees engaging in ESG, sustainable and values-aligned investing. Chris has acted as an expert witness on English tax and legal questions in both UK and international disputes.

Tim is a partner and co-leads our hospitality and leisure sector. Tim has a wealth of experience providing strategic, legal advice to a wide range of clients in entrepreneurial businesses. He is particularly adept at handling corporate and finance transactions, and advising on mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships and joint ventures. He also advises clients seeking to raise capital on and off-market as well as a number of corporate investors. His clients principally operate and invest in the media and technology sectors and range from early stage companies to a number of listed companies on both AIM and the Official List of the London Stock Exchange.

Abigail is a partner in the firm’s film and television group. Abigail provides expert advice on all aspects of film and television development, production, financing and distribution. She is particularly renowned for her expertise in structuring international co-productions and providing advice on international subsidies and tax credits as well as other financing structures. She advises clients from across the industry, including film and television funds, television platforms, banks, studios, completion guarantors, leading producers, distributors, talent agents, literary estates and other underlying rights holders. Abigail works closely with Indies, supported by the firm’s close relationship with Indielab, an accelerator for companies in the film, television, animation and games sectors. She, alongside numerous others in the firm, provides companies and individuals in its cohort with a range of free advice, including in relation to the film and television industry as well as issues with fundraising and financing. Abigail is a member of BAFTA and Women in Film and Television. She was also awarded The Legal 500’s ‘Technology, Media and Telecoms Lawyer of the Year (London)’ in 2019.

Shireen Peermohamed

Shireen is a partner and head of our intellectual property and publishing practices. Shireen advises on all types of intellectual property, with a particular emphasis on pragmatic and cost effective disputes and strategic advice. She also provides advice on the protection of IP, IP audits, the exploitation and disposal of IP and the management and enforcement programmes Her 30 years’ experience means that she is a trusted adviser to many leading businesses and has deep and strong experience in a number of sectors and issues. Shireen works with clients in a wide range of sectors, including FMCG, retail, fashion, film, TV and theatre, publishing, music, video games and travel. She has a particular interest in the publishing industry (advising a number of leading publishers, authors, literary estates and content platforms) and in cutting edge issues such as the intersection between AI and IP. Shireen has been listed as both a recommended IP lawyer and a recommended publishing lawyer by Chambers and The Legal 500 for many years. She has been ranked by IP Stars as a ‘Top 250 Women in IP 2025’, ‘Trade mark star 2025’, and ‘Transactions Star 2025’. Shireen was a council member of the Advertising Standards Authority, adjudicating on advertising complaints, for six years. She currently sits on the Portman Group Independent Complaints Panel and the Games Rating Authority Appeals Panel.

Mark is a partner and leads our interactive entertainment practice. He is recognised as a leader in the fields of interactive entertainment, the internet, e-commerce and publishing and is considered one of the country’s leading practitioners in video games law and the law of publishing. Mark also specialises in corporate, commercial and copyright work for clients in the media, arts and technology industries. Mark’s clients are wide ranging from working with major international organisations and businesses, to smaller and growing startups, advising at every stage of the business. Mark is ranked as a Band 1 lawyer in the Chambers UK guide for interactive entertainment, and is in The Legal 500 “Hall of Fame” for video games. Mark is also on the advisory board of Games London and The London Games Festival, is a non-executive director for the Neon Group and is a trustee of various charities.

Sam is a sports and entertainment industry lawyer advising on commercial and regulatory matters. He has experience across a range of sports with a focus on cricket, motorsport and football, advising on team, player and participant issues, commercial rights and brand management. He has particular expertise advising on complex and high value sponsorship and endorsement contracts, acting regularly for both rights holders and sponsors, and is a Board Director of the European Sponsorship Association. He also advises clients within the publishing industry and other creative industries in relation to the exploitation of intellectual property, including authors, publishers, media and technology platforms, brand owners and licensees.

David is a corporate tax and share incentives partner in our corporate group. He has a wealth of experience providing corporate and personal tax advice to the full range of the firm’s clients and his core practice involves tax advice for entrepreneurs and their businesses. David has considerable experience advising on the tax aspects of M&A transactions and expertise in all aspects of share incentive arrangements. David works closely with businesses at varied stages of growth and size, advising both investors and investee companies on tax efficient fundraising, including EIS and SEIS, through to an exit. He also advises on a range of employment tax issues, including share based incentives and option schemes ranging from the implementation of EMI and CSOP share schemes to highly tailored share-based arrangements for senior management such as growth shares. He also advises on the use of employee benefit trusts (EBT) and employee ownership trusts (EOT). As the head of the charities and philanthropy group, he advises not-for-profit organisations and individual philanthropists on all charity law issues, including commercial arrangements and corporate governance issues, as well on specific charity tax issues.

Sandi has been a dispute resolution specialist for over 25 years. She is a Partner and Head of the firm's Commercial Litigation group and Co-Head of the multi-disciplinary Retail and Fashion group. She undertakes a wide variety of commercial litigation , providing key strategic and commercial advice from the outset of any dispute. Sandi has extensive knowledge and experience in all areas of the media and entertainment industry and advises a number of the firm’s retail, fashion, interactive entertainment, music, publishing, theatre, film and television clients. As well as having wide-ranging experience in taking cases to trial, she also has significant experience in both bringing and defending applications for injunctive relief. She is also experienced in resolving disputes through alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation.

Gerrard Tyrrell

Gerrard is a partner and head of the firm’s media and information practice. Gerrard is widely regarded as the leading lawyer in information protection, privacy and defamation. He acts for many household names both in the UK and globally, including senior members of the Royal Family, as well as other foreign royalty, heads of state and former prime ministers together with world-leading names in the IP, tech and entertainment worlds. Gerrard also acts for a number of leading family offices of leading UHNW individuals, global investment funds and leading “world” brands. Gerrard was awarded for ‘Outstanding Legal Achievement’ by Spear’s in 2017. He has also been listed in the Spear’s 500 index of top recommended reputation management solicitors from 2017 to 2024.

Nicholas Westley

Nicholas is a partner and an experienced family barrister. He specialises in complex financial matters (both financial remedy and Schedule 1 claims). He is particularly experienced in advising in cases involving substantial wealth and complex asset-holding structures, including assets held outside of England. He also is adept at protecting family wealth, drafting nuptial agreements and advising family trusts and family offices in the context of marriages, civil partnerships and divorce. Nicholas also represents clients in relation to disputes involving children, both in respect of domestic issues but also international relocation cases. He regularly represents clients in High Court proceedings and on occasion in the Court of Appeal. Nicholas acts for people from all walks of life. He regularly acts for people in the public eye, working closely with the firm’s reputation management experts to protect his clients’ confidentiality. He also frequently acts for people in the financial services industry (and their spouses) and has significant experience of acting in cases involving private equity issues. Nicholas studied law at Oxford University where he was awarded a first class degree, before practising as a barrister for eight years at Queen Elizabeth Building Chambers. Nicholas is consistently recognised as a leading partner in The Legal 500 and Chambers. He is also a “Top Recommended” family lawyer in Spear’s 500 and has been listed as one of Spear’s top 30 family lawyers.

Lizzie Williams

Lizzie Williams is a partner and solicitor advocate specialising in commercial litigation. Lizzie has a diverse commercial disputes practice and wide-ranging experience of litigation and arbitration including urgent injunctions, appeals and group litigation. Lizzie acts for a wide range of clients, from high net worth individuals to large corporates, including technology companies, established brands across a broad range of industries, public sector entities and startups. Lizzie has particular expertise in commercial disputes with a technology angle. Lizzie advises on traditional IT disputes (involving hardware, software development, outsourcing and licensing) and disputes involving emerging technologies (including artificial intelligence, digital assets and blockchain). In addition, Lizzie advises on disputes arising out of cyber-attacks and online payment frauds, disputes involving investments into technology companies, disputes about technology procurement processes and the management and resetting of distressed digital transformation projects. Lizzie is recognised as a “Key Lawyer” in Commercial Litigation and Artificial Intelligence in The Legal 500. Clients say Lizzie “is the best commercial litigator around” and praise her “calm, responsive and very creative approach delivered with considerable expertise”. Lizzie is the author of the Practical Law practice note AI Disputes and Risk Mitigation and the book A Practical Guide to Smart Contracts and the Law and regularly speaks at industry events.

Alasdair Wilson

Alasdair advises individuals, families and fiduciaries based in the UK and overseas in relation to all matters of international taxation, wealth structuring, global compliance and cross-border estate planning. This includes tax and legal advice to wealth generators or custodians who are moving between countries, seeking to maintain tax efficiency across multiple jurisdictions or passing ownership or control to the next generation. Alasdair has significant experience in advising US-UK clients, individual entrepreneurs and family businesses. He also has a particular interest in clients connected to civil law jurisdictions, in particular France, Belgium and Switzerland, as well as to Latin America and the Middle East. Alasdair is a full member of STEP and was named a “Rising Star” in The Legal 500 2024. He previously spent nine months on secondment to a multi-family office headquartered in London.

Sacha is a commercial and regulatory lawyer with particular expertise in advertising, digital and data privacy. He is head of the firm’s cross-departmental advertising practice. He advises clients from a variety of sectors, including some of the world’s best known brands, agencies and platforms. He is ranked for advertising and digital media in both The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners and is recognised as one of the UK’s leading advertising lawyers. Sacha advises on a range of commercial transactions and has particular expertise in advertising-related agreements (such as creative agency, media planning and buying, production and brand partnerships). He is particularly well known for his expertise in digital marketing and adtech. He also has expertise in general advertising compliance (including prize promotions, native advertising and influencer marketing) as well as ecommerce and online consumer regulations. Sacha also works within the firm’s retail and technology practices and regularly advises well-known retail brands on a range of retail-focused commercial agreements including distribution, licensing, and franchise agreements, as well as clients across a range of industries on tech focused agreements such as software development, SaaS, and IT services contracts. In relation to data privacy, Sacha has advised on all the key compliance areas, and has worked with a large number of clients on their data protection compliance programmes. He has particular expertise in the data privacy aspects of marketing, adtech and digital media. He frequently advises on the compliance aspects of adtech vendor arrangements, programmatic advertising, and mobile apps. He also has expertise in the legal issues associated with AI, particularly in the context of advertising and marketing. He regularly advises clients on the privacy, IP, contractual and regulatory issues associated with the use and deployment of AI for a range of purposes in the advertising and marketing industries.