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Ben Acheson
Ben Acheson
Partner Ben is head of the Real Estate team in our Birmingham office and has more than 15 years of experience in real estate transactions. Ben spent 12 years at City law firm Macfarlanes before taking on the role of head of real estate for the Birmingham office of Irwin Mitchell. He deals with all aspects of real estate work including investment and development transactions, both for commercial/mixed use and residential projects, as well as acting for both landlords and tenants on commercial occupier work.
Anthony Allen
Tony heads our world renowned yacht team, and has more than 20 years' experience of yacht-related legal issues. With an international client base and having worked with most of the leading European yacht underwriters and yards, he enjoys a reputation as one of the leaders in this field.His work focuses primarily on large yacht transactions and major yacht insurance disputes whilst he also has an active involvement in industry bodies such as the Superyacht Society, the British Marine Federation and its Superyacht UK initiative, and the Royal Yachting Association.
Stuart Armstrong
Stuart Armstrong
Initially specialising in subrogated cargo recoveries before broadening his areas of practice to include all types of logistics and commodity trade disputes, Stuart qualified as a solicitor in 1983. He joined the firm in 2001 and heads our London cargo and logistics team.Stuart's expertise lies in marine, air and road cargo claims and related marine cargo insurance and freight liability insurance disputes and his caseload now encompasses: Charterparties Bills of lading CMR and domestic road haulage Warsaw and Montreal conventions GAFTA/FOSFA contracts The Institute Cargo Clauses With experience in admiralty and commercial court cases, London arbitration and mediation, Stuart's focus is on dispute resolution in a quick and cost-effective manner.
Paul Baker
Paul Baker
With over 30 years' experience, Paul is a partner in our private client team who deals with tax, trusts, wills, probate, succession and charities matters.He joined the firm in 1996, became a partner in 1997, and is ranked in both the Chambers and Legal 500 legal directories. He enjoys a national reputation as a leading practitioner. Dealing with all aspects of private client work, he has a particular expertise in advising high-net-worth individuals (including business owners and landowners) on tax and succession planning. This includes advice on: Will structuring The use of trusts Inheritance tax Capital gains tax Domicile and offshore matters Paul advises foreign resident and domiciled persons on offshore trusts and UK taxation. Paul also has a experience in advising individuals on establishing new charities and works closely with registered charities on constitutional and governance issues.
Michael Blakey
Michael Blakey
Michael is a partner in our property and construction team based in Manchester. He is also the anti-money laundering officer for the LLP. With over 35 years' experience handling high-value commercial property investment work, Michael has been involved in some of the largest transactions in Manchester. These include: £100 million sale of the Arndale Centre Redevelopment of the Marks and Spencers store Acquisitions and sale of Lee House Churchgate House The Zenith Building and; many other multi-million pound sales and purchases, particularly office buildings in the City of Manchester. Michael acts principally for land owners and developers, including UPS Limited, P&O Shopping Centres Limited, The Wrather Group and various Friendly Societies and numerous private investors in the North West. His portfolio includes a number of covered shopping centres, industrial parks and retail parks.
Ralph Bullivant
Ralph Bullivant
Ralph is a partner in the property litigation team and advises on all types of property disputes, specialising in landlord and tenant, tenant default and lease renewals.He acts for a wide range of clients including high street retailers, NHS trusts, developers and landlords, and provides advice on issues arising out of tenant default, achieving vacant possession and lease renewals. Ralph is a member of the Property Litigation Association and is a regular presenter to the RICS and clients on contentious property issues. He also has extensive experience in advising and obtaining vacant possession of commercial lease premises whether or not with the benefit of protection under the 1954 Act and is an acknowledged expert on the recovery of commercial rent arrears. He acts on behalf of one of the country’s largest firms of certificated bailiffs and over the last 12 months has spoken to approximately 2,500 of their clients on the implementation of commercial rent arrears recovery (CRAR).
John Caddies
John Caddies
Head of our Marine PI and Regulatory, John worked with the previous head of department, Maria Pittordis, for 28 years and has taken over the role as a result of her sad passing. Specialising in high-value, complex personal injury and industrial disease claims, John joined the firm in 1988 and has dealt with complex and high-value employers' liability and public liability personal injury claims for over 25 years, varying from athletes to divers. A marine and transport claims' specialist, he regularly visits ports and attends onboard vessels to carry out immediate post-accident investigations, liaising with the HSE, MAIB, MCA and the police, and advising in relation to both the consequent criminal prosecutions as well as the civil claims. John has significant expertise in dealing with fatal claims, psychiatric injuries and multi-party litigation in the “BOWBELLE”/“MARCHIONESS” and “COSTA CONCORDIA” litigation, and leads a team with extensive experience in GI, legionella, norovirus and sexual assault claims. John also has specific expertise in dealing with industrial disease claims, particularly asbestos, asthma, vibration white finger and stress at work and argued the only successful date of knowledge defence for ship owners in the reported case of G Smith (deceased) -v- P&O Bulk Shipping Limited. He regularly lectures and provides training to clients both in the UK and Europe on both personal injury and industrial disease claims.
Iain Campbell
Iain Campbell
A partner in our commercial litigation team, Iain has lengthy experience of both dispute resolution and regulatory defence work for clients in many sectors, including financial services, retail and higher education.His litigation experience ranges from commercial disputes to emergency injunctions and crisis management. Iain's specialisms include competition law, restraint of trade and financial regulation. He lectures for CPD providers on technical topics such as legal professional privilege, and is also a mediator, being a member of the national panel of The Mediator Network. As a student, Iain won the Observer Mace debating tournament and subsequently graduated in law from Manchester University.
Bill Chandler
Bill Chandler
Bill is the professional support lawyer to our national property and construction team, providing technical legal support to the team and its clients.Prior to assuming his present role, Bill was a partner in the property team with over 10 years' transactional experience acting for retailers, developers and others on all aspects of commercial property work - including acquisitions and disposals, landlord and tenant, and development work.A regular speaker on property topics for the client seminar programme and at events organised by various professional bodies, he also writes regular articles for the firm's newsletters, the local press and various legal and property publications. Bill also devises and presents a number of internal training courses.Bill graduated from Cardiff University in 1993 with a first class honours degree in law and several prizes, including  best overall degree result. He achieved a distinction on the LPC at the Chester branch of the College of Law the following year.
David Chinn
David Chinn
David is a partner in the construction team and advises on both contentious and non-contentious construction and engineering work. He is also head of the business services team.David joined the firm in 1988 and became a partner in 1992. He has been advising on construction/engineering law since 1990. Involved in many high profile projects relating to football stadia, a zoo, theatres, bridges/tunnels and various iconic buildings, David is also involved in project work including advising on, drafting and negotiating building contracts, consultants' appointments, collateral warranties and other security documents. He also deals with dispute work including litigation, arbitration, adjudication and mediation.
Claire Cosgrove
Claire Cosgrove
A partner in our property team, undertaking a wide range of property tranactions with particular emphasis on acquisitions amd disposals and landlord and tenant work, Claire was originally a trainee at the firm and qualified into the property and construction team in 2005. She was promoted to senior associate in 2008 and partner in 2011. She has particular expertise in acquisitions and disposals and landlord and tenant work. Particular areas of specialism include: bulk disposals and acquisitions investment acquisitions including retail parks and shopping centres acting for tenants in the retail sector - Claire has acted for national retailers since qualification in all aspects of their property portfolios                                        
Malcolm Entwistle
Malcolm Entwistle
Malcolm is head partner in the London corporate and commercial team. He is experienced in all aspects of corporate and commercial law and is involved in all types of financing and equity finance structures.A director or company secretary for a number of the firm's clients, he is, and has been for over 30 years, honorary secretary of the Jubilee Sailing Trust. A high proportion of Malcolm's clients are overseas and his work involves multi jurisdictions. His experience covers all types of assets or arrangements including joint ventures, but he has a particular specialism in all types of commercial shipping transactions including shipping finance, sale and purchase, ship and yacht instructions, repair contracts, charter parties and other related contracts where he has substantial experience and expertise.
Philip Farrar
Philip Farrar
Partner and head of Hill Dickinson’s NHS employment team with over 25 years’ experience in employment law, acting for the NHS, local government and education bodies. Leading expert in matters of healthcare discipline within the NHS and extensive experience of senior level disputes and discrimination issues (in particular whistle-blowing) and industrial action. Experience includes acting for a Special Health Authority on general employment law and also advising as to the management of employees and the related unlawful discrimination claims for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Practitioners throughout England including claims for judicial review and in Employment Tribunal.
Jim Garton
James is head of real estate and real estate finance in London and his particular areas of specialism are hotel and residential (and mixed use) development; real estate finance and joint venture arrangements. James has many years’ experience of acting for investment funds and institutions, property companies, developers, banks, high-net-worth individuals and end users on a diverse range of real estate work including development, investment, real estate finance and landlord and tenant. Recent successes include advising on hotel developments and mixed use schemes – including joint venture arrangements, acting on numerous secured lending transactions including hotel acquisitions and developments, investment properties, mixed use developments and restaurant premises and representing high-net-worth clients in relation to high-value residential sales and purchases. He has also been responsible for advising West Ham United in connection with its bid to take over the Olympic Stadium in Stratford following the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Barry Gibb
Barry Gibb
Barry is a solutions focused pensions lawyer who is instructed by employers and independent trustees to ‘trouble shoot’. He is innovative and responsive when advising clients.He has been involved in a number of high profile matters including:• Advising Stobart Group on the pensions issues of the proposed takeover of Flybe. • Assisting Swissport GB Limited in respect of a complex scheme merger project for three of its final salary schemes.  • Providing advice to the Trustees of the PJKI Pension Scheme in relation to a ‘PPF plus’ buy out exercise. • Advising Vynova Runcorn Limited on a complex re-write of the rules for two pension schemes following a double scheme closure.• Advising numerous trustee boards on scheme restructurings:• Trustees of the Veryards Limited Pension Scheme, putting in place a flexible apportionment arrangement (FAA) and funding guarantee; and• Trustees of the MWH UK Limited Pension & Life Assurance Plan, agreeing an FAA together with three guarantees and cash mitigation with the Canadian parent company.Barry is the training partner for the Manchester office of Hill Dickinson and sits on the Training Committee as he is passionate about the next generation of lawyers at Hill Dickinson.
Andrew Gibson
Andrew Gibson
Andrew qualified in 1989, and gained a wide range of employment litigation experience with a niche commercial law firm in Manchester before joining Hill Dickinson in September 2001. Andrew has extensive experience in a range of employment law matters, and undertakes advocacy in the Employment Tribunals, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He has conducted litigation in the Court of Appeal. He advises on all aspects of an increasingly complex area of law, including TUPE, the Working Time Directive, race, sex and disability discrimination and redundancy. He is also involved in extensive litigation on-going nationally relating to equal pay. Notable cases include Walton Centre for Neurology & Neurosurgery NHS Trust v Bewley and the national test issue of Jones & Ors v Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Ors. He acts primarily for employers, from small private companies to large PLCs, NHS Trusts, Colleges, Local Authorities and Universities. He has acted for teachers and lecturers in disputes with their employers, and as a school governor for many years has a particular interest in Education Law. He is also a prominent member of the firm’s on-going training and continuing development activities for clients and potential clients, as well as coordinating the training needs for solicitors and support staff in the employment and pensions practice group.
Ian Gillis
Ian Gillis
Partner and head of the Manchester corporate team. His particular expertise covers private and public corporate finance work including initial public offerings (IPOs) on AIM and the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, public takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, disposals, and corporate governance matters.He has extensive capital markets experience advising companies on IPOs, rights issues, class transactions and takeovers in addition to advising investment banks (including Zeus Capital, Cenkos Securities, WH Ireland and Allenby Capital).  Deals include £70m IPO of Nanoco Group plc, £120m placing and open offer for Stobart group, £280m disposal of Eddie Stobart logistics business, disposal of Smith Knight Fay to EMH plc, sale of Swift Fire & Security to Marlowe plc and public takeover of Vindon Healthcare plc.Ian also sits on the firm’s LLP board.
Darren Hamer
Darren Hamer
Darren has worked on some of largest property transactions in the north-west over the last few years and his clients are both public and the private sector. Darren's areas of recent expertise includes in respect of investment transactions, complex lease interpretation, neighbourly issues and joint venture acquisitions. He endeavours to obtain a full understanding of the client’s business that he believes is fundamental to achieving the best outcome for his clients.Experience: • Acted in provision of advice to a local authority in connection with the £80m regeneration of its town centre• Acted on the sale of a portfolio of Office buildings for a private investor for £17 million• Acted on the sale of land for residential development for a partnership for £17.45m• Acted on the sale of a central London buildings for private investors for £15.3 million• Acted on the acquisition of a shopping centre for a local authority for £27 million• Acted on the strategic acquisition of key town centre sites for a local authority for £9 million
Glenn Hayes
Glenn Hayes
I am the National Head of Employment Law at Irwin Mitchell. My client experience includes providing support to a number of large and small businesses in a variety of different fields and I am a key adviser and the relationship partner to some of the Employment and Pension Group’s key national clients. These include a number of well-known PLC clients. An experienced Employment Tribunal advocate, I specialise in high value whistleblowing and discrimination matters. I also advise on a wide range of employment law matters including the enforcement and defence of restrictive covenants, advising on senior level appointments and exits, outsourcing, acquisitions and disposals including Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment (TUPE) issues, large scale reorganisations and redundancy, discrimination and equality issues. I am an expert on holiday pay matters.
David Hill
David Hill
David has provided legal advice to clients in the health and social care sector in England for 9 years.  He previously worked for the Directorate of Legal Services of the Health Service in Northern Ireland.  His areas of practice include primary care commissioning, information governance and regulatory proceedings.  He has acted on behalf of a wide range of organisations in judicial review proceedings on issues ranging from public consultation about service reconfiguration to decisions about treatment funding.  He advises on the regulation of GPs, dentists and opticians.  He has a particular interest in the regulation of pharmacists.  He also represents clients at inquests, including those heard by a jury and dealing with deaths in custody and mental health services.
Mark Johnson
Mark has extensive experience negotiating and documenting large-scale and complex maritime and offshore projects including advising in relation to ownership structures, construction, conversion, sale and purchase, financing, management, operation, pooling, repair, refit and recycling of all types of vessels (including FPSOs, drilling rigs, LNGCs, wind turbine installation vessels, autonomous vessels, and superyachts). Mark is co-chair of both our Shipping practice and our Autonomous Transportation practice.  He regularly speaks and writes on a wide variety of shipping, offshore energy and autonomous vessel related topics.  Mark has more than 25 years of experience in the maritime and legal fields, including time as captain of a ship.
Colin Lavelle
Colin Lavelle
Legal Director within the Liverpool Shipping team, specialising in both commercial and contentious shipping matters, having joined the firm in 2002. Acts for a cross-section of clients in the shipping sector ranging from P&I Clubs, cargo interests and Owners to Freight Forwarders, Shipping Lines and Lenders. Colin advises on matters ranging from dispute resolution to a broad range of commercial shipping issues. Recent work carried includes: recovery of large debt for bunker supplier and ships’ agent, which included the arrest and sale of a fleet of vessels in the UK and Spain; various ship sale and purchases; admiralty Court action to determine whether Filipino law or English Law applied to the calculation of a personal injury claim; advising on issues relating to the Bribery Act and alleged free trade infringements including providing in-house training for clients; handling contractual dispute to determine whether major Port was responsible to pay Agency provider on termination of contract; multimillion pound recovery of super yacht seized in Turkey on behalf of major UK Bank; acting for Liner Agents in respect of issues arising from administration of major retailers including Woolworths, Habitat and Unipart Automotive. Colin has been involved in presenting and organising various external presentations on a range of subjects including Bribery, Competition Law for Liner Agents and Commercial Shipping Issues.
Andrew Leslie
Andrew Leslie
A highly experienced practitioner who specialises in defendant clinical negligence representing the NHS. He manages a high-value caseload of catastrophic injury claims, with a predominant focus on the most complex adult and child brain injury claims. Substantial experience in ADR, achieving multi-million pound settlements using periodical payment orders and successfully defending claims to trial when merited. Background in healthcare advisory work and coroner’s inquests, as well as lecturing to health sector audiences. Firm client relationship partner for a number of NHS clients.
David Locke
David Locke
David is a partner in the health litigation team, dealing with complex, catasrophic litigation and health sector group actions. A solicitor-advocate with higher rights of audience, regularly appearing in appeals and High Court matters on behalf clients. On a day-to-day basis, manages a caseload of maximum severity and multi-party clinical negligence claims on behalf of NHS Trusts, with a number of trial successes. Expertise relating in particular to the innovative management of complex group litigation, notably the Liverpool urogynaecology litigation and the Leicester epilepsy litigation. The ADR Protocol devised in the Liverpool litigation has now been widely adopted as the standard model in NHS group actions and has been updated following the changes to civil litigation funding rules. Has consulted on various other group actions including matters outside of the health sector.
Ian Maclean
Ian Maclean
Provides his international client base of ship owners, ship managers and their insurers with extensive multi-jurisdictional casualty experience, including collisions, structural failure, pollution, actual and constructive total losses, fire, and salvage and cargo damage. Known for his practical and measured approach in the emotive environment that characterises the immediate aftermath of a casualty. Also advises on the contractual and third-party disputes arising from casualties through to settlement, and has a pragmatic and proportionate approach to case management and settlement negotiations. In addition advises on MARPOL issues, hull and machinery claims, piracy and ship management disputes. Master mariner with 12 years’ seagoing experience; worked for a major ship manager in Cyprus where, as deputy director, he was responsible for the marine superintendency, safety, loss prevention and the casualty management/investigation functions. Contributes to seminars and writes for the trade press on litigation risk management, casualty management, seaworthiness and the ISM code. Has advised the Cyprus government on the introduction of shipping legislation.
Adrian Marsh
Adrian Marsh
Head of cargo and logistics team. Expertise covers litigation and commercial work within the marine insurance, logistics, shipping and trade sectors. Dispute resolution experience includes: cargo recovery claims; transit liability claims (all modes); bills of lading/charterparty disputes; marine insurance coverage disputes and policy interpretation; lien and insolvency disputes; arbitration and mediation; freight recovery claims; Commercial experience includes advising/preparing logistics and supplier agreements, charterparties and COAs, standard trading conditions and bill of lading terms.
Martyn McDonald
Acts for a number of major retailers including Poundland, Spar and Bonmarche. Long-standing client Mason Partners continue to acquire and dispose of substantial investment properties comprising retail parks, office buildings and industrial sites. Martyn’s work involves significant acquisitions/disposals, leases and property aspects of asset/share acquisitions, and specialises in retail and sector matters. He has acted over the past 12 months in relation to a programme of new leases for Poundland and in relation to a number of complex relocations for Bonmarche. Has acted for Spar in relation to the disposal of 33 stores to One Stop. Has acted for Costcutter (Bibby) in relation to the property aspects concerning the sale of 26 stores to Conviviality Retail.
David Pitlarge
David Pitlarge
Has specialised in shipping and commercial law since qualifying in 1989. Undertakes a broad range of shipping and related commercial work, including advising on contractual disputes arising from bills of lading, charterparties, MOAs, shipbuilding contracts, ship management agreements and international sale agreements (this has included investigative work following casualties); drafting and advising on documentation for shipping and shipping-related transactions, including management contracts, sale and purchase, construction, loan and ancillary security documentation; advising on insurance coverage, principally P&I and H&M issues; and advising on general commercial litigation. Clients include ship-owners/operators, P&I clubs, banks, charterers, underwriters, brokers, traders and non-English lawyers. While acting for clients from a diverse range of locations, David has a particular interest in the Mediterranean markets.
David Rabagliati
David Rabagliati
Partner dealing with a wide range of issues in the non-contentious commercial field. Focusing on banking and financial work, including lending and the taking and enforcement of security; the construction, sale and purchase, and finance of ships; infrastructure projects including PFI/PPP projects in the rail industry; joint ventures and other corporate transactions, and the restructuring and documentation of a wide range of commercial transactions. Major transactions include Manchester Metrolink, Midland Metro, Croydon Tramlink, the fleet renewal programme of the Libyan State Shipping Company and the restructuring of the Szczecin Shipyard.
Sue Russell
Sue Russell
Sue is a legal director in our corporate team. Also holding the corproate finance qualification from the Institue of Chartered Accountants, Sue's time is predominantly spent leading acquisitions and disposals and providing strategic advice.Sue handles acquisitions and disposals of companies and businesses, corporate re-organisations and advises on company constitutional matters including shareholder issues and corporate governance. With a client base ranging from serial entrepreneurs to FTSE listed companies, she also frequently advises non-UK entities in connection with investment into UK companies.Sue has a lot of experience of working with manufacturing, production and processing companies through which she has gained a thorough understanding of the legal issues they face, which is particularly useful in resolving problematic due diligence issues. Frequently leading large and complex transactions, Sue has developed strong project management skills. She has also worked for clients in professional services (solicitors, surveyors) and in the football sector, including Everton Football Club and Blackburn Rovers.
Craig Scott
Craig Scott
National head of the corporate team, Craig's particular expertise includes advising on private equity backed transactions, mergers and acquisitions, disposals, and joint ventures.Craig joined the firm in 2010, having previously worked for 10 years at international law firm DLA Piper, and 4 years at Halliwells. He has over 19 years’ corporate transactional experience for corporates, management teams and equity houses.Craig specialises in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity funded transactions covering all forms of share and asset acquisitions and disposals, auction sale processes, mergers, corporate joint ventures and investments. Craig leads a specialist team with extensive experience of private equity transactions and has also acted on several major corporate finance transactions for listed companies.Craig completed his law degree at Sheffield University (LLB Hons)and attended Chester College of Law. Craig was one of the first solicitors in the North West to hold the corporate finance qualification from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England.He has national and cross-border experience of private equity-related transactions, acting regularly to institutional investors and management teams, and has also acted on several major corporate transactions for listed PLCs. Additionally holds the corporate finance qualification from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Clients include Downing Student Management, Fishawack Group, Secured Mail, Next Wave Partners, Merseyside Special Investment Fund, Finance Wales, Thomas Hardie Commericals and Dorma UK. Recent deals include: Acting for Next Wave on its partial exit from Fox International Group Limited to Mayfair Private Equity The £18m merger of CMS Network (London) with Secured Mail to create the £100m t/o Delivery Group Representing Enterprise Ventures in connection with its investment supporting the MBO of Blue I Event Technology Limited Acting for MSIF in connection with its £2m MBO of Charles Stanley Financial Solutions Advising the vendors on the disposal of Downing Student Trust to a fund managed by HSBC Alternative Investments Limited for £193m.
Phil Sheard
Phil Sheard
Having qualified as a solicitor in 2005, Phil specialises in all aspects of commercial dispute resolution, across a wide range of industry sectors. He also heads up the commercial debt recovery and enforcement team. Phil deals mainly in finance/banking disputes with a particular specialism in invoice financing, factoring and guarantor claims. He also has expertise in relation to restitution claims for the return of mistaken payments/overpayments. As part of those restitution claims, he has a particular expertise with applications for Norwich Pharmacal Orders. Phil also handles general commercial contract disputes, misrepresentation claims and disputes relating to vehicle quality and vehicle finance. He regularly advises his clients on jurisdictional issues arising in cross-border claims and deals with claims to restore companies to the register at companies house.Phil received a first class (Hons) LLB in law at Liverpool JMU, winning the Sir Graham Day Prize and the Law Society Proxime Accessit Prize.
Kerstie Skeaping
Head of the commercial employment team in Liverpool, Kerstie leads a team of 11 solicitors who practice employment and education law. She is also an elected board member. Kerstie has practised employment law for over 20 years acting mainly for companies and senior executives. Her experience covers all areas of employment law including discrimination, TUPE and equal pay. She is a tribunal advocate with significant experience of appearing in many of the tribunals in England and Wales. She has extensive transactional support experience also acting for both the buyer and seller in share sales, asset transfers and outsourcing arrangements.Kerstie has acted for both employers and employees in claims for unfair dismissal, breach of contract, sex, race, age and disability discrimination, equal pay, whistleblowing and unlawful deduction from wages.Kerstie studied law at the University of Leeds graduating in 1992 with a 2:1 in law. She then passed the Law Society finals course with honours.                                   
Julia Stansfield
A legal director in the property litigation team, Julia is experienced in dealing with a wide range of property claims, including landlord and tenant disputes, rights of way, restrictive covenants, overage and property damage claims.Julia originally qualified into the commercial property team, which provided her with the experience essential for a property litigator, before moving into a litigation role, which included dealing with a large number of property related professional negligence claims. She then took this valuable experience with her to the firm's specialist property litigation team.In addition to Julia's expertise in professional negligence and working on the ‘bread and butter’ work of a property litigator, such as landlord and tenant disputes and property damage claims, Julia specialises in ‘real property’ disputes, for example, issues relating to a variety of different easements, restrictive covenants and adverse possession. Julia also acts for a number of leading legal indemnity insurers who provide insurance to commercial and residential property owners. She is appointed to act for the policy holder when a claim is made under the policy. She also provides advice on policy/coverage issues for insurers.
David Swaffield
David Swaffield
David heads the thriving (and growing) property and construction team based in the Liverpool, Manchester and London offices. His own particular areas of expertise include property investment and development work, and landlord and tenant issues.Originally joining the firm in 1976, David has served on its board (in various manifestations) for 25 years. He currently chairs the audit committee and is its compliance officer for legal practice. He was president of the Liverpool Law Society in 2000.David has a broad commercial property practice but his particular areas of expertise include investment and development work, and landlord and tenant matters, especially in the office, industrial and logistics sectors and infrastructure projects. He acts for a number of major developers, occupiers and institutions.
Paul Taylor
Paul Taylor
Specialising in commodities, shipping and insurance with particular expertise in energy, Paul is a dual qualified English solicitor and French avocat. He advises traders, insurers, ship owners, charterers and operators, P&I clubs, oil majors and companies generally. In addition to his commodities and shipping expertise, Paul also has extensive marine and non-marine insurance experience.He handles disputes in England before the High Court and appellate divisions as well as disputes in ICC International Court of Arbitration, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA), GAFTA, FOSFA, FCC and LME arbitration. Paule has appeared before the courts and arbitrators throughout France and he lectures around the world and publishes on issues in the commodities, shipping and insurance fields.He studied law and French Law at University College London, spending a year at the University of Aix-Marseille and qualified as a solicitor in London in 1997 and as an avocat of the Paris Bar in 2004.
Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor
Partner advising on the acquisition, development, disposal and funding of investment and redevelopment properties, and real estate transactions for a wide range of main stream businesses including: hotels, casinos and travel-related leisure businesses, healthcare, oil and energy, transport and logistics. Advises owners, financial institutions, and commercial landlords and tenants of all types of freehold and leasehold commercial property. Reflecting Hill Dickinson s long-standing international reputation, Richard has a large renowned international clientele from a wide geographical base encompassing North America, the Middle East and Far East, Africa, Italy and other Mediterranean countries. Known to be commercially astute and a good communicator who has successfully led many multi-discipline lawyer teams on large company commercial deals in which real estate is a key factor.
Sharon Thomas
Sharon Thomas
A partner in the healthcare team, Sharon has wide experience in representing NHS bodies and detaining authorities at mental health review Tribunals, inquests, in declaratory proceedings and in bringing and defending judicial review.She provides regular training sessions to NHS staff, both locally and nationally, on topics such as consent to treatment, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty safeguards, changes to the Mental Health Act 1983, data protection and data sharing and Children Act issues. Sharon has also successfully defended a large number of judicial review and human rights claims at letter of response stage. She also advises NHS trusts in a number of high-profile matters that are not subject to litigation. Her expereince includes: R (On the Application of DR) -v- Mersey Care NHS Trust (2002) MHLR 386, QB (Admin) Re GK (Patient: Habeas Corpus) (1999) MHLR 128 Re SC (Mental Patient: Habeas Corpus) 1996 QB 599 Royal Liverpool Children's NHS Trust and North West Wales NHS Trust -v- Luke Winston-Jones and Rith Winston-Jones (2004) QB (Family)
Chris Tyrrell
Chris Tyrrell
A partner in the commercial litigation team, Chris' expertise is in high value contractual disputes, but with particular specialisms in corporate, healthcare and financial services disputes.Chris has been with the firm since 2006 and has become widely regarded as a specialist in complex contractual claims, and has acted for clients in the aviation, sports, property and retail sectors, across a number of different jurisdictions. Hehas also developed a particular specialism in complex healthcare disputes and has led a number of multi-disciplinary national investigations into healthcare contractors, especially those involving allegations of fraud.Chris has a first class degree in Law (winner of the Law Prize) and a master of philosophy degree in law from Manchester University. His expereince includes: Successfully representing the Peel Group in High Court and Court of Appeal case of Durham Tees Valley Airport -v-bmibaby ([2010] EWCA Civ 485 Successfully representing Wayne Rooney and his company, Stoneygate 48 Limited in the claim brought by Proactive Sports Management (2010 EWHC 1807 (QB)) Chris also represented Lancashire County Cricket Club in Judicial Review proceedings against Derwent Holdings ([2011] EWCA Civ 832) Sucecssfully acting for the Peel Group in arbitration proceedings for ongoing royalties under a long-term contract Acting for eight NHS trusts in a dispute against a contractor pursuant to a £70 million service agreement Acting for former shareholders of two businesses in separate £10 million+ breach of warranty claims
Mark Walker
Mark Walker
Best described as an international mercantile lawyer, Mark is a partner in the corporate and commercial team in the London office. His practice is a diverse one and includes expertise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and cross-border joint ventures, finance, commercial shipping and commodities.Mark qualified as a solicitor in 2008 having completed his articles at the firm and upon qualification he joined the commercial and corporate team in London before becoming a partner in 2014.  He is experienced in handling matters as diverse as the sale and purchase of ships, businesses and assets, asset finance (acting for banks and owners), trade and structured trade finance, cross-border joint venture and investment agreements, corporate restructuring and the drafting of commercial agreements. In addition, Mark is also experienced in drafting supply contracts, both domestic and international, negotiating and drafting shipbuilding contracts and regularly provides the firm’s commodities clients with advice on a range of commercial and corporate matters relevant to their businesses.Mark completed a degree in law and accountancy at the University of Brighton where he graduated with first class honours and won the American Express prize for his performance in his final year. He undertook his LPC at the College of Law.
Darren Wall
Darren Wall
A partner in the commodities team, with over 10 years' experience advising in the field of international trade and shipping, Darren regularly advises companies that trade, finance and transport a wide range of commodities. He is also vastly experienced in dispute resolution, having been involved in a variety of trade association arbitrations, including the LME, GAFTA, FOSFA, ICA, RSA and SAOL and arbitrations subject to ICC, LCIA and LMAA terms. Darren has also frequently appeared before the Commercial Court and also has experience at Court of Appeal and Supreme Court level appeals. He regularly contributes articles to legal publications, as well as presenting at a number of industry seminars and training events.He obtained a postgraduate diploma in law at City University, London in 2005, attending Inns of Court School of Law.
Richard Watson
A partner in the health litigation team representing the NHS in complex and varied claims, Richard is highly regarded for his expertise in defending many complex high value clinical negligence birth trauma and other high value neurological  claims brought against NHS organisations. He has dealt  with claims worth up to £15 million, many of which have attracted media interest. He has 30 years' experience of working in the health market place with substantial experience of defendant work and legal developments and changes in the sector generally. That experience includes not only management of challenging high value cases, but also the successful leadership of a large team of others in various health disciplines over a prolonged period of time.
Mark Weston
Mark heads our London offering for commercial, information technology (IT), intellectual property (IP), on-line commerce and media law, in both non-contentious and contentious areas. He particularly loves the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector.Mark joined the firm in February 2016 after 12 years as partner and head of the commercial/IP/IT team at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP. Before that, he spent several years at Baker & McKenzie in London and Chicago and has also previously been seconded to Hewlett Packard and other technology businesses. Mark is used as a 'trusted adviser' by many clients in all sorts of businesses and often acts as ‘private practice in-house counsel' for many clients. He specialises in tech and internet businesses. Within IT law, Mark has particular expertise in IT projects, software issues (including development, licensing, maintenance and distribution), SaaS, Cloud and virtualization issues, outsourcing, facilities management, new media solutions, transmedia development (particularly transmedia gaming), solutions for/methods of transacting on and via the internet, online retail, ecommerce generally, s-commerce, m-commerce, liability management strategies, IT audits, procurement, IT policies, data protection (privacy) and freedom of information issues. He is also experienced in dealing with commercial disputes (including software disputes and IT litigation). The increasing media side of his practice relates primarily to publishing (both real world and digital content), to games and gaming platforms (and particularly new transmedia technologies), advising companies about their advertising onscreen, online and in print and managing their public communications strategies generally - and also television, film and music exploitation. Mark completed his law degree at University College London in 1993 (achieving top first class honours) and achieved a distinction at the College of Law, London (1994). He then trained at Allen & Overy (1995-1997).
James Williams
James Williams
A partner in the employment and pensions team, James advises both employers and employees on a full range of matters, including day-to-day surgery advice, transactional support, executive severance and litigation.James joined the firm in April 2014, having qualified into a large European law firm in 2000 and spent eight years as a partner in a niche city employment practice. He acts for organisations across a range of sectors, with a particular focus on financial services, shipping, education and advertising. He specialises in: Tribunal and High Court litigation (including whistle-blowing, discrimination, TUPE and breach of contract claims) Dealing with team moves, post-termination restrictions and applications for injunctive relief Providing day-to-day ‘surgery’ advice Advising senior executives on their contracts and severance packages James attended the University of Liverpool, where he completed his law degree and an LLM in International Law.
Michael Woolley
Michael Woolley
A partner in our construction and engineering team, Michael has a wide range of experience in the industry covering both contentious and non-contentious work including, adjudication, litigation, arbitration and mediation. Head of construction.His non-contentious work covers advice on procurement, contracts and related professional appointments whilst he has extensive experience in large developments including those for multiple business occupation. Michael's contentious experience extends to all forms of dispute resolution and he is a Technology and Construction Solicitors’ Association (TeCSA) approved construction mediator.Cases include: Baxall and Norbain v Sheard Walshaw; Henry Boot v Malmaison Hotel; George Hunt Cranes v Scottish Boiler; CRS v Taylor Young and Hoare Lee; Millers Specialist Joiner v Nobles; David McLean v Albany Building; and Construction Partnership v Leek Developments.