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Nick Abbott

Nick Abbott

Nick has specialised in employment law since qualifying as a solicitor and works exclusively with universities, further education colleges and academies. Nick leads Mills & Reeve’s higher education practice in the West Midlands and is head of Mills & Reeve’s further education group. Nick’s recent work has included advising a number of universities in relation to equal pay challenges; advising a university on the practical management of industrial action arising from a national pay dispute; advising a number of further education college groups on the organisation of staff within federations and using shared services; advising on a number of mergers between further education colleges; advising universities, further education colleges and academies on the removal of senior staff, including the use of university Statutes; advising various universities on employment issues arising from international collaborations; advising universities, further education colleges and academies on the practical management of reorganisations and compulsory redundancies; successfully defending complex Employment Tribunal claims, including those involving disability discrimination, race discrimination, whistleblowing and claims made by trade union representatives in relation to their status; advising on the conversion of over 140 schools to academies; advising on retirement and age discrimination; advising on the management and dismissal of staff with poor performance or long-term sickness.
Steve Allen

Steve Allen

Steve heads the Birmingham office of Mills & Reeve LLP. He has extensive experience in dealing with all forms of commercial disputes particularly commercial contract, product liability, breach of warranty and shareholder disputes. He has a particular interest in the automotive, energy, food and IT sectors. In addition to extensive experience in conducting international arbitration disputes, Steve has dealt with disputes in the Commercial Court, the Technology and Construction Court and the Court of Appeal. Steve has also been involved in the settlement of several complex disputes through mediation and other forms of ADR. Steve is the current President of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and the winner of the Midlands Leadership in Professional Services Award 2018. He is a former recipient of the International Solicitor of the Year Award from the Birmingham Law Society and is a past President of the New York based British American Business Council. Steve appears in the Birmingham Post’s Power 250 list of the Midlands’ most influential people and is a Visiting Fellow of International Law at Aston University in Birmingham.
Tim Allsop

Tim Allsop

Tim specialises in commercial real estate work and his particular expertise is in major development projects, joint ventures and real estate finance. The majority of his clients are from the education and local authority sectors although he also has extensive experience of representing private sector developers and landowners. In recent years Tim has acted on most types of real estate matters for just about every type of client and takes great pride in being part of one of the leading teams of real estate lawyers in the country. Following a recent transaction, one client commented: ‘The star of the show is definitely Tim: his drafting of the complex legal documentation, conduct of the negotiations with the other side and absolute grasp of what matters to us the client, were just outstanding.’ Tim speaks frequently at conferences and seminars on real estate matters, particularly those of interest to education clients. He is also the firm contact on UKSPA, the UK Science Parks Association.
Dona Ardeman

Dona Ardeman

Partner. Dona is a corporate solicitor specialising in investment fund creation and early stage investment work in the private equity, venture capital and alternative finance sectors. She acts for a wide range of clients, from investment managers and venture capital funds, universities, technology transfer offices, crowdfunding platforms and business angels to entrepreneurs, companies and their officers. She also advises on a range of matters from the structure, setting up and running of an investment fund, angel syndicate, alternative finance platform or business through to financing, restructure, and exit.
Duncan Astill

Duncan Astill

Duncan is part of the commercial, regulatory and public sector disputes team in Cambridge. Duncan specialises in regulatory enforcement action. He represents clients immediately following serious incidents, through Police and HSE investigations and at Coroner’s Inquests. In addition Duncan advises on a full range of regulatory matters including environmental issues. Duncan is a public law expert experienced in judicial review proceedings. He advises on governance and risk management and provides bespoke training to many clients on health and safety related topics, including training boards in respect of their collective and individual responsibilities. Throughout his career Duncan has acted for a variety of clients across all sectors of the economy. He has a particular strength in health, education and in respect of building and construction related issues.
Gary Attle

Gary Attle

Head of education and governance. Gary leads the firm’s national practice in the higher education sector, which advises on all areas where universities need legal advice, ranging from spin outs to student accommodation developments to international joint ventures. His own specialist area relates to governance and student issues. Gary’s recent work involves advising universities on allegations of research misconduct, the student-university legal relationship, the regulatory framework for higher education, defamation and freedom of speech. Many of his matters have an international element to them.
Michael Aubrey

Michael Aubrey

Michael leads the firm’s national agriculture sector. His areas of specialism cover the acquisition and disposal of estates and farms, farm tenancies, joint ventures, development and promotion agreements, partnership agreements, contracting agreements. Recent examples of Michael’s work include advising a consortium of landowners in relation to the promotion of 400 acres of land for development, advising an estate on the restructuring of its agricultural tenancies so as to enhance the ability to achieve 100% IHT relief, restructuring the agricultural tenancies on an estate prior to sale of the estate and advising on the termination of a farming partnership.
Roger Bamber

Roger Bamber

Partner and joint head of the national family law team, which is one the largest in the country. Roger is recognised as one of the leading family lawyers in the country. He is a leading practitioner in dispute resolution, having been a mediator since 1990, and having helped to set up the Collaborative Law movement. He also qualified as a family arbitrator in 2012. He specialises in complex financial cases, and has recently been involved in the mediation of an international family dispute, and one of the largest international trust cases brought before the High Court. He has lectured extensively in Europe and the UK, and has written numerous books and articles. He has promoted innovation within family law, through his own YouTube channel, his website www.divorce.co.uk and the Divorce UK app.
Sara Barrett

Sara Barrett

Sara specialises in all aspects of employment law with particular emphasis on advising bodies regarding restructuring, which requires collective consultation and issues associated with TUPE. Sara also routinely advises on senior executive termination arrangements. Within the private sector Sara has advises across a number of business sectors including recruitment, retail, logistics, food and beverage,healthcare, manufacturing and education. Many of Sara’s private sector clients have global reach. Within the public sector she has carved out a real niche advising not-for-profit organisations including colleges and schools. Sara has advised a number of community interest companies granted contracts from local authorities for outsourced services. Sara leads the Manchester offices’ annual seminar series and regularly lectures to other professional organisations.
Lucinda Brown

Lucinda Brown

Lucinda is a specialist in resolving troublesome issues affecting trusts and estates. She has a leading reputation nationally for her expertise in will validity claims, claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, rectification claims, claims for the removal of trustees and fiduciaries, Mental Capacity Act matters, breach of trust claims, Variation of Trust applications, and proprietary estoppel claims. Her cases often have an international element and she's had notable successes at trial and mediation.
Nicola Brown

Nicola Brown

Partner, employment law. Specialises in advising higher education institutions, public sector bodies and charities. Recent work includes: advising several pre-1992 universities on amendments to the model statutes dealing with disciplinary, redundancy, dismissal and grievance procedures for academic staff; advising several post-1992s on amendments to instruments and articles; advising higher education institutions on contracts for academic and non-academic staff; advising on TUPE aspects of transfer of university; advising and acting in discrimination claims brought by members of staff; successful use of mediation in dismissal of senior member of administrative staff at higher education institution; advising on removal of senior staff; regular speaker at UHR National conference; tailored in-house training for clients.
Alison Bull

Alison Bull

Alison is a highly experienced family mediator, financial and children arbitrator, and lawyer. She is passionate about sorting things out without attending court if possible, and used to handling complex, conflictual situations in England & Wales and internationally. She focuses on the bigger picture and the best interests of children, and is an effective litigator when required. Alison helps clients to agree parenting plans, and with issues about property, businesses, trusts, pensions and international assets. As well as working with individuals, she has conducted many cases working with separating couples who want to reach agreement together in mediation or with the advice of one lawyer.
Christian Bull

Christian Bull

Partner. The Birmingham office’s lead real estate-education lawyer helping with the property needs of a range of education clients from the higher, further, academies, studio schools and university technical colleges sectors. Also the Birmingham real estate lead on helping commercial property organisations and businesses with the legal aspects of their estate. Specialises in all areas of real estate law in England and Wales for education institutions and companies. Christian is Mills & Reeve’s North America desk. 
Neil Burton

Neil Burton

Neil is head of charities at Mills & Reeve, with responsibility for its 250+ charity clients, which include many of the largest and best-known names in the UK and internationally. Neil is a commercial specialist and is involved in much of the firm’s cutting edge work for the sector, for example around alternative fundraising and innovative deal structures for charity, NGO, university and further education clients. He works closely with specialists in IP, tax, contested legacies and procurement to deliver complete and commercial solutions to his clients’ challenges, whatever and wherever their activities are. A large part of Neil’s work is international. He is part of a team that has advised universities on collaborations and new campuses in over 50 countries. He has been seconded to leading law firms in China, India, Abu Dhabi and Qatar and is the head of firm’s Middle East desk. Neil is also a Notary Public.
Caroline Bywater

Caroline Bywater

Caroline is an experienced specialist in Mills & Reeve’s planning team. Her work involves a wide range of issues, from reviewing planning application material and drafting complex and bespoke section 106 agreements, to dealing with appeals, call-ins or challenges in the High Court.Caroline’s clients include developers, landowners, local authorities and investors. She regularly advises on large-scale strategic development projects and urban regeneration schemes, as well as on sector-specific matters such as student accommodation and R&D developments. Caroline has advised on planning matters in relation to many significant residential-led developments across the country.
Kevin Calder

Kevin Calder

IT outsourcing and intellectual property lawyer, working on a number of large scale ICT projects for the public sector, for central government, local government, universities and the NHS, including a number of major outsourcing contracts. Clients include the Department of Health and Social Care. Kevin advises on various private sector IT projects, including installation of data centres in the financial services sector and international hardware framework agreements. He advises technology companies on protecting and exploiting their intellectual property, software licensing and international reseller arrangements, and advises public sector clients on compliance with public procurement rules.
Deborah Clark

Deborah Clark

Partner and Barrister specialising in estate planning for high net worth individuals, including advising on Wills, trusts, lasting powers of attorney and probate matters. Deborah has particular experience advising clients with business interests where understanding of both corporate and private tax issues is key.  Deborah has a national reputation for advising on the design and formation of family investment companies especially when used as an estate planning tool and regularly lectures on this area to accountants, lawyers and financial advisers nationally.  She also has significant experience in advising on the transition to employee ownership structures and succession planning.
Claire Clarke

Claire Clarke

Claire has extensive experience in advising listed and private companies, funders and private individuals in a wide range of company corporate finance and commercial matters from start-up and spin-out through funding rounds and acquisitions to flotation or trade sale. Claire has also advised on and established various types of fund structures using limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships as well as company vehicles. In addition to her mainstream corporate practice Claire has extensive experience of advising higher education institutions and other public sector bodies on various corporate matters including spin-outs, mergers and collaborations.
Michelle Cookson

Michelle Cookson

Partner specialising in complex investment and development projects with extensive experience in the higher education and health sectors. She leads the team advising Trinity College, Cambridge, providing advice on the strategic management of their investment portfolio including Cambridge Science Park, Felixstowe Docks and the O2. Other recent work includes advising: Addenbrooke’s Hospital in relation to its £850m expansion of its existing campus; Cheung Kong Infrastructure holdings Ltd, the Hong Kong listed infrastructure company, on the sale of its subsidiary, Cambridge Water, to HSBC bank; and Trinity College on its acquisition of a 50% interest in a limited partnership joint venture with Tesco into a portfolio financed by a £450m loan backed by 30 year bonds on the Irish Stock Exchange.
Stuart Craig

Stuart Craig

Partner specialising in employment law, who advises a wide range of employers, including Plcs, private businesses, universities and NHS organisations.  He deals with all aspects of employment law. His contentious work involves dealing with heavyweight employment tribunal cases, particularly complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims and he has acted for employers in a number of leading reported cases in different sectors. His non-contentious work includes drafting the full range of employment documentation, advising on reorganisations and restructuring and involves TUPE and large public sector outsourcing issues. He leads on employment law issues for the firm’s health clients and is acknowledged as a leader in this field, frequently advising on matters where specialist knowledge of the NHS is required, including complex executive level terminations and doctors disciplinary and performance procedures.
Carina Davis

Carina Davis

Carina is a real estate partner and specialises in structuring and delivering large scale, mixed use, residential led communities/strategic sites, real estate led joint venture agreements and large scale cross-office projects (including managing large scale portfolios for clients of circa 500 properties). Her development expertise involves advising upon all aspects of development work including: site assembly, development agreements, land sales/purchases, promotion agreements, collaboration/consortium and land owner agreements, overage agreements, leases and discussions and negotiations with third parties (utility providers and local authorities) in relation to infrastructure and statutory agreements. The other side of Carina’s practice involves her helping clients structure, fund and then project manage volume acquisitions and disposals. Such projects span multiple disciples, may involve different jurisdictions, requires a close working relationship with the client’s board, tax, planning and environmental consultants, and are often time critical.  Carina also leads our Patient Capital arm of our Real Estate Investment Sector which means she works alongside many stakeholders on emerging themes in this sphere, commenting on potential new structures both within the Strategic Land remit and on matters such as the Stewardship Model.
Neil Davis

Neil Davis

Neil joined Mills & Reeve in 2000 and became a partner in 2004. Since 2008 Neil has led the London insurance and reinsurance team and in 2012, he became head of the firm’s national insurance group with responsibility for developing and delivering the firm’s strategy for this core sector. Neil’s own experience is principally in relation to professional negligence disputes and his particular areas of focus are in defending claims against solicitors and insurance brokers, where he is currently dealing with a number of substantial and complex claims. In addition, he has a growing practice defending professional negligence and breach of contract claims against IT companies. Neil has significant experience of advising on coverage issues. He is client partner for a number of the firm’s key clients including AIG, Allianz and WR Berkeley.
Caroline Dean

Caroline Dean

Partner. Caroline has extensive experience of acting for corporate occupiers, developers and landowners and advises on a full range of complex commercial property matters.  Caroline has a particular expertise in acting for charities and has been advising the consortia of institutions at the Norwich Research Park on the development of their world leading science park. She also regularly acts for large corporate clients including Norwich City Football Club, Anglian Windows,  Wood Group and Archant , dealing with their real estate portfolios and has extensive experience in the retail sector.   She also acts for numerous landowner clients bringing forward land for development, both for residential and commercial new builds, including dealing with promotion agreements, joint ventures and collaborations as well as the more traditional options and conditional sale agreements.Caroline also continues to act for landowners in the minerals and waste sector.
Alasdair Dougan

Alasdair Dougan

Alasdair is a senior associate specialising in commercial and technology law. He is experienced in technology and IT, data protection and GDPR compliance, and intellectual property law.Alasdair advises on a range of commercial contracts, including drafting and negotiating outsourcing arrangements, software licensing, master services agreements, framework agreements, call-off contracts and other commercial contracts, and terms and conditions. He supports clients in both the private and public sector.
Rose-Marie Drury

Rose-Marie Drury

Rose-Marie is a leading specialist in family and children law and leads the firm’s fertility law team. She is highly regarded for her expertise on modern families and she regularly advises on complex issues relating to legal parentage, parental responsibility and arrangements for children. Her practice spans a wide range of matters including co-parenting arrangements, donor conception, UK and international surrogacy, use of embryos on separation, child arrangements orders and relocation applications. Her work also includes advising clients on financial issues arising from co-parenting arrangements and donor conception, divorce or separation as well as wealth protection through cohabitation and pre and post-nuptial agreements.
Virginia Edgecombe

Virginia Edgecombe

Virginia has specialised in private tax law since 2003. Her focus is on estate planning including wills, trusts, inheritance and capital gains tax planning, the administration of estates and trusts and powers of attorney. She acts for a wide variety of clients including owners of landed estates, entrepreneurs and professionals, with assets in the UK and overseas. Recent work includes administering an estate valued at over £60m comprising agricultural land, residential property, business property (both companies and partnerships) and heritage property.
David Faulkner

David Faulkner

Principal Associate working with employers of all sizes in a variety of different sectors, with a particular focus on Mills & Reeve’s nationally-renowned higher education practice.  Has advised on some of the highest-profile disputes in the sector, regularly advises on sensitive and complex internal disputes, restructurings and Tribunal litigation, and also has the experience of having worked on secondment in a university HR department.  David was appointed as a part-time Employment Judge in 2013.
Neil Frankland

Neil Frankland

Neil has a wide experience of acting for insurers, both in the company market and at Lloyds, in professional indemnity claims. His areas of specialism are insurance brokers and construction professionals (from main D and B contractors through to a wide range of associated consultants). Recent instructions involve complex high profile claims of significant value (in excess of £10m) relating to both brokers and also main contractors. Neil also has extensive experience in presenting on risk management in these sectors and providing added value service to clients, both professional and insurer. He has developed around him a team that is a ‘go to’ point of reference for brokers on all aspects of their profession and has worked with both sectors at driving professional standards and minimising risk.
Simon Garbett

Simon Garbett

Simon is a dispute resolution lawyer and has been helping clients resolve their issues for over 25 years in the West Midlands, throughout the UK and internationally. He leads our commercial disputes team in Birmingham and regularly handles complex commercial litigation, arbitration and ADR (including mediation). His work includes a wide variety of advanced manufacturing and engineering disputes, commercial contract and supply chain problems, product quality and product liability issues, employment matters (breach of restrictive covenants and confidential information), financial services, insurance and negligence claims, as well as corporate disputes issues such as director, shareholder, warranty, partnership and fraud matters.
Martino Giaquinto

Martino Giaquinto

Martino has a wealth of experience in litigation, arbitration, adjudication, mediation, early neutral evaluation and expert determination of sizeable complex disputes covering issues such as contract formation and contract interpretation, delay, disruption and prolongation claims, loss and expense and compensation claims, defects claims, certification and payment issues, repudiation and determination, warranty, bonds and guarantees claims. He has acted for clients in some of the defining construction projects of the last decade (including Portcullis House and the Millennium Dome) and the current decade (including the M6 Toll Road and Wembley National Stadium). Martino’s dual qualification means that his practice covers the full range of advisory and drafting work before and after the commencement of proceedings and advocacy in the courts and tribunals concerning claims by or against employers, contractors, sub-contractors and related professionals (architects, engineers, surveyors and project managers). Martino has both domestic and international dispute resolution experience and has acted for clients in hundreds of adjudications (including the seminal Macob v Morrison Construction case) since the introduction of the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
Joanna Grandfield

Joanna Grandfield

Partner and specialist financial and children lawyer who heads up Mills & Reeve's London family team, Joanna is a trained barrister who is also a mediator and collaborative lawyer. Joanna’s work involves advising clients both within and outside of the jurisdiction who have complex financial and children issues arising from family breakdown, often involving trusts, business assets and pensions. She works with clients on wealth protection, drafting and advising on pre and post marital agreements. From a client: “A tremendous asset….Calm, assured, diligent and clearly very knowledgeable, Joanna performed superbly throughout proceedings” From Counsel: “Brilliant and has a steely determination to do the best for her clients” From Counsel: “Joanna is clever and charming.  Her clients love he. She has a real warmth and sense of humour that disguises her determination to win.  She commands a dedicated team and leads by example – fearless hard work
Melanie Grimshaw

Melanie Grimshaw

Melanie advises on planning and compulsory purchase across a range of development, including the promotion of new communities and regeneration projects as well as renewable energy projects. Melanie advises on planning strategy, environmental impact assessment, section 106 agreements, judicial review and statutory challenge.Melanie's energy and infrastructure experience includes advising on nationally significant infrastructure projects promoted under the Planning Act 2008, as well as Transport and Works Act Orders.
John Grundy

John Grundy

Personal tax and estate planning including wills, trusts, family investment companies, powers of attorney, estate and trusts administration, inheritance and capital gains tax planning for both UK and non-UK cased individuals/families. Examples include advising a multi-national family on estate planning and structuring, including residence and domicile issues, creating excluded property trusts and protecting the family wealth through a combination of trusts and pre/post marital agreements; advising a successful business owner on the use and establishment of an unlimited liability investment company structure to mitigate inheritance tax, income tax and capital gains tax and protect the family wealth; will structuring for UHNW individuals with foreign, business and agricultural property, including liaising with lawyers in Spain, Australia and US over the course of the last 12 months; advising on trustee residence issues, including the application of the double taxation treaty with Australia.
Stephen Hamilton

Stephen Hamilton

Partner. Stephen helps businesses to achieve their commercial objectives. His work focuses on corporate finance for companies and other commercial clients. He has significant experience in advising in relation to capital markets (both main market and AIM) including fundraisings, initial public offerings, mergers and aquisitions and corporate restructurings. Recent work includes a £350m bond issue, the £75m sale of a UK utility company, a £40m AIM IPO for a technology company, a placing and open offer for an expanding LSE listed tech company, a pre-IPO fundraising for an award-winning high growth tech business and the takeover of an AIM listed company. Stephen is a member of the Quoted Companies Alliance Legal Technical Committee.
Caroline Hanratty

Caroline Hanratty

Partner. Caroline is based in the Manchester office of Mills & Reeve. She has considerable experience in all areas of commercial property work ranging from industrial, retail, residential and leisure developments to landlord and tenant work, pension fund acquisitions and property finance. She specialises in development work (including option agreements, conditional contracts, development agreements, planning promotion agreements and joint ventures) with particular expertise in hotel and residential development. Her clients include Marick Capital, Topland Group, Persimmon Homes, Urban&Civic, Bridge Properties and Bluemantle Limited. Caroline’s current projects include hotel developments in London and Manchester and two large mixed-use developments in Lancashire.
Ben Hardiman

Ben Hardiman

Ben is a very experienced lawyer who specialises in advising clients how to manage and successfully resolve professional indemnity, construction and insurance disputes. He focuses on advising clients operating in the construction sector, including contractors, architects, engineers and other consultants. Ben also advises insurers on policy coverage issues along with claims against insurance brokers, solicitors and directors and officers' policyholders in complex and high value disputes.
Emma Harrison

Emma Harrison

Principal Associate. Emma has specialised in defending claims against legal professionals for over 14 years. She primarily advises law firms, barristers and their insurers in relation to claims arising from a wide range of underlying matters, as well as disciplinary investigations by the SRA and BSB. She also deals with claims against firms which have been intervened in by the SRA, including claims relating to the misappropriation of client money, and she advises insurers in relation to coverage issues.
Jens Henniker Heaton

Jens Henniker Heaton

Partner.Jens advises private and public sector clients on major projects and commercial agreements in a wide range of sectors including student accommodation, defence, energy, detention and health. He also regularly advise clients in relation to operational projects (including PFI contracts) on issues such as performance deductions, variations and expiry. He is part of the firms Australasia panel and completed a secondment to Australian law firm (and fellow SCG member) Hall & Wilcox in 2016. Jens has previously been seconded to Aviva Public Private Finance.
Virginia Hickley

Virginia Hickley

Partner and Head of Financial Claims. Virginia has specialised in insurance litigation with a professional indemnity bias since qualifying and the majority of her work involves defending claims against financial professionals on behalf of their professional indemnity insurers. She has also drafted policy wordings and advises on policy coverage. Her focus is predominantly on financial lines work (accountants, auditors, IFAs, finance brokers, hedge fund managers, trustees, pensions administrators) and defending solicitors’ claims.  However, since qualifying in 1998 she has defended a wide range of professionals and claims of all values and levels of complexity. Her current caseload includes claims against solicitors, accountants, trustees, fund managers, pension administrators, brokers and independent financial advisers. The claims range in value from £100,000 to several million pounds. Virginia also advises underwriters on claims against French insureds, liaising with French lawyers and reporting to UK insurers.
Rachel Higgs

Rachel Higgs

Head of commercial disputes team, Norwich. Specialises in complex and high value contract disputes, civil fraud, injunctive work, breach of warranty claims, partnership and shareholder disputes and claimant professional negligence, with a niche specialism in restrictive covenant/breach of confidence cases.  Rachel is a qualified mediator and has extensive experience of mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Current cases include a £30m claim for professional negligence and a £7m claim for breach of contract.
Craig Hodgson

Craig Hodgson

Craig is a partner in the corporate team and has considerable experience in relation to major cross-border transaction work and in the field of company sales and acquisitions, private equity, MBOs/MBIs and corporate venturing/purchasing. Craig has also acted on a number of share issues on AIM and the Official List and takeovers. Craig heads the firm’s food and beverage sector and acts for a number of clients in the sector. In April 2013 he acted for shareholders of EAP, one of the countries’ leading pig producers on its sale to Cranswich Plc. Other recent work includes acting for EV Offshore limited on a number of funding rounds and in October 2013 for the shareholders of Ecome in the sale to Interquest Group Plc.
Laura Holdaway

Laura Holdaway

Laura specialises in real estate finance transactions and leads the real estate finance team. Laura has specialised in real estate finance matters since qualification having previously been in house at Sears plc. Laura’s recent work includes advising a London based fund manager on a series of large portfolio refinancings in excess of £350m, advising an AIM listed residential developer on the complex structuring and funding arrangements for a £100m residential development in Stratford; advising a local enterprise partnership on infrastructure findings for high profile development projects and advising a major UK clearing bank on a series of property development and investment facilities in in excess of £100m.
Mark Hovell

Mark Hovell

Mark’s role as an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the last couple of decades has seen him involved in some high-profile cases, including his appointment to the 2016 Olympic ad hoc Division in Rio. He has now been involved in over 300 arbitrations. Mark was also re-appointed as an arbitrator on the Sport Resolutions Panel (Chairpersons List) in 2021 and is also a member of the National Anti-doping Panel. Mark continues to advise various sports union organisations including The Professional Footballers’ Association, The PGA and The Professional Players Federation. Mark has also represented a number of clubs, leagues and Governing bodies. He represents a number of high-profile sport and entertainment clients in negotiations relating to their image rights and marketability. Mark is a qualified insolvency practitioner and has been involved in over 60 formal and informal professional football, rugby and rugby league club insolvencies, including Portsmouth FC in 2010 and 2012. Mark was awarded the title Partner of the Year at the 2013 Manchester Legal Awards and received a special recognition award at the 2013 NW Football Awards. More recently he was the WWL International Sports lawyer of the Year in 2020. He is a lecturer/visiting professor on Sports Law and finance at numerous Universities and colleges around the world.
Neil Howes

Neil Howes

Neil rejoined Mills & Reeve in 2010 and became a partner in 2011. He heads up the Leeds part of the firm’s insurance disputes group which has undergone a rapid rate of expansion over the last three years. Neil specialises in defending professional negligence claims on behalf of insurers and their insureds. He acts for a wide range of professionals including lawyers and professionals in the construction industry. Over the past year, he has acted in connection with a number of high profile, multi-million pound claims. He has extensive experience of claims involving fraud and of both making and defending applications for injunctions (including asset freezing and search and seizure orders).
Jog Hundle

Jog Hundle

Has over 25 years’ experience in employment law and leads the firm’s health and care sector employment practice. Widely recognised as one of the country’s leading advisers on employment law and practice to the health and care sector, acting for a large number of health bodies including the West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.   Advises on a wide range of employment matters including disciplinary issues and grievances, contractual terms and conditions of very senior managers and clinical staff and complex discrimination and whistleblowing disputes. Is currently advising a number of clients on TUPE and the employment aspects of  national reorganisation, acquisitions and mergers, major projects and contracting out of services. Has also advised a number of health bodies in respect of their legal responsibilities under large scale redundancy programmes. Is advising a number of Trusts in respect of doctors’ disciplinary and capability procedures. Regularly provides training on all aspects of employment law and practice.
Niall Innes

Niall Innes

Niall joined Mills & Reeve’s Manchester office as the Northern insurance team leader in January 2010 from Robin Simon LLP in Manchester. Niall took over from Liz Taylor and is responsible for the insurance teams in the Manchester and Leeds offices. Niall is experienced in all types of professional indemnity claims, including claims against solicitors, barristers, accountants, architects, engineers, brokers and IFAs. He deals with claims and regularly gives policy advice to insurers. Niall deals with disciplinary proceedings, and has considerable expertise in matters involving allegations of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. He has acted in a number of claims against IT professionals, including claims brought in other jurisdictions. He has higher rights of audience in all civil courts.
Lisa-Marie Kennedy

Lisa-Marie Kennedy

Lawyer in the Real Estate group dealing with a variety of issues ranging from: acquisitions and disposals; landlord and tenant; management; refinancing; corporate transactions; development. Lisa advises a wide range of clients including large national household names with extensive property portfolios and primarily in volume acquisition and disposal projects. Lisa is a project management specialist managing large cross office and cross discipline high volume and high value transactions.
Alex Kenworthy

Alex Kenworthy

Partner. Alex is a corporate solicitor specialising in advising a range of clients including public and private companies, large international groups, private equity houses and high net worth individuals. His work involves acquisitions and disposals, investments in companies and businesses, corporate governance, reorganisations and management buy outs and he has years of experience of working across a number of industry sectors including media and technology, food and beverages and healthcare. He also has several years of experience working in the area of private and public sector pensions.
James Kidd

James Kidd

James is an employment lawyer, specialising in TUPE. His work includes supporting our corporate and commercial teams in dealing with mergers and acquisitions work and projects (the largest single corporate deal being a £200m asset acquisition), as well as dealing with large-scale redundancy and reorganisation matters. He also, of course, deals with the usual mix of helpline queries on day-to-day operational matters, together with handling settlement agreements, employment tribunal claims, service agreements, consultancy agreements, complex grievances and disciplinary processes. James has worked extensively with clients in multi-jurisdictional matters, including global outsourcing and exits of senior individuals. He has worked with clients to protect business information when employees leave and secured the necessary protections. He has also supported a number of clients to successfully divest themselves from final salary pension schemes. His work focuses on the commercial sector, particularly in relation to private healthcare and food and beverage.
Stephen King

Stephen King

Admitted as a solicitor in 1986. Joined Mills & Reeve in 1989, becoming a partner in 1993.  Lead role in the development of the firm’s defence liability work in the health sector. Managing a respected and acknowledged national team specialising in medical malpractice, product liability and health sector liability work. The work sits within the firm’s general insurance subsector which is part of the diverse work of the wider insurance group. A previous member of the Editorial Board of the Sweet and Maxwell publication ‘Journal of Personal Injury Law’. He has written and spoken widely on his subject area. His clients are insurers of risks arising in the health sector, from clinical trials and product manufacturing to hospital groups, care providers and the medical professions and their insurers. He oversees the work of the firm’s claims handling unit, or CHU ( a TPA offering), and its work on the claims solutions the firm offers to its insurer and corporate healthcare clients. He also participates in the firm’s 24/7 emergency out of hours helpline ‘Mills & Reeve First Response’. Often advising on coverage issues, his work and that of his team includes class actions, public enquiries and judicial review as well as catastrophic injury cases, and high profile cases that are novel or repercussive in terms of reputational protection.
Gregory Laming

Gregory Laming

Gregory has a wide experience acting for individuals in relation to wills, tax and trust matters, including Court of Protection work. Much of his work has involved creating solutions to tax planning problems and giving detailed inheritance tax, income tax and capital gains tax advice in both the onshore and offshore arenas, and more recently in relation to the pre-owned assets charge. Gregory’s recent work includes advising shareholders in a large property investment company on tax and succession planning, wealthy land owners on structuring their wills and property interests to maximise available inheritance tax reliefs, the trustees of farm land how to minimise their tax exposure on the sale for residential development and giving detailed offshore trust advice.
Melissa Lesson

Melissa Lesson

Melissa is a barrister and partner in the London Family department. She is a dual French and English national, and speaks both French and Italian. Her client base is very international, with a particular francophone angle and she often works with lawyers in France and Italy on cases with assets in multiple jurisdictions. She specialises in all financial aspects of separation and divorce, and the consequences that follow, such as child arrangements. She also works on wealth preservation and international pre-nuptial agreements.
Charlotte Lewis

Charlotte Lewis

Charlotte is a commercial health lawyer with specialist interests in both HealthTech and Womens Health. She has a passion for innovation and loves working with clients who are looking to break into new areas or do things differently, especially if that leads to improvement in health and social care outcomes.Charlotte can provide commercial legal support on all forms of contracting and collaborations for a wide range of health and care sector clients including the NHS, the independent health sector and suppliers to the sector.
Zickie Lim

Zickie Lim

Zickie specialises in Corporate Finance and heads up the firm’s venture capital and equity investments practice. Zickie acts for a range of VC investment funds, including Mercia Technologies PLC and the Mercia Growth Funds, IQ Capital, North West Fund (Biomedical) LP, Low Carbon Innovation Fund, Enterprise Ventures and Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds as well as business angels and angel groups on their portfolio investments, portfolio management issues and exits. She also advises start ups, spin-outs and fast growth VC backed technology businesses on their equity and debt funding rounds, their growth transactions and exits. Her company clients include Secret Escapes, 4Energy, Grapeshot and Sphere Fluidics. Zickie has also developed a particularly strong reputation and track record in the university spin out market, having advised in relation to over 90 spin outs from universities throughout the UK, including from the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, East Anglia and Essex, Hertfordshire, Oxford, Manchester, Salford, Sheffield, Southampton and Warwick, to name a few. She also authored the University Spin Out precedent documents and know how suite for Practical Law Company, a leading provider of know how and precedents for the legal profession in the UK.
Laura Ludlow

Laura Ludlow

Principal Associate. Laura is a real estate development lawyer with a focus on ESG issues, advising education institutions, public bodies, institutional investors and developers on real estate and development projects. She specialises in work for the education sector, advising universities and colleges in the management and development of their estates. Laura also has experience of a diverse range of commercial property and construction matters, acting for investment funds, developers and local authorities.
Rachel MacIntosh

Rachel MacIntosh

Rachel qualified in September 2015 and is a principal associate in our private client team. She helps clients with their estate planning, especially preserving wealth for future generations. Rachel advises clients on their wills, tax, succession planning, lifetime giving, lasting powers of attorney and philanthropy. Rachel is experienced in complex trust matters and advising trustees. She also spends a small portion of her time advising on domestic probate cases and administration of estates.
Vincenzo Maggio

Vincenzo Maggio

Vincenzo is a partner within the real estate law practice with a heavy focus on investment work and landlord and tenant matters. He usually acts for investor clients, such as a number of Cambridge colleges, pension funds and US listed property investment companies. Vincenzo oversees teams managing extensive property and the work ranges from acquisitions and disposals of multi-let investment properties (typically office accommodation and shopping centres). Recent works includes the forward funding and purchase of the new Microsoft headquarters in Cambridge and the acquisition of three private hospitals. Vincenzo also regularly advises corporate occupiers on their business needs. Recent transactions include the relocation of the headquarters of a financial services company and UK premises for a US e-commerce business. He leads the team providing real estate advice to the BPP Group in relation to their national education centres.
Jill Mason

Jill Mason

Jill is Head of our Health and Care Sector – a growing and dynamic sector with over 200 lawyers working across a wide range of clients. She has over 25 years’ experience in healthcare law – the law relating to patients. As Head of the Healthcare and Mental Health law team nationally she also advises on a wide range of both contentious and non-contentious matters for clients in both the NHS and private sector. This includes inquests, judicial reviews, Mental Health Act advice, Mental Capacity Act advice, support and training around investigations, risk management, duty of candour, NHS Continuing Healthcare and consultation issues. Jill has also handled clinical negligence claims particularly complex, sensitive and high-value matters for NHS clients.  Jill is client relationship partner for many of the sectors key clients. Jill sits on the firm’s Audit Governance and Oversight Panel, is on the Governance Board of the Zero Suicide Alliance and is a Trustee of The Lucy Faithfull Foundation.
Samuel Maw

Samuel Maw

Sam deals with all forms of property related disputes, providing important strategic and risk-based advice to clients, helping them resolve or reduce the risk of disputes and conducting formal litigation, or alternative forms of dispute resolution, where necessary. He acts for government bodies, landlords and tenants in commercial and residential contexts, as well as a range of other commercial and residential developers. He also has extensive experience acting for a range of utility companies and other statutory undertakers (including in relation to major infrastructure projects).
Rachel McDonnell

Rachel McDonnell

Rachel is a dispute resolution lawyer and has been helping clients to resolve their disputes for over 15 years. She has extensive experience in high value corporate and commercial litigation, banking and financial services litigation and alternative dispute resolution (including mediation). Rachel also specialises in financial services and corporate white collar crime investigations, including self-reporting issues, internal investigations and regulatory enforcement proceedings. 
Sandra Morrison

Sandra Morrison

Principal Associate Sandra is a dual qualified Solicitor/Rechtsanwӓltin (England and Germany).   In her English practice she is a dispute resolution lawyer. She advises national and international corporate and individual clients across a wide range of industries and sectors on a wide variety of contractual and commercial disputes. In her German practice, she is part of the firm’s International Sector Group’s European Desk, with a particular emphasis on Germany due to her background. She deals with a wide spectrum of work from German corporates, individuals and professionals with English law issues and English clients with German law issues, spanning across all departments within the firm. Due to her background, she has an authentic and deep understanding of UK and German business practices and cultures, which provides instant credibility with German clients and their legal advisers and aids good communication, making her a very effective cross border communicator. Sandra is "very able and runs commercial cases excellently" The Legal 500 2018 "Sandra grapples with issues quickly"  The Legal 500 2017  
Richard New

Richard New

Richard is the national head of our real estate disputes team, assisting clients in the avoidance or settlement of complex disputes.He has extensive experience in all aspects of commercial and residential property disputes, but is particularly renowned for his work on infrastructure and regeneration projects, as well as resolving corporate occupier issues - particularly in business rates. He has helped some of the largest occupiers in the UK to save millions of pounds and has been involved in Tribunal, Magistrates' Court, High Court and Court of Appeal actions.
Richard Noble

Richard Noble

Partner – Richard is a knowledgeable and pragmatic real estate lawyer with extensive experience of acting for institutions, investors, landowners and developers on all of their real estate needs involving leases, management work, acquisitions and disposals.  Richard has a particular expertise in property development work leading large and complex redevelopment projects involving development agreements, options, joint ventures, joint promotion, overage, highways and infrastructure agreements. Richard has led large scale projects which have involved relocating substantial institutions from their multi-sited existing premises to new premises. Richard works extensively in the education sector and the charity sector and has led many campus redevelopment projects. Examples of Richard’s work include acting for the University of West London on the acquisition of its Paragon Campus, a strategically important development for the University and acting for Bournemouth University on a strategically important acquisition to expand its town centre, Lansdowne campus.  Another of Richard’s large projects is the £330m campus relocation for the University of Northampton involving the move of the University from two campuses to a new town centre campus.
Nicolas Oldham

Nicolas Oldham

From our London office, I head up the firm's Construction and Engineering Risks practice - a national offering across five offices. Over the last twenty years or so, I have dealt with claims against most professionals.  Since 1995, I have dealt exclusively with claims against construction professionals, including surveyors and valuers. I have substantial experience of court proceedings, arbitration proceedings, adjudication and ADR. I very much enjoy being instructed to advise on policy coverage and have been appointed coverage counsel for claims not only in this country, but also abroad, including Australia, Canada and Turkmenistan!  Clients say that: "strong technical skills provide the platform for an innovative and commercially focused approach." and "Nik's ability to build up trust and rapport enables messages to be conveyed quickly and effectively and is a major contribution to the facilitation of the settlement of complex and multi party disputes." Legal directories report: “Highly rated against other firms, especially in the construction area…” and “Nicolas Oldham provides ‘excellent service’ and is a hit with the clients.” "... enjoys ‘a real presence in the construction professional negligence market’. It advised Aspect Contracts on a claim against Higgins Construction. Nik Oldham has ‘first-class legal acumen’; "first rate". June 2015 success in the Supreme Court: Aspect Contracts (Asbestos) Limited v Higgins Construction Plc [2015] UKSC 38.
Simon Pedley

Simon Pedley

Simon is a dispute resolution partner specialising in company and commercial disputes, as well as charity disputes and regulation, and contested trusts and estates for high-net-worth individuals, trustees, beneficiaries and charities. His recent work includes: representing the successful claimant in the Kennedy v Kennedy case (an equitable mistake claim to overturn a transaction giving rise to a substantial tax liability); acting in Bhullar v Bhullar (a significant decision in a complicated derivate action); representing the successful applicants in Parris v (1) Ajayi (2) SHC Clemsfold Group (3) SHC Rapkyns Group (a claim in malicious falsehood); acting for the administrators of a substantial estate in a variety of related disputes including directions applications, account proceedings, an insolvency validation order application, various other insolvency proceedings, and an application to remove the administrators.
Stuart Pemble

Stuart Pemble

Stuart leads the Birmingham construction team, helping clients with the drafting and negotiation of all types of construction and engineering documents. The team works with everyone involved in the sector, including occupiers, developers, funders, contractors and consultants, and has a strong track record in education, health and regeneration projects. Stuart also heads the firm’s national academies practice, leading a dedicated team skilled in guiding schools through the conversion process.
Alexandra Pike

Alexandra Pike

Alexandra is a specialist in construction and engineering law, acting for a wide range of public and private sector parties. She advises throughout the life-cycle of projects including the initial drafting and negotiation of contracts, assisting during the works with the contractual management of design issues and time/cost overruns, and advising on the management and resolution of disputes.  Alexandra’s recent work includes the settlement for a Local Authority of a £30m engineering claim under an amended NEC Engineering and Construction Contract Option C; drafting and negotiating a complex set of documents on a £110m hospital development; advising a design and build contractor and its insurers defending proceedings in the Technology and Construction Court on a defects claim to a 70,000sqm steel reinforced concrete floor slab; defending a Local Authority in an adjudication on a contractor’s loss and expense claim; Advising a Charities client regarding the construction aspects of its corporate relocation to a £50m new-build high tech office and preparing and negotiating the construction contracts for the fit out on the basis of the JCT Design and Build Contract 2011, including schedule of amendments, deeds of novation, security documents and collateral warranties; advising a University client on potential deductions against a Project Company under its PFI arrangements.
Andrew Playle

Andrew Playle

Andrew Playle is a Partner at Mills & Reeve. He specialises in providing trusts, wills, tax and related advice to individuals, trustees and companies. This includes advice to family investment companies, corporate trustees and business owners.  He assists individual clients and families with the succession of their wealth whilst minimising and managing risks to that wealth such as family disputes, divorce in the family and tax. Andrew helps companies, including trust corporations to manage business risks and ensure that they are competitive.
Alasdair Poore

Alasdair Poore

Head of technology team: intellectual property and technology law including patent, trade mark, designs filing and prosecution; advice and negotiations on licensing and exploitation, including defence of a patent infringement claim seeking to prevent supplies to major games in 2012, multinational patent litigation relating to advertising systems in the media industry and a commercial dispute concerning royalty distributions in respect of monoclonal antibodies. Specialist expertise in computers, electronics and communications technology. Also public sector technology issues, including leading role in public procurement of IT systems and high technology products, eg for leading UK universities, a major industry regulatory body, and acting for the NHS in the acquisition of drugs for use in emergency supply breakdown, for the purchase of pandemic fly vaccines, and in IT projects in place of systems procured through Connecting for Health, including TETRA/O2 radio systems for ambulances, Oracle software and services from CAP-Gemini, Fujitsu, IBM and others.
Helen Prandy

Helen Prandy

Litigation and procurement disputes lawyer with experience in all aspects of contentious work before courts and tribunals as well as international arbitration. Specialising in particular in contentious procurement work Helen has advised on a number of high profile cases and took the first case to the High Court on the nature of the automatic suspension under the Public Contracts (Amendments) Regulations 2009.  Helen advises both contracting authorities within the firm’s key sectors of health and education and those bidding for public contracts. Helen also advises a variety of commercial clients on matters ranging from warranty claims to breach of confidence; on-line gaming and breach of contract and has been involved in a number of cases with an international element.  Helen also blogs and speaks on a variety of contentious procurement subjects.
Andrew Ray

Andrew Ray

Andrew practices exclusively on projects work including PPPs and outsourcings. He acts for a range of public sector organisations, bidders and funders across several sector areas, including detention, health, higher education, waste, office accommodation and transport. Among Andrew’s current clients are the Ministry of Defence, a number of National Health Trusts, a leading international detentions company based in the US, universities and local authorities. Recent work includes acting for a leading South London Mental Health Trust with its two site rebuild, funded via a sale of trust land, and through an innovative development arrangement; numerous large scale defence projects, including a pathfinder project to transform the approach to procurement of battleground communications equipment (involving multiple single source and competitive procurements); advising a South Coast Council on its PPP for Leisure facilities; advising a  major international Leisure Operator on the provision of a green energy centre to provide heat for its key attractions; and advising the government of the Republic of South Africa on the roll out of its prisons PPP programme and subsequent refinancing initiative. Andrew is a regular provider of training to clients on legal issues so they can adopt “self- help” to solve problems before requiring more specialist legal input. 
Claire Roake

Claire Roake

Claire has been a professional indemnity lawyer since qualifying in 2003.  She has extensive experience of the London insurance market and of resolving claims against a variety of professionals.  In more recent years Claire’s work has focused upon defending claims against solicitors and financial professionals such as pensions advisors, professional trustees, IFAs and insurance brokers. She also advises insurers in relation to policy coverage. Claire has significant experience of resolving claims by alternative dispute resolution and has successfully defended claims to trial in the English High Court
Colin Rogerson

Colin Rogerson

Recognised as one of the UK’s leading surrogacy and fertility lawyers, Colin heads the firm’s fertility law team. He is also highly regarded for his specialism in children law and is ranked in Band 1 for Cross Border Children Disputes by the Chambers Guide. He undertakes cases with international dimensions including child abduction, jurisdiction disputes and domestic and international relocations. Colin has litigated at all levels of court including the Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights.
Sarah Rose

Sarah Rose

Sarah is a principal associate in our professional indemnity team in Manchester. Her work involves defending and resolving allegations of negligence facing clients from a range of professions including surgeons and other medical professionals, solicitors and barristers. Sarah is also experienced in representing clients facing claims from professional regulators in disciplinary proceedings.Sarah brings the experience gained from two client secondments to advise on coverage disputes across all professions.
Chris Ross

Chris Ross

Chris advises a variety of businesses on corporate transactions, including acquisitions, disposals and reorganisations. Whether advising large corporates or working with owner managers on transactions, Chris has been a part of the North West deals market for over 15 years. Recent deals in 2016/17 include the acquisition of a majority stake in online retailer Blinds 2 Go for multinational Hunter Douglas NV and an intensive buy and build strategy for the Global Entertainment and Media Group, completing the acquisition over 18 months of 14 separate major music festivals, making Global the second largest festival operator in the UK.  
Alison Ross-Eckford

Alison Ross-Eckford

Alison is a partner in our London commercial team, specialising in IT/BP outsourcing, procurement, digital transformation and renegotiation projects. Alison assists clients in developing their strategies, running complex procurements, and developing contracts that ensure clients achieve their required outcomes to time and on budget. Alison regularly acts for private sector clients across a variety of industries and is partner lead for our ESG legal services offering.Alison is qualified to practise law in England & Wales, Scotland, and Hong Kong SAR.
Leah Selkirk

Leah Selkirk

Leah is a specialist healthcare lawyer. She acts for NHS trusts, ICBs and other healthcare organisations. She advises on inquiries and complex high-profile investigations, often involving the police and regulatory bodies. Leah also specialises in mental capacity law cases involving capacity issues, best interests and deprivation of liberty challenges in the Court of Protection and High Court under its inherent jurisdiction. She also advises on public law issues including judicial review.
Surbhi Shah

Surbhi Shah

Surbhi is an employment lawyer for health sector clients and her clients in the health sector include national NHS bodies (Department of Health and NHS England) Acute NHS Trusts, NHS Mental Health Trusts, Ambulance Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups. Surbhi is frequently asked to advise on matters where specialist knowledge of the NHS is required, including high profile disputes with very senior managers and medical staff, complex senior level terminations and the management of complex internal disputes. Surbhi also frequently advises clients on organisational change and TUPE including outsourcing arrangements.  Surbhi undertakes her own advocacy at Employment Tribunals.
David Siddall

David Siddall

David acts across a wide breadth of corporate real estate matters with a specific focus on the property aspects associated with large scale corporate and procurement projects. David has three focus areas - corporate support (for merger & acquisition deals), corporate occupiers (advising corporate clients on their premises and operational real estate requirements) and corporate real estate consultancy (working with professional services firms to provide structuring advice and transaction support). As part of the region's leading property team, David receives regular instructions on multi-site acquisitions and disposals and his approach is underpinned by significant experience in advising clients on the commercial risk profile associated with property portfolios.
Jagvinder Singh Kang

Jagvinder Singh Kang

Jagvinder is a Partner and the International & UK Head of IT Law (CIPP/E, CIPM) at Mills & Reeve. He is an award winning and market leading technology lawyer. He is featured in Legal 500's ‘Hall of Fame’ - which Legal 500 confirms: “highlights, to clients, the law firm partners who are at the pinnacle of the profession.” He has been recognised for 10 consecutive years in Legal 500’s 'Elite List of Outstanding Technology Lawyers Nationwide', and consistently been ranked number one for IT and technology law by Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners for a decade. He is a specialist technology and GDPR/data protection lawyer (CIPM, CIPP/E – he has attained amongst the world’s highest certification score on this internationally regarded specialist data protection qualification), as well as a qualified software engineer (First Class BSc (Hons) Computer Science & Software Engineering), with over 20 years of expertise from having advised on billions of pounds worth of UK and international technology transactions, involving the full range of organisations from innovative start-ups to FTSE100, NASDAQ listed and other world-class corporates. He also advises on UK and global GDPR compliance projects as well as cyber-breaches.
Julian Smith

Julian Smith

Julian is a corporate partner who concentrates on general corporate work, including acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, reorganisations and large projects. Julian’s particular experience is in the health sector as well as in working with in-house counsel from a variety of businesses ranging from FTSE 100 companies through to sole in-house counsel. Julian leads Mills & Reeve’s independent sector health team. Recent work includes leading the teams advising Bupa, Virgin Care,  Partnerships in Care, Healthcare at Home, AmSurg, Allied Healthcare and Synlab.
Charles Staveley

Charles Staveley

Real Estate Partner specialising in real estate investment and development work Charles leads the firm's real estate investment sector, drawing together expertise in mainstream investment work and alternative asset classes. Charles’s clients include institutional pension funds, management houses, property companies, onshore and offshore investors (in the USA, Asia and Europe). He is a member of the IPF, the Cambridge Land Economy Advisory Board, the IBA Real Estate Committee, the Mills & Reeve Board, is a Charity Trustee of Cambridge RUFC and a Kids cricket coach at St Giles CC.
Amanda Tagg

Amanda Tagg

Amanda specialises in all aspects of agricultural property law, with an emphasis on work for institutional and corporate clients that hold agricultural land as an investment, and on rural property development. She has very wide experience of most aspects of agricultural and property law, including the acquisition, management and disposal of freehold and leasehold agricultural estates; agricultural tenancies; single-farm payment; agri-environmental schemes; and diversification of agricultural land (for example, through commercial activities such as business and research parks, residential development schemes and energy projects). Her recent work includes advising: a private investment company on the acquisition of a 1,200 acre estate in Norfolk for £11m and in relation to the acceptance of a surrender by one of its agricultural tenants of a tenancy of a substantial estate in Essex and advising on the ongoing management of both estates; a charity on the grant of a strategic land option over 300 acres of farmland to a national housebuilder (with a minimum land value of £30m), the restructuring of occupational leasehold interests and management arrangements at its research park and the potential redevelopment of parts of the park; a private client in relation to the grant of an option to a supermarket chain to construct an eco-friendly supermarket and associated food academy on allotment and agricultural land in Norfolk; and a leading international university in relation to the restructuring of agricultural tenancies on its agricultural estate in Shropshire.
Stuart Thompson

Stuart Thompson

Stuart advises on all non-contentious, contentious and procurement aspects of engineering, construction, energy, infrastructure, facilities management and PFI/PPP projects. This involves all forms of contract and he regularly works with the NEC, JCT, FIDIC, M/F1, ICC and ICE forms as well as bespoke construction and EPC contracts. He also advises on the various appointments published by professional bodies, such as NEC, RIBA and the ACE. Stuart acts for employers, contractors, sub-contractors, facilities management contractors and consultants. Recently, Stuart advised a local authority on its £40m engineering dispute with a main contractor. He also advised a university on the suite of construction documents for its £350m new campus project and a main contractor in its multi-million dispute with a local authority employer regarding a high-profile refurbishment and new build project. He also advised a FM contractor on the suite of FM contracts for various PFI projects worth in excess of £500m and has been instructed to advise an employer on the terms of its £1.2bn term service contract.
Angus Turner

Angus Turner

Angus has been a partner since 2000, having qualified with Mills & Reeve in 1995. He is recognised by the legal directories, and clients, as a leader in his field and specialises in acting on professional indemnity claims against law firms, as well as advising insurers on policy response. Angus is regularly instructed on complex and high value claims, arising from all areas of the profession including property investment schemes, corporate transactions, matrimonial settlements and ‘lost’ litigation. Angus heads up the firm’s Legal Malpractice sector, and is also an accredited mediator.
Robbie Turner

Robbie Turner

Principal associate in a team of lawyers who help clients with the drafting and negotiation of all types of documentation for real estate transactions. The team works with everyone involved in the real estate sector - investors, developers, funders, borrowers and corporates - and have a strong track record in education, health and regeneration projects. A particular focus for Robbie is the work that he carries out in the education sector. He advises universities and further education colleges on a wide range of property related matters and as part of the academies team he has helped advise on the formation and subsequent development and management of a number of academies spanning the length and breadth of the country.
Zak Virgin

Zak Virgin

Partner in the finance team specialising in asset-based lending, acquisition finance and non-contentious restructuring and insolvency work. Zak recently led the team acting for PNC Business Credit on substantial asset-based lending facilities for the MBI of the cakes division of McCambridge Group Holdings plc backed by NBGI private equity. He led the teams advising the administrators of the Cardale group, the Brilliant Media group, Silver Spring Soft Drinks and Axminster Carpets on the sales of the businesses and assets issues relating to the administrators’ appointment, duties and distributions to creditors.
Philip Way

Philip Way

Work includes advising a wide range of individuals with complex financial and personal arrangements in relation to divorce; preparing pre-marital contracts; and advising trustees and beneficiaries as to the implications for them of divorce. Has extensive experience acting for a wide range of individuals in relation to the issues that arise on divorce and family breakdown. Acts for an equal number of husbands and wives. Clients or their spouses are usually either successful business people or professional people. Philip is able to represent clients in traditional court-based proceedings and is also an experienced Collaborative Family Lawyer and Mediator.
Sarah Williams

Sarah Williams

Sarah is a specialist charity lawyer acting for a range of charities and not for profits across the sector, as well as those looking looking to establish charities in this jurisdiction. She provides governance and compliance advice and has considerable experience in establishing new charitable entities (in various forms) and restructuring - acting on mergers and incorporations. She also helps clients improve and develop their governance systems and legal frameworks. Sarah regularly liaises with the Charity Commission, Privy Council Office and other regulators on behalf of her clients.
Tim Winn

Tim Winn

Head of corporate and public law at Mills & Reeve in Birmingham. Specialises in corporate transactions and corporate governance, advising plcs, private companies, universities and public and private healthcare bodies. Experience includes the only private NHS franchising, the £435m public-to-private of McKechnie plc; the buyout, flotation and sale of ShareLink; and the only public offer made in Belgium by a UK company. Advised Imperial College London on establishment of the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi. Currently advising on the first NHS foundation trust mergers and acquisitions.
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