Charles Russell Speechlys LLP

Charles Russell Speechlys LLP

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Mark Bailey

Mark Bailey

Mark is a highly experienced technology lawyer, who provides advice on a variety of technology, infrastructure and commercial contract matters for clients ranging from growing businesses to banks, infrastructure providers and major suppliers and buyers of IT services. He combines in-depth commercial expertise, specialist technology know-how and a highly practical approach to advising clients on a range of matters including IT services agreements, software licensing, cloud outsourcing, facilities management, data centres, internet and e-commerce issues. Mark works across a number of sectors but has particular expertise in advising within financial services and retail. Mark is admitted to practise in England and Wales.
Jonathan Bayliss

Jonathan Bayliss

Jonathan covers a wide range of financial services product and regulatory work, with a particular focus on advising institutional clients in the wealth management and private banking sectors. His clients include private banks, private wealth and institutional investment managers and advisers, family offices, depositaries and custodians. He acts for a number of significant family offices, advising on the structure of offices, managing regulatory and custody risk, and on investment transactions undertaken by the offices themselves and jointly with other families. Jonathan's product practice includes advising on the structuring, establishment and distribution of investment funds, investment trusts, structured products and other types of investment product provided by the private wealth community. Jonathan has leading expertise on charity funds and investment structures in the not-for-profit sector. An important part of Jonathan's practice is advising on the legal aspects of lending and deposit facilities. He has advised many banking clients on the structuring of lending facilities consistently with the increasing application of regulation in the area of consumer credit and mortgages. On the regulatory side, Jonathan's practice covers the range of UK and EU legal and regulatory issues faced by those providing financial services in, from and into the UK, including MiFID, financial promotions, BCOBs, mortgage regulation, custody and client money, distribution and conduct of business rules generally.
Trevor Bettany

Trevor Bettany

Trevor deals with all aspects of employment law, from contract drafting to termination issues, both contentious and non-contentious. He also deals with post-termination restraint of trade issues, whistleblowing, discrimination, industrial relations disputes and the employment law aspects of transfers of undertakings and outsourcing. He has particular interests in managing discipline and grievances at work and executive severance arrangements, especially in the financial services, employment agencies and recruitment sectors. He also advises on change management, including collective redundancy and TUPE consultation processes. Trevor acts for a variety of clients, including investment management businesses and hedge funds, employment agencies, engineering businesses, professional partnerships and LLPs, and senior executives. He has recently been recognised as an expert in the 2014 'Guide to the World’s Leading Labour and Employment Lawyers'.
James Bradford

James Bradford

James provides advice to UK domiciled and non-UK domiciled individuals on UK taxation, trust, personal estate and succession planning matters. James takes a particular interest helping individuals and families with passing valuable assets and interests to younger generations. This includes advising upon and implementing lifetime and post-death tax planning, will and trust drafting and advising on and preparing Lasting Powers of Attorney. As a former corporate lawyer, James takes a special interest in assisting entrepreneurs, business owners and the owners of rural estates and helping clients to fulfil their philanthropic ambitions.James is admitted to practise in England and Wales.  Assisting a UHNW individual with the establishment of a “family investment company” to hold and control over £100m of family wealth Helping the sole owner of an international business (in conjunction with the firm’s corporate department) to effect a tax efficient sale of the business Advising the trustees (and the high profile principal beneficiary) of a UK-resident trust as to their duties in relation to certain paintings qualifying for the conditional exemption from inheritance tax Helping the trustees of a charity trust to negotiate successfully the terms of a release which concluded a ten-year dispute with another charity and the Charity Commission Advising an UHNW family and their family office in relation to their estate planning (taking account of, among other things, tax exempt assets (e.g. business interests, rural estates, heritage assets), non UK assets, trust interests and family succession issues
Ian Brothwood

Ian Brothwood

Ian has a wide range of experience in the real estate sector acting for corporates, institutions and individuals covering investment, development, real estate finance and occupiers. Ian heads up the Charles Russell Speechlys Strategic Land Team dealing with land promotion, options, collaboration agreements and development finance in relation to sites of up to 2500 homes acting for both landowners and developers. Ian has been consistently ranked in Chambers and in Legal 500 as a leading individual and described by clients as "superb" and someone who "gets things done" providing " very good and considered advice on complex matters" and highlights his "good technical knowledge". The team is described by clients in Legal 500 2020 as providing "a city quality service" and "the clients benefit from the felling of intimacy of a smaller firm but has the depth and experience of a much larger one" with "good availability and exceptional performance " highlighted. Experience: acting on various residential developments in Birmingham and Leicester comprising schemes of between 60 and 120 apartments some involving part funding arrangements by the buyer; acting for several SIPP Providers including Morgan Lloyd and Barnett Waddingham on their commercial property portfolios providing advice on acquisitions and disposals and property management; acting for landowners on the disposal of land for development by land promotion and option of significant schemes comprising more than 2500 houses including setting up ownership structures such as pool trusts, dealing with agricultural tenants and complex s 106 agreements; advising family owned property companies on both commercial and residential portfolios dealing with acquisitions and disposals from £500K to £20 million and property management from lease renewals to the construction and letting of new warehouses with rents up to £1 million pa.
Katherine Dennis

Katherine Dennis

Katherine advises on all aspects of business immigration. She has extensive experience advising businesses on sponsorship of migrant workers under Tiers 2 and 5 of the Points-Based System and advises employers in relation to their sponsor licence obligations and right to work policies. She regularly provides bespoke training for corporate clients on these issues.Katherine also has a wealth of experience in advising high net worth individuals and their families with personal immigration matters and relocation to the UK. Her expertise includes advising on the Tier 1 routes and applications by family members of British citizens and settled persons. Katherine specialises in British nationality law and advises clients on naturalisation and registration as a British citizen, as well as complex nationality issues.Katherine’s experience also includes advising both employers and individuals on EU law and particularly the implications of Brexit. She regularly presents and has written articles on a number of immigration law topics.
Mark Dewar

Mark Dewar

Mark provides guidance on a wide range of areas, including strategic procurement contracts, product design and manufacturing, logistics and reverse logistics, clinical trials, and market entry strategies. He works with digital platforms, global brands, retailers, and innovative startups on international supply chain contracts, with a recent emphasis on sustainability and regulation. Mark helps clients enter new markets and develop new products and strategies. The Legal 500 have consistently listed him as Band 1 for Commercial Contracts and since 2023 he has been in its Hall of Fame.
Dewdney Drew

Dewdney Drew

Dewdney is a very highly regarded trade mark attorney with over 20 years’ experience in the protection and enforcement of brands, and the management of global brand portfolios for a wide variety of clients and sectors. These include the food and beverage industry, financial services, the music industry, well-known retail and fashion brands, aerospace and defence - specifically in the area of vehicles - pharmaceuticals, mining machinery and energy (clean coal and renewables). Originally trained as a solicitor in South Africa, Dewdney changed tack on coming to the UK where he qualified as a chartered trade mark attorney. Dewdney has spent time on secondment at a US law firm, which provided an enduring insight into US practice and easy rapport with US clients. Dewdney has a strong grounding in the whiskey and beverage industry, as well as in financial services and other key industries. He has advised some of the largest institutions in the City of London. Dewdney has been extensively involved in the music industry, representing numerous well-known musicians and brands, providing advice in high profile name disputes as well as being an advisor to key players in the work for fashion. He is recognised in Legal 500 a “leading partner” for trademarks, domain names and brands and in World Trademark Review for his “practical advice, commercial approach and ability to register trademarks across the world”.
George Duncan

George Duncan

George has more than 30 years' experience of private client work and specialises in technical aspects of trust law, tax law, charity law and succession law. He advises on the legal meaning of trust documents and wills, especially old and difficult ones. He advises the trustees of charities, including religious charities and the trustees of trusts established in a commercial context, as well as private individuals and the trustees of family trusts. He also advises on tax and trust law issues arising from pension schemes. He has advised on many major transactions involving charities and both family and commercial trusts.
Henry Fea

Henry Fea

Henry is a private client lawyer with a broad range of experience, gained from working in both the UK and Geneva. His domestic work includes advising on tax and succession planning, the establishment and operation of trusts and charities, landed estates, heritage property, UK wills, probate and the administration of estates. Internationally he advises on tax and trust matters and he has particular expertise in advising on becoming, and ceasing to be, UK resident, the establishment and operation of offshore trusts, and ownership structures for UK property. He has extensive experience of advising on regularising tax affairs in the UK and abroad, particularly through the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility and the UK/Swiss Agreement. Henry’s clients include UK-domiciled and non-UK-domiciled individuals, families, trustees, foundations, foreign lawyers, banks, private companies and trust companies, and he regularly works alongside other professionals. Whilst in Geneva, Henry was actively involved in the committee of the Geneva branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and he is a regular commentator on legal developments affecting private clients.
William Garner

William Garner

William specialises in advising clients in the wholesale, trading and markets segment of the financial services sector. He leads the firm’s wholesale, trading and markets practice. William regularly assists clients throughout the UK authorisation process and has particular expertise in advising clients on a wide range of regulatory, trading and markets issues and perimeter issues. He has also advised on the structuring and establishment of numerous financial services businesses and investment funds. William has a diverse range of clients across multilateral trading facilities, broker crossing networks, investment banks, brokers, dealers, proprietary trading firms and investment managers in connection with multiple investment and product classes (including equities, fixed income, funds, commodities, derivatives, and commercial and wholesale FX). Extensive non-law industry experience enables him to provide legal expertise which is complemented by significant industry insight and an understanding of the practical and commercial realities of running a business involved in financial markets. Experience: advised investment banks and brokers in relation to providing direct electronic access to execution venues (DMA and sponsored access) and providing white-labelled services to third-party brokerages; assisted numerous clients setting up European execution venues and trading platforms (MTFs, crossing networks and other OTC platforms); assisted numerous international brokerages and proprietary trading firms to set up European operations or restructure existing operations; advising numerous regulated firms in connection with alleged FCA or exchange rule breaches.
Suzi Gatward

Suzi Gatward

Suzi specialises in advising developers on all aspects of residential and mixed-use development and regeneration schemes. Her experience includes drafting and negotiating option agreements, conditional and unconditional contracts, development agreements, overage agreements, security and transfer documentation, associated planning and infrastructure agreements, and dealing with affordable housing sales and development obligations, together with carrying out title investigation and preparing all necessary reports. Suzi acts for a number of national housebuilders and developers. Her recent experience includes acting on regeneration schemes involving the acquisition of surplus government land and legacy land at the Olympic Park and substantial mixed-use developments creating over 500 new homes in and around the South East. Experience: recently acted on a site acquisition for a national housebuilder for a 400-homes village extension; acted on behalf of the joint venture between Taylor Wimpey UK Limited and London and Quadrant Housing for the redevelopment of Chobham Manor at Queen Elizabeth Park (formerly the Olympic Park) in Stratford, being the first residential redevelopment phase to be sold; provided property advice and support on a corporate acquisition of a property holding company in a share acquisition transaction worth in excess of £20m.
Liz Gifford

Liz Gifford

Liz advises charities on their governance and operations. She has advised some of the UK’s most well-known charities on their governance matters, fundraising activities, contracts and collaborations. She has particular experience advising grant-making charities. Liz advises businesses on charitable grant-making, corporate foundations and other charitable collaborations. She advises individuals and families on their philanthropic giving, and the operation of the charitable foundations they have established. She is a member of the Charity Law Association and an affiliate member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
Keir Gordon

Keir Gordon

Keir advises clients on a wide variety of corporate finance issues, such as mergers and acquisitions, investment funds and investment finance-related matters. He regularly advises on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, real estate transactions and financing in sport. He has worked on football club financing for over a decade, dealing with takeovers, debt and equity funding, player and stadium acquisitions, sponsorship and naming rights. Keir is identified in the legal directories as a leading expert in sport and mid-market mergers and acquisitions. He has worked in London, Hong Kong and Australia.
William Granger

William Granger

William advises on all aspects of employment, executive and LLP law, including creative contract and remuneration drafting, relationship and change management problem-solving, leadership issues, dispute resolution and all forms of litigation, and the rising importance of the people dimension to commercial transactions. William’s clients include employers, senior executives, interest groups, teams, boards, shareholders and investors nationally and internationally. He has a particular focus on the executive level of business and organisations and is noted for his understanding of people businesses, highly sensitive issues and governance. He has particular experience in financial services, private wealth, marketing services, leisure sectors and in acting for LLPs. William specialises in advising on team moves, boardroom disputes, director liabilities, bonus, incentive and profit share issues. He is especially valued for his advice on the more sensitive, complex, high-profile or newsworthy issues, including leadership support, crisis communications, discrimination, unfair prejudice and whistleblowing. William’s approach includes offering multi-disciplinary, rapport-based, empathetic solutions expressed in the client’s language and in the context of their needs. He focuses on values as much as value. He applies reputation, confidentiality and crisis management skills and an awareness that all business issues have a personal dimension.
Olivia Gray

Olivia Gray

Olivia specialises in the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including trade marks, copyright and designs. She has acted in cases before the UK's Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, High Court and Court of Appeal. She also has experience in matters before the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) and the EU Trade Mark Office (EUIPO). Olivia’s clients cover a broad range of industry sectors including fashion, retail, food and drink, sports, leisure, entertainment and technology.Olivia is admitted to practise in England and Wales.Experience highlights: Advising businesses in relation to the infringement and validity of intellectual property rights Advising on and implementing brand clearance, trade mark protection and enforcement strategies for brand owners Conducting trade mark opposition, revocation and cancellation proceedings in the UK and EUIPO Advising on co-existence and collaboration agreements
David Green

David Green

David is an employment law specialist. He advises both large and small employers and senior executives across the whole spectrum of employment law issues. He is recognised for his commercial and pragmatic advice. He has a particular interest in TUPE issues, being involved in two leading reported cases. He also advises employers on trade union issues. David is an active member of the ELA, having sat on its sub-committees. He is a trained mediator and an accredited trainee with CIPD. He speaks regularly on employment law.
Rachel Hearn

Rachel Hearn

Rachel advises employers and senior individuals on all manner of workplace issues including contractual disputes, discrimination and harassment complaints, maternity and paternity issues, restrictive covenants, and whistleblowing. She has particular experience advising clients in the financial services and private wealth sectors. Rachel has solid litigation experience, successfully bringing and defending claims in both the employment tribunal and the High Court. She also has experience in obtaining High Court injunctions. On the non-contentious side, Rachel regularly provides day-to-day advice to employers as well as drafting and advising on a wide range of employment documentation including employment contracts, consultancy agreements and company policies. Rachel also regularly advises on settlement negotiations and severance terms. She has a particular interest in disputes relating to restrictive covenants and the misuse of confidential information. Rachel is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association and sits on its Training Committee. She regularly helps to organise and chair training sessions for members. Rachel is admitted to practice in England and Wales.
Robert Highmore

Robert Highmore

Robert specialises in commercial and residential property and landlord and tenant litigation and dispute resolution, including property related professional negligence. He acts for a range of clients, including institutional funds, landed estates, charities, developers, property companies, corporate occupiers and individuals. Robert works hard to achieve the desired results for clients whether by assisting them avoid or defend claims, or by pursuing action with determination and to Court or the Tribunal should this be appropriate. He keeps the benefits of alternatives to litigation, such as mediation, closely in mind together with the importance of ensuring all advice and action is cost-effective. Robert and his team work alongside certain longstanding clients and assist them and their other advisers in looking after not only high value and significant cases, but also the many and varied day to day issues that arise in this often complex area of law and practice. He possesses a thorough understanding of clients’ businesses, properties and objectives, which is vital to giving relevant and effective advice.Robert is a founder member and past Chair of the Property Litigation Association and a member and past founder Chair of the Commercial Real Estate Legal Association. He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors and a a Trustee of St Olave’s & St Savoiur’s Schools Foundation.
Grant Howell

Grant Howell

Grant is a specialist family lawyer and is recognised as a leading individual in the legal directories. He is also a family law arbitrator, being one of the first to achieve this qualification, and a trained collaborative lawyer. Grant deals with all aspects of family breakdown, both as regards finance and children. This covers divorce, civil partnership and other relationships. He also has substantial experience in drawing up pre-nuptial agreements. He acts for clients both in England and from around the world on English family law matters. His caseload includes acting for expatriates based in the Middle East and working in liaison with leading international family lawyers, as well as giving expert evidence on English family law. Throughout his career, he has also involved himself in family law organisations at the forefront of legal training and reform. He gives presentations on family law matters regularly, both in England and abroad.
Jeremy Hudson

Jeremy Hudson

Jeremy specialises in all aspects of landlord and tenant litigation, including opposed and unopposed lease renewals, dilapidation claims, leasehold enfranchisement, possession actions, service charge disputes and rent reviews. His particular specialism relates to residential landlord and tenant issues. Experience: successfully upheld the validity of a break notice in the High Court (MW Trustees Limited v Telular Corporation [2011] L&TR 19); successfully represented a landmark case in the Supreme Court to establish what is a ‘house’ for the purposes of leasehold reform (Lexgorge v Howard de Walden Estates Limited [2012] 1 WLR 2884); acted for proceedings in the High Court to establish what is a ‘qualifying long term agreement’ for the purposes of recovering a service charge from residential tenants (Paddington Basin Developments Limited v West End Quay Estate Management Limited [2010] 27 EG 86); acted in an appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) relating to a collective enfranchisement claim of a prestigious block of flats in the West End (82 Portland Place (Freehold) Limited v Howard de Walden Estates Limited [2014] UKUT 0133 LC) – one of the largest collective enfranchisement claims to date.
Charles Hutton

Charles Hutton

Charles advises on Wills, trusts, tax and estate planning, in particular inheritance tax (IHT) planning. He has a great deal of experience in acting for a wide variety of clients, both entirely UK-based and those with foreign connections. Experience: advising business owners on how to maximise business property relief from inheritance tax and entrepreneurs’ relief (now business assets disposal relief) from capital gains tax. Where the business is being sold, working with the firm’s corporate teams to ensure that the proceeds are protected for the long-term benefit of the family; advising on passing landed estates down within families in a tax-efficient manner and on mitigating the tax exposure where land is sold for development; devising and implementing estate plans for families, often with assets in multiple jurisdictions, to minimise the tax exposure and probate formalities following death; advising trustees (and often acting as a trustee) of a wide range of trusts containing assets from investment portfolios, to valuable properties, landed estates and other business interests.
Nick Janmohamed

Nick Janmohamed

Nick specialises in corporate work, particularly in the financial services, insurance and funds world. He advises insurers, asset managers, wealth managers and investment companies on all aspects of their business, from set-up, flotations, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures to governance issues. Experience: advised on numerous business transfer schemes for insurers, including the Scottish Life demutualisation, and for brokers on policy reviews and regulatory advice; advised on acquisitions, disposals (including the disposal of Heartwood Wealth to Handelsbanken), start-ups and governance issues and is particularly experienced in dealing with LLP structures; advised on a number of investment trust share issues, on AIFMD implementation and on real estate and private equity fund formations, and led the team advising the government of Brunei on the drafting of its offshore financial centre legislation.
Tim Jenkins

Tim Jenkins

Tim is a corporate partner with over 25 years of experience in advising a wide range of clients on corporate and commercial matters. Tim heads the corporate group in our Guildford office and has particular expertise in advising clients on the sale and purchase of family owned businesses, pharmacy and veterinary practices. His work also includes advising on joint ventures, partnerships, shareholder agreements, demergers and restructuring, management buy-outs and the distressed sale/purchase of businesses. Tim is admitted to practice in England and Wales. Experience Acting for Avicenna Group on a range of transactions including their acquisition of Dudley Taylor Pharmacy Group (operating 57 pharmacies across Yorkshire, the Midlands, the south of England and Wales) and their acquisition of Sheppards Pharmacy Group (operating 34 pharmacies across Wales) Acting for the shareholders of Pharma-Z Ltd on the sale of the company (operating a group of 6 pharmacies across East Anglia) to Bestway National Chemists Ltd Acting for X-Pharm Limited on its acquisition of 7 West Midlands based pharmacies from West Midlands Co-Operative Chemist Group Acting for the owners of veterinary practice operator Eastcott Ltd on the sale of the company to Linnaeus Veterinary Group Acting for the partners of Acorn House Veterinary Hospital on its sale to The Royal Veterinary College Acting for owners of Rainbow Equine Hospital on the sale of the company to VetPartners Limited Acting for the owners of Cinder Hill Equine Hospital Ltd on the sale of the company to CVS (UK) Limited.
Michael Jones

Michael Jones

Michael is a pensions specialist with over 15 years expertise in advising companies and trustees on all legal aspects of employer sponsored pension schemes. Michael has particular market expertise in advising charities and not for profit entities and in public sector outsourcing. The scope of his advice includes amending and winding up schemes, scheme interpretation issues, scheme mergers, sales and acquisition issues, buy-ins and buy-outs, surplus and deficit issues, complaints to the Pensions Ombudsman and scheme funding discussions. Experience: advised a major US entity on the £600m buy-out of it UK pension scheme; advised a party in the Pensions Action Group resulting in a change in legislation regarding FAS entry and benefit levels; advised charity on its solvency in light of ongoing pension liabilities; advised on closure to future accrual of a household named employer’s pension plan; advised the non-UK employer in respect to transferring the liabilities of its pension schemes into its retained business.
Paul Kay

Paul Kay

Paul specialises in banking and finance, including all forms of debt and equity financing, structured finance, securitisations and property finance. He undertakes transactions in a wide range of property, financial and service sectors, and has significant experience in cross-border and international transactions. Experience: advising on the £300m syndicated loan facilities provided to a leading healthcare investment fund by Lloyds Banking Group; advising on the financing of a leading geothermal energy provider in a pre-securitisation institutionally credit-enhanced investment structure financed by Macquarie Bank; advising on a US$250m margin call facility for investment in shares in a leading listed natural resources group; advising private investment offices on pre-export financing facilities and private equity capital call investment facilities.
Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent

Hannah is a commercial litigator who works on a range of commercial and regulatory disputes, specialising in sport and media disputes. She works for a broad range of clients including individuals, large governing bodies and multi-national corporates. Much of Hannah’s work has an international element. She has experience of advising both individuals and governing bodies on breaches of rules and regulations and integrity.Hannah has completed a secondment to The Football Association where she worked on a variety of contentious and non-contentious matters. Gaining in-house experience has provided her with useful insight into the needs of Sports Governing Bodies. Whilst on secondment, Hannah gained experience of cases before The FA’s disciplinary panel, related to both on and off field disputes. These cases included claims of illicit betting, match fixing and corruption Advising a Sports Governing Body on the re-write of its entire rules framework Advising on a contractual dispute relating to services provided by an offshore company in respect of the purchase a Premier League football club Investigating a fraud claim for a Middle Eastern client and helping secure a worldwide freezing order, involving Defendants in several offshore jurisdictions
Ashley King-Christopher

Ashley King-Christopher

Ashley primarily advises on personal capital ownership and operating business structures. He is also frequently called upon to advise on the tax and design aspects of potential new personal holding structures as business and family ownership interests change, along with the increasing regulatory and compliance environment. Ashley mainly advises individual Principals and their single family offices on their international set-up and operational structures, in particular in relation  to achieving their investment, philanthropic, personal legacy and succession planning objectives and solutions.  Ashley’s specialist advisory and planning practice covers multiple jurisdictions and asset classes and their complex closely-held  capital  and bespoke personal control structures. Ashley is based in the  London office  and liaises closely with the firm’s Luxembourg, Paris, Swiss, Middle East and Hong Kong  offices that also provide a wide professional jurisdictional reach in order to formulate innovative solutions and further choice and flexibility for his clients and their combined personal, business and philanthropic needs.
Duncan Lamont

Duncan Lamont

Duncan has for well over two decades worked in the media industry, often for television broadcasters and producers but also for individuals, journalists and celebrities. His areas of expertise include the criminal law, copyright, defamation, privacy, confidentiality, sports issues and phone hacking.Duncan also works for authors, bloggers and online publications. Duncan has been involved in many of the issues important to the media in the last few years including the Leveson LJ Inquiry, "Superinjunctions" and cases making sense of the new Defamation Act. He has a "hands on" approach, often working at clients offices to ensure projects are completed, reports published and reputations protected or restored.Duncan is admitted to practise in England and Wales.Experience highlights: Five and Endemol sued by a Big Brother contestant Channel 4 News sued by Policemen Victims of telephone hacking by National newspapers-substantial damages won Advising ITV News Acting for online publishers
Dominic Lawrance

Dominic Lawrance

Dominic has been working in the field of private client law since 2002. He is particularly known for his work in advising successful internationally mobile individuals who are currently UK residents or are planning on moving to the UK. He also has extensive experience with the creation of non-UK resident structures and solutions for the holding and management of wealth. Dominic enjoys solving complex problems for our clients and transforming seemingly unsolvable problems into manageable ones. With his colleague Catrin Harrison, he is the author of Clarke’s Offshore Tax Planning: Foreign Domiciliaries. This substantial work is widely read by offshore trustees, wealth managers and tax advisers.
Sophia Leeder

Sophia Leeder

Sophia advises on all areas of family law, including separation agreements, divorce, financial issues following separation and divorce, child contact and residence (or 'custody') issues and pre and post nuptial agreements. She also advises couples who are not married or in a Civil Partnership on issues arising on relationship breakdown, such as disputes over property, child contact and residence and financial claims for the maintenance of children under Schedule 1 of the Children Act. Sophia has particular experience with ToLATA disputes concerning property ownership claims brought by an unmarried individual against their former partner. Sophia acts for and against individuals across a broad range of industries and backgrounds – including hedge fund founders, entrepreneurs and those with family wealth arising from landed estates. She acts for individuals located in the UK and overseas, with many clients based in Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East. She has a strong interest in dealing with applications to the English Court for financial settlement following an overseas divorce. Sophia also has in-depth knowledge of the issues facing companies and trustees involved in financial proceedings upon a divorce and has a wealth of experience in advising such third parties. Sophia is admitted to practise in England and Wales.
Michael Lingens

Michael Lingens

Michael advises on corporate finance and transactional work for public and private companies, including sales, acquisitions and buyouts. He specialises in the healthcare sector and has worked with a number of the UK’s leading care home operators in recent years, including Caring Homes, European Care, CareTech Group and the Minster group of companies. He also handles cross-border and inward investment transactions for substantial companies, private investors and family offices. Michael is chairman of the firm’s international committee which is responsible for international development and co-ordination of the firm’s international offices.
Jue Jun Lu

Jue Jun Lu

Jue Jun is a Solicitor-Advocate in England and Wales, with substantial experience in resolving complex, cross-border commercial and investment disputes. Widely known for her particular expertise in handling Asia and China-related disputes, Jue Jun is consistently ranked by The Legal 500 as a "Rising Star" in International Arbitration. She currently sits on the Users Committee of the AIFC Court and IAC in Kazakhstan and has served on the ICC's Belt and Road Commission. A highly experienced arbitration practitioner, Jue Jun has acted in a large number of international arbitrations seated in London, Paris, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing and under the rules of the major international arbitral institutions including LCIA, ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, LMAA, and ICSID, as well as ad hoc proceedings. She also has a strong track record in managing court litigation of all sizes, particularly those relating to arbitration or involving issues of dishonesty and fraud. Jue Jun handles matters from a wide range of sectors including energy and natural resources, infrastructure and construction, technology, telecommunications, commodities, transport, aviation and aerospace, financial services, art and sports, advising governments, state-owned and multinational corporations, and high-net-worth individuals across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Jue Jun has considerable in-house experience, having spent time at one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies. She recently completed a secondment to a major financial institution, dealing with a range of banking and financial services litigation and regulatory investigations. Jue Jun is admitted to practise in England and Wales and the Republic of Ireland. She has Higher Rights of Audience before the English courts and the AIFC Court in Kazakhstan. Jue Jun is well versed in English and Mandarin and speaks some Spanish. In addition to acting as counsel, she also accepts appointments to sit as an arbitrator. Experience Acting for a Chinese state-owned oil and gas conglomerate in an LCIA arbitration in relation to a multi-billion US dollar dispute against its joint venture partner arising from the acquisition of an upstream oil and gas company in North America. Acting for a Chinese multinational telecommunications systems provider in two parallel LCIA arbitrations in a dispute arising from its operations in Africa. Acting for an Omani state-owned operator of utilities services regarding an ICC arbitration and a related expert determination concerning events at a power plant in the Middle East. Acting for the estate of a deceased shareholder of a BVI-registered investment vehicle in an ICC arbitration against its Bermuda-based shareholders in relation to a collection of art. Acting for a French industrial solutions provider in a SIAC arbitration against a Chinese materials firm in relation to the design and manufacture of a production line. Acting for an Indonesian coal mining company in a SIAC arbitration against a global industrial and energy products supplier in respect of a number of offtake agreements concerning certain Indonesian hard coking coal. Acting for a South Korean energy and chemicals conglomerate regarding a HKIAC arbitration against its Chinese joint venture partner in respect of various natural gas investments in China. Acting for a Luxemburg investment fund in an adjudication defending claims brought by a Romanian contractor for non-payment of sums relating to the construction and fit out of a five-star hotel in London. Acting for a UAE shipping services provider in six parallel LMAA arbitrations against a Chinese shipyard in relation to several shipbuilding and guarantee agreements. Acting for a Canadian subsea network developer in ad hoc arbitration proceedings under UNCITRAL Rules against an Indonesian cable operator in relation to a charterparty dispute. Acting for an international sports agency in an ad hoc arbitration under Rule K of the Rules of The English Football Association in a dispute concerning the representation of a Premier League football player. Acting for a solicitor defendant in a £50 million claim in the English High Court brought by over 500 individual investors following the collapse of 19 allegedly fraudulent technology investment schemes.
Robert Lundie Smith

Robert Lundie Smith

Robert is recognised as a leading IP litigator. While having a particular focus on high-tech patent cases over recent years, including as part of large multijurisdictional FRAND / RAND licencing disputes, Robert’s practice embraces all aspects of IP rights and disputes. Experience Advising on multiple multi-jurisdictional patent disputes relating to standard essential patents in the field of 2G, 3G and 4G telecommunications, in particular relating to the lower layers of the protocol stack, including before the High Court and Court of Appeal, including involving detailed jurisdictional issues and FRAND. Advising in high court proceedings as part of a multi-jurisdictional patent dispute in the field of video codecs involving significant RAND, valuation and jurisdictional issues. Advising on trade mark matters including in the field of renewable energies, the construction industry and tourism. Advising in a high-tech patent dispute involving data centre technology and AI. Advising in a patent dispute before the High Court concerning user interfaces for mobile devices. Advising in a design right dispute in the field of electric vehicles. Defending patent infringement proceedings before the High Court as part of a multi-jurisdictional multi-patent medical device dispute involving dental imaging and orthodontics. Advising in multi-jurisdictional patent dispute in the field of mobile device management.  
Malcolm Macdougall

Malcolm Macdougall

Malcolm is a corporate lawyer specialising in private equity and mergers and acquisitions. His experience includes a wide range of both UK and cross-border M&A and private equity work, including acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, reorganisations, private equity investments and exits. He has worked in both the UK and Australia. Experience: acting for Elysian Capital on the management buy-out of Wellbeing Software Group, a market-leading healthcare IT group; acting for FF&P Private Equity on the management buy-out of the specialist property services company David Phillips; acting for management on the Risk Capital-backed buy-in management buy-out of Neilson Active Holidays from the Thomas Cook Group; acting for the Business Growth Fund (BGF) on its investment in Cass Art, one of the UK’s leading independent art materials retailers.
William Marriott

William Marriott

William is head of the firm’s Private Property group, and specialises in the acquisition and disposal of residential property in England, and has considerable experience dealing with country houses and properties on private estates.  He leads a dynamic team, providing a wealth of experience and depth of service tailored to each of our client’s requirements. He is known for his communication skills, personal service and his ability to progress matters in an efficient, professional and commercial manner. William is recommended in the Citywealth Leaders List as a leading private client professional who has "developed a strong reputation…as a leading country house lawyer”, and is “known for his ability to act fast and provide commercial advice when it matters most".  
Piers Master

Piers Master

Piers acts for some of the Firm's largest private clients and heads our Private Wealth Sector. Piers acts for high net worth individuals from across the world, but especially from the Middle East, where he acts for many ruling family members and billionaires – many of whose families have US links. His work for these families includes advising on the establishment of global assets holding structures, family governance projects and global real estate investments. Piers is a Visiting Professor at the University of Law, a Council Member of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law, and an International Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He lectures regularly in the UK and internationally on matters of private client interest. Piers has been featured in eprivateclient’s 50 Most Influential listing, the definitive listing of leading private wealth lawyers, in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Adrian Mayer

Adrian Mayer

Adrian is a corporate transactional lawyer and specialises in advising on private equity investments and corporate finance work. He advises a broad range of corporate and M&A transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, re-capitalisations, joint ventures and strategic alliances, venture capital and private equity transactions (including management buyouts), acting for investors, corporates and management teams. His work is both domestic and international. Adrian advises a range of financial institutions including international private equity fund manager and banks, and also family owned businesses, large and medium sized corporates (both public and private) and individuals. He has a proven track record of working with multi-national clients undertaking complex cross-border transactions and acting on numerous projects in multiple jurisdictions. Adrian is particularly active in Africa and is very experienced in advising clients on transactions in that region across a number of industry groups and sectors, including real estate and construction, agribusiness, financial services, energy and natural resources and retail and leisure. He is an active participant in a number of African focussed bodies, including the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and a frequent traveller to the region. Adrian is an Alumni of London Business School, having completed its Corporate Finance Programme.
Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy

Paul has over 7 years of experience working in both personal and corporate immigration law for individuals and businesses in all types of application to the Immigration authorities. He is a specialist in complex immigration casework and has acted for numerous FTSE 100 companies and high net worth individuals in their immigration matters. Paul has also successfully represented clients in Administrative Review applications, at both the First and Upper Tier Tribunals (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), in the Administrative Court by way of Judicial Review and injunction proceedings and in the Court of Appeal (Civil Division). He has written articles and presented webinars on a number of immigration related topics and provided bespoke training to clients on all manner of corporate and personal immigration.
Karen Mitchell

Karen Mitchell

Karen is responsible for the day-to-day operation of Charles Russell Speechly’s compliance function, which involves advising partners and other fee-earners about professional conduct issues (particularly conflicts of interests) and the scope of the SRA Code of Conduct 2011. Karen is also the firm’s money laundering reporting officer. In addition to her work for the firm, Karen also advises clients about compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. She has considerable experience of helping clients prepare and implement effective anti-money laundering policies and procedures. She also provides training seminars for clients who wish to train their staff about key compliance topics.
Mark Moncreiffe

Mark Moncreiffe

Mark leads the Geneva-based corporate and commercial teams and is an English-qualified solicitor. He advises on business transactions of all kinds, with particular emphasis on complex, cross-border deals. He has in-depth experience of acquisitions, disposals, corporate reorganisations, financings as well as joint ventures and strategic alliances. This experience includes equity finance transactions, involving private equity and venture capital. He acts for investors, as well as investees. Mark’s particular business sector expertise lies in the technology, media and communication sectors, where (in addition to corporate transactions) he is involved in a wide range of commercial agreements. He is the relationship partner for a wide range of entities, across a number of business sectors, both in the UK and outside.
Sarah Moore

Sarah Moore

Sarah specialises in international disputes related to private wealth, often involving complex trust structures with a corporate asset base. She has represented individuals, trustees, and charities in claims of breach of trust, constructive trust, under the laws governing property rights on the end of a relationship or death, in contract, and in company law. Sarah works with colleagues across the firm’s locations on cross-border cases. Prior to joining the firm in 2022 Sarah practised as a barrister and solicitor at a leading New Zealand private client and trust litigation firm and, before that, in the Dispute Resolution team at a top-tier Asia-Pacific law firm. Sarah co-authors the trust litigation chapter in the STEP-approved loose-leaf Planning and Administration of Offshore and Onshore Trusts. She is also a contributor to the upcoming Oxford Book of Comparative Trusts which will be published shortly. Sarah is admitted to practise in England and Wales, New Zealand and Australia.
Jonathan Morley

Jonathan Morley

Jonathan is a corporate finance lawyer advising clients on a wide range of transactions. He has particular experience in mergers and acquisitions (public and private), private equity investments and exits, angel investments, capital markets work, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations. Jonathan also provides general advice on company law matters. He advises businesses in a wide range of sectors, including technology, healthcare and retail. Experience: advising Battery Ventures on the disposal of Vero Software to Hexagon; advising Animatrix on the £10.5m reverse takeover of Premaitha Health by ViaLogy PLC; advising founding shareholders on the sale of a medical traceability solutions business; advising a multinational IT solutions business on various restructuring projects.
Sarah Morley

Sarah Morley

Sarah handles general commercial property work, specialising in property investment, acquisitions, disposals, development and lettings. She has acted for clients ranging from small family property companies to large multinational corporations and offshore special purpose vehicles, investing in everything from offices, retail (high-street and out-of-town), mixed-use and trophy buildings. Sarah has wide experience of landlord and tenant matters, acting for both landlords and tenants across a number of sectors, including property investment, corporate occupiers, and retail and leisure. Experience: acted for Derwent London on the pre-let of its Chancery Lane development to Publicis Groupe, as well as sales, lettings and management work in its investment portfolio; part of a transaction team for a private equity house in its acquisition of a portfolio of over 300 pubs (mixed leasehold and freehold) – Sarah continues to act for this party on its further investment in the leisure industry, further portfolio purchases and sales of individual sites; part of a transaction team for an overseas investor/occupier company in its rapid acquisition of a prime head office site in central London and other subsequent trophy site purchases and their subsequent lettings and financing.
Alastair Morrison

Alastair Morrison

Alastair’s work centres around the purchase, sale, leasing and mortgaging of rural property. He also advises on complex farming structures and the post-Brexit agriculture policy. He is well versed in guiding his client base of institutions, family trusts, landed estates and high net worth individuals through issues relating to the ownership and occupation of rural property. This ranges from development clawback and shooting rights to rural grants and subsidies. Alastair is admitted to practise in England and Wales.
Racheal Muldoon

Racheal Muldoon

Racheal is a Partner at international law firm, Charles Russell Speechlys, within their Financial Services and Funds team. She is an award-winning lawyer with globally recognised expertise at the intersection of the law and technology, including Digital Assets and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Racheal is known for her innovative approach and sharp commercial insight. She delivers strategic, results-driven advice to a global client base, including leading industry players, regulators, family offices and UHNW/HNW individuals. In doing so, Racheal empowers her clients to seize new and exciting opportunities, while ensuring robust legal protections. Racheal delivers a comprehensive suite of compliance and legal advisory services across commercial contracts, corporate governance, financial regulation (FinTech), data protection, privacy, intellectual property licensing and taxation.
William Nash

William Nash

William has a broad range of corporate finance, advisory and transactional expertise, and specialises in mergers and acquisitions, buyouts, corporate reorganisations, joint ventures, and debt and equity finance. Clients include UK and international corporates, entrepreneurs and private wealth investors, and family offices. He is also a leading member of the firm's healthcare practice, with a particular focus on the UK long-term residential care sector. Experience: advising the shareholders on their sale of SME Invoice Finance to Metro Bank plc; advising the UK and European family offices of an ultra-high-net-worth investor on several UK corporate and real estate investments and disposals; advising on the establishment and operation of a series of super-prime residential property ventures through tax-efficient offshore structures backed by the ultra-high-net-worth investors; acting for an established UK care home operator on its acquisition of a portfolio of care homes.
Hanh Nguyen

Hanh Nguyen

Hanh is a dual-qualified lawyer (Australia/England & Wales) and advises on both contentious and non-contentious insolvency matters. She advises insolvency practitioners and other corporate and individual clients in all aspects of corporate and personal insolvency law providing advisory, transactional and contentious advice. On the non-contentious side, Hanh regularly advises office holders on the sale of the insolvent company’s business and assets as well as also advising buyers of distressed businesses. On the contentious side, she also has significant experience dealing with contentious matters including antecedent recovery actions in both personal and corporate insolvencies.Hanh is admitted to practise in England and Wales and in New South Wales (Australia).Experience highlights: Acting for the joint administrators of Allders (Croydon) Limited, a landmark development store, a trading administration, in relation to transactional and advisory matters which included employment, property, contract, supplier and procedural issues, and specifically complex issues relating to the rights of unsecured creditors to propose amendments to the administrators’ proposals where there was no likelihood of a dividend being paid to them Acting for the joint administrators of Power Plate International Limited, a well-known international health and exercise equipment manufacturer and retailer, in its administration and in the subsequent sale of its UK business and assets to a Delaware based buyer Acting for Grant Thornton as the Joint Administrators of a hotel business in Durham, resulting in a solvent exit from administration with payment in full to all creditors Acting for Joint Liquidators in their pursuit and successful recovery of a multi-million US dollar settlement from the buyer of the UK company’s business and assets following proceedings for the buyer’s failure to pay part of the purchase consideration which comprised of a credit bid, assumption of certain liabilities and obligations, initial cash consideration and deferred cash consideration; the proceedings involved multi-jurisdictional issues of law
Rhys Novak

Rhys Novak

Rhys is a dispute resolution specialist with considerable experience across a broad range of corporate and commercial disputes, including breach of contract, shareholder, fraud, tax, professional negligence and warranty claims. He also has a particular specialism in corporate fraud and crime issues, including advising businesses on protecting themselves, their officers and employees from bribery and corruption.Clients include corporates and individuals, whether based in the UK or abroad. Rhys represents a broad range of companies – from multinationals and financial services firms to family-owned entrepreneurial businesses. He also has experience of advising and representing ultra-high net worth and high net worth individuals both on personal matters, regulatory matters and matters concerning their businesses.Rhys is admitted to practise in England and Wales.Experience highlights: Representing an engineering company on its defence of a US$146 million claim concerning its investment in a Tanzanian power plant. This work included a multi-jurisdictional battle involving proceedings in England, Tanzania, New York and the Netherlands Representing MasterCard UK Members Forum Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation) on 15 claims brought by high profile retailers concerning the alleged anti-competitive effects of interchange fees on credit card payments Representing a tech entrepreneur on a contractual claim for £21 million with a successful arbitral award and assisting with enforcement in the UK, Jersey and the BVI. Representing leading stockbrokers in defending a £16.5m professional negligence claim concerning complex options trading strategies
Megan Paul

Megan Paul

Megan is a Partner in the Commercial team specialising in technology and communications. She particularly enjoys negotiating large scale commercial agreements, including complex outsourcing transactions, both in the domestic and global markets. Megan also has significant experience with other complex commercial arrangements including strategic distribution agreements, logistics and supply maintenance and supply of goods and services, IT services as well as advising clients on online platforms and data privacy. Megan has spent time in-house with secondments to Nomura International plc, Unilever plc (where she spent eight months with the enterprise solutions team, focusing on tech, supply agreements and process management) and Airbus SAS, focussing on air and non-air side procurement in the UK and France, as well as working internationally in Chicago and New York.
Bart Peerless

Bart Peerless

Bart advises individuals, trustees and beneficiaries, based in both the UK and abroad, in relation to succession and estate planning, including tax and on the use of trusts and other asset holding vehicles. His clients include some of the world’s wealthiest families and he advises many UK and international business people and substantial landowners. He frequently has to deal with cross border tax and succession issues in the course of this work. He also acts for a large number of Charitable Trusts and is a trustee of several charities.
Tamasin Perkins

Tamasin Perkins

Tamasin advises high-net worth individuals, trustees and fiduciaries on complex international trust disputes including sham, breach of trust claims, mistake and claims involving protectors. She also advises trustees on administration actions such as applications for directions. She advises on multi-jurisdictional injunctions and claims for the recovery of assets arising out of such disputes. Her practice also includes domestic and international succession disputes including challenges based on capacity, fraud, undue influence or forgery, proprietary estoppel disputes and claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. Tamasin routinely advises on professional negligence claims arising out of trust and succession disputes and tax advice. She also acts on many contentious matters for charities and in complex contentious Court of Protection matters.
Hamish Perry

Hamish Perry

Hamish advises on general company and commercial matters, with a particular emphasis on private company mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, fundraisings/private equity and corporate reorganisations. He acts for a broad range of corporate, institutional, governmental and private clients/management teams, both domestically and internationally, and across a number of sectors. In particular, Hamish has extensive experience advising clients in the technology, media, communications and recruitment sectors. He is also a host and regular speaker as part of the firm's in-house counsel seminar programme, and a member of the advisory board for the Association of Caribbean Corporate Counsel. Experience: acting for the government of the Bahamas on the privatisation of The Bahamas Telecommunications Company, the issuance of a second mobile licence and various other telecoms matters; advising Meredith Corporation in relation to its investment in Iris Worldwide; advising an international tea trader on the sale of its Rwandan operations to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kolkata-based McLeod Russel India Limited, one of the largest tea producers in the world; advising on the sale of Hawk-Eye to Sony; advising Randstad and various other companies/individuals on numerous transactions in the recruitment sector.
Chris Putt

Chris Putt

Chris is an experienced corporate finance lawyer working on domestic and international deals. Chris' transactional work includes IPOs, M&A, refinancings and reconstructions, joint ventures and private equity investments. His advisory work includes advising on corporate governance matters, including requisitions to remove directors and shareholder activism. Experience: advised on £18.5m underwritten open offer by an English company with coal assets for Indonesia, including a Rule 9 whitewash; continuing advice to AIM-quoted mining companies developing assets in Nicaragua, Madagascar, Tanzania and Indonesia on asset acquisitions and secondary fundraisings from time to time; acted on a £16m financing of an event seating group by MML Capital and Sports Invest Partners and the $16m financing of a diagnostics group by Galen Partners; advised an offshore venture debt fund with over 140 portfolio companies on its new investments from time to time and the restructuring of secured loans and warrants in its existing portfolio companies.
Prav Reddy

Prav Reddy

Prav deals in corporate and personal insolvency for office holders, creditors, debtors, banks and distressed companies. He has expertise in both transactional and contentious insolvency. Prav specialises in office holder-driven contentious work, including undervalue, preference, misfeasance and s423 actions. He also has significant experience in administration work. His personal insolvency work focuses on asset recoveries and disputes relating to trusts and beneficial interests. Expertise: advising the board of a Plc regarding solvency issues; asset tracing overseas in bankruptcy; 'bankruptcy tourism’ and COMI shifting; voluntary arrangements, unfair prejudice and material irregularity (individual and company); pursuing officers for antecedent/pre-insolvency dispositions; misfeasance claims; LPA receiverships; and pre-packaged sales of an international travel business, financial services company, chain of pubs, international hotel chain and TV channel.
Janine Regan

Janine Regan

Janine is an experienced data protection lawyer and leads our Data Protection and Privacy practice. She has particular expertise advising clients in the life sciences, retail/consumer and technology sectors.Janine has extensive experience advising multinational corporations on a range of matters, including global data protection compliance projects, privacy impact and legitimate interests assessments, automated decision making, data breaches, international data transfers, privacy notices, marketing issues, data subject rights requests and data processing and data sharing agreements. She is also knowledgeable in emerging areas of law and policy that overlap with data protection such as AI, cyber resilience, cyber-security and digital ID.Janine has been recognised as a global leader in data protection by Who's Who Legal.
Robert Reymond

Robert Reymond

Robert advises financial institutions and high-net-worth families on international wealth structuring, with a focus on tax, information exchange and estate planning and the international regulatory environment, particularly for families in Canada, Latin America and Europe. He also advises on political risk mitigation strategies for international and in-country assets, on mergers and acquisitions in the trust and corporate service provider industries, and on Canadian transnational trust companies. Robert speaks regularly on international taxation and information exchange, particularly from a Canadian and Latin American perspective. He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and the Canadian Tax Foundation. Robert is admitted to practise in Québec.
James Riby

James Riby

James advises on all areas of family law, including separation agreements, divorce, financial issues following separation and divorce, child contact and residence (or 'custody') issues and pre- and post-nuptial agreements. He also advises couples who are not married or in a civil partnership on issues arising on relationship breakdown, such as disputes over property, child contact and residence, and financial claims for the maintenance of children under Schedule 1 of the Children Act. His children law practice includes extensive experience in child abduction cases. In the above areas, James has experience of cases which have also touched upon related issues of confidentiality and privacy law. He has also dealt in particular with complex cross-border jurisdiction disputes and claims against offshore trusts. He has a busy UK-Italian caseload, and has worked with many well-known Italian family law firms in Milan and Rome and elsewhere in Italy. James is also a trained collaborative lawyer and a trained mediator. Experience: M v W (financial relief – divorce – trust assets) [2010]; Kremen v Agrest and Fishman (financial relief; avoidance of disposition orders; financial provision; sham transactions) [2010]; G v G (financial remedies: strike out) [2012].
Deborah Robson

Deborah Robson

Deborah is a Legal Director in the Corporate team and specialises in all areas of private company work. She has broad experience of acquisitions, disposals, corporate reorganisations and financings as well as joint ventures and strategic alliances, both domestic and international. Deborah also works very closely with the Private Property team in relation to corporate issues which arise and in particular in relation to the sale of high value real estate through off-shore corporate structures. She has significant experience advising high net worth individuals in relation to a wide range of corporate ventures.
Melville Rodrigues

Melville Rodrigues

Melville services clients in formalising UK real estate transactions and also in relation to funds. The transactions include the acquisition, management and disposals of UK commercial real estate, as well as on the development of the real estate. The clients range from private to institutional investors, whether domestic or based outside the UK.Melville also advises the promotion, establishment and operation of funds and other indirect investment vehicles: the clients being fund managers, investors or other service providers. His particular experience is with funds holding real estate in the UK or elsewhere on a cross-border basis.Melville is active within real estate and fund industry organisations, and is a regular contributor to the real estate press.
Daniel Rosenberg

Daniel Rosenberg

Daniel represents a broad spectrum of UK and international companies and is experienced in a wide range of corporate issues, including M&A, joint ventures, strategic alliances and corporate finance transactions. He has a particular focus on inward investment, especially from the US and Canada. Daniel is recognised as a leading cross-border M&A lawyer in the independently researched 'International Who’s Who of M&A Lawyers' 2014. Experience: advised SISU Capital Limited and related entities on various matters relating to Coventry City Football Club and on the disposal of Prozone Group Limited; advised Tide Water Oil Co (India) Ltd, a leading lubricant manufacturer in India, on the acquisition of Veedol International Limited from Castrol Limited and Lubricants UK Limited, wholly-owned subsidiaries of BP Plc; advised Izurium Capital on its equity investment in Smartfocus Holdings Limited, global leader in intelligent, personalised, omni-channel marketing; advised Applied Systems, Inc, then a portfolio company of Bain Capital Partners LLC, on the acquisition of Insurecom Limited, a leading software and connectivity solutions company serving the UK insurance industry; acted as local counsel to Bain Capital Partners LLC on the UK issues relating to its $1.8bn disposal of Applied Systems Inc to Hellman & Friedman LLC.
Jason Saiban

Jason Saiban

Jason is a commercial contracts specialist, with a focus on TMT, sport, and retail and leisure. In TMT, he has particular expertise in outsourcing, managed services, logistics, procurement and licensing, and acts for a number of software developers and procurers of technology. In sport, Jason has significant experience in sponsorship, digital media, merchandising, endorsements and event management work. He is the relationship partner for a number of the firm’s key sports clients, ranging from international sports brands to leading sports agencies. His retail practice is focused on franchising, distribution, supply and logistics. Clients in the retail space include brands, restaurant chains and manufacturers. Jason’s client base ranges from large multinationals to start-ups and entrepreneurs. He regularly speaks at conferences, particularly on sponsorship matters.
Duncan Salmon

Duncan Salmon

Duncan is a construction specialist who acts across a range of contentious and non-contentious matters. Duncan is a leader in the regeneration and development sectors and is a construction specialist who acts across a range of contentious and non-contentious matters. He is regularly recommended for his expertise in construction law in annual legal publications. He is currently working on some of the largest and most complex schemes in the country. Duncan is also an advocate of alternative dispute resolution, having been involved in several mediations and adjudications, as well as having considerable expertise in arbitration and litigation. Experience: advising on two areas of the Canning Town regeneration for Bouygues Development and Countryside Properties; advising Taylor Wimpey and London and Quadrant Housing Trust on the development of the first phase of housing at the Olympic Park, providing 800 new homes; advising a number of investor clients and owner occupiers on the development of a number of prime residential development in central London, with values between £10million and £100million; acting for Greenwich Millennium Village Limited (a Countryside/Taylor Woodrow joint Venture) on the flagship regeneration project on the Greenwich Peninsular; acting for Countryside Properties on its award-winning development at Chatham Maritime; acting for Crest Nicholson on the £1billion redevelopment of the 617-acre Wyton Airfield in Cambridgeshire, where the ‘’garden village’’ will deliver 4500 new houses, infrastructure and other facilities; advising Countryside Properties on its Springhead Park Development at Ebbsfleet, Kent; advising Northacre on the redevelopment of the former Thistle Hotel, on the north side of Hyde Park, to provide 77 prime apartments.
Tom Shaw

Tom Shaw

Tom specialises in corporate and commercial law and has over 25 years’ experience dealing with advisory and transactional work for public and private businesses, including mergers, acquisitions, sales, joint ventures, reorganisations and securities issues. His experience and project management expertise allows him to deliver advice and solutions to clients on a range of transactions and projects. Experience: advising issuers and corporate finance advisers on IPOs and secondary issues, including overseas companies coming to the London market, particularly AIM, and has advised on a number of takeovers of AIM companies; a solid track record of advising on complex and less run-of-the-mill projects, such as the reorganisation of PA Consulting (involving the demerger of its venture capital business by scheme of arrangement, s110 reconstruction, and reductions and returns of capital) and advising the trustees in the reorganisation of the A to Z map business; advising Ahlstrom Corporation, a global leader in non-wovens and speciality papers and quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, in its €22.5m acquisition of Shandong Puri Filter & Paper Products Limited in China from Purico Group, a project that spanned over four years.
Erica Shelton

Erica Shelton

Erica deals with all areas of family law, particularly with complex ancillary relief cases, many involving international couples with offshore corporate, tax and trust structures. Erica has been involved in a number of high profile reported cases such as Conran and Judge and unreported cases, including one of the largest Schedule 1 cases to come before the London Family Courts. She frequently deals with private Children Act work often involving cross border disputes. She is a member of the IAFL (International Academy of Family Lawyers) and ACTAPS (Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Lawyers).
Jessica Stafford

Jessica Stafford

Jessica specialises in trust, probate and succession disputes, both domestic and those spanning multiple jurisdictions. Jessica has particular expertise in trust disputes involving Jersey, having worked there for two years prior to joining Charles Russell Speechlys in November 2015. Jessica’s trust dispute experience includes claims involving hostile beneficiaries, applications to the Court for directions, and trustee removal applications. In relation to contested probate matters, Jessica’s experience includes claims for provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, will validity disputes, issues with estate administration, and applications for rectification and construction. She acts for a wide range of clients including beneficiaries, heirs, executors, trustees and other fiduciaries. Jessica also has experience in professional negligence disputes, with a particular focus on cases involving negligent Deputies.
Paul Stone

Paul Stone

Paul advises on all aspects of EU and UK competition law. He regularly advises clients on matters such as cartels and other anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance issues, merger control rules and market investigations. He also advises on appeals against decisions by the competition authorities and other regulators. His experience covers a wide range of industry sectors, including technology, media, telecoms, sport, healthcare, retailing, rail and financial services. Prior to joining the firm, Paul worked in-house at ITV, where he was head of legal affairs, regulatory and competition. At ITV, Paul’s responsibility included advising all areas of the business on competition law and communications regulation, as well as having responsibility for all litigation matters across the ITV group. Paul has been involved in a number of recent high-profile cases in the communications sector in the UK, including BSkyB’s stake in ITV and various projects to deliver video-on-demand content through broadband. Experience: advising Celesio on its application for leniency and subsequent cartel investigation by the CMA into the supply of care home medicines; advising Gamma Telecom in relation to appeals to the Competition Appeal Tribunal; advising ITV in relation to the Competition Commission reference of its sale of Friends Reunited to Brightsolid; advising Nike in relation to competition law matters; advising YouView on the competition and regulatory aspects of the launch of its digital television platform.
Daniel Sullivan

Daniel Sullivan

Danny’s practice focuses on banking and finance transactions, with a particular emphasis on structured finance. He advises lenders, borrowers, issuers and investment managers on a range of transactions, including bilateral and syndicated facilities, public and private offerings of corporate and structured debt securities, securitisations and debt restructurings. He has extensive derivatives and synthetic products experience. Experience: acted for Caring Homes Group on a £298m care home portfolio sale & lease-back, together with a £75m development facility; represented a residential property developer on the restructuring of its approx £100m bank facilities; represented AE Global Investment Solutions Ltd on the establishment of the Cavendish Opportunity Investments Limited €1bn multi-issuer secured note programme, and on listed issuances under the programme currently totalling approximately €350m.
Catriona Syed

Catriona Syed

Catriona advises individuals, trustees,banks and other organisations on the issues which can arise for wealthy families. She has advised on all aspects of complex international structures, including their establishment for succession and estate planning, asset consolidation and personal tax mitigation, as well as the interpretation of documentation at later stages and court applications. Catriona has a strong domestic and international client base, and brings with her a wealth of experience when she acts as trusted advisor, trustee, executor, or protector in appropriate cases. She has over 25 years' experience in the field. Catriona has strong links with the Swiss private client community, having opened the firm's office in Geneva in 2006. Catriona is a speaker on the international conference circuit, and regularly travels to visit clients in the Middle East, Far East, Europe and other parts of the world. She is featured in the directories of private client advisers as a leader in her field. Catriona is admitted to practise in England and Wales. She is also a qualified British Virgin Islands lawyer.
John Sykes

John Sykes

John is a recognised as a leading litigator for UK and international dispute resolution and specialises in commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation. He is a specialist in corporate dispute resolution currently working with companies and individuals in shareholder and joint venture disputes, director duties, Share Purchase Agreement claims, partnership and claims of corporate fraud. International work this year has included work in the USA, Sierra Leone, Zambia, France, Norway and the Middle East. John acted for the successful Respondent in the leading case on share valuation Irvine v Irvine.Additionally, John acts for global technology firms in complex technology development dispute and he is currently working on a cross border trade agreement between France, the US and England, claims regarding installation of smart meter technology in homes and between leading mobile telephony operators.John's work in financial services includes the multi billion dollar Awal litigation, complex aviation financing, and enforcement of loan agreements. John works for early and successful resolution of client’s dispute using the most cost effective tools of litigation and mediation.John is admitted to practise in England and Wales and has experience of the courts of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, USA, France, Scotland, Dubai, Cyprus and Arbitral Bodies including ICC and LCIA.Experience highlights:: Irvine v Irvine; shareholders dispute which set the standard for minority discount on valuation of shares Hadley Keeble and Norman v Gary Kemp; the Spandau Ballet litigation De Beers v Atos EWHC 3276 (TCC); limitation of loss in IT development Awal Bank v Various; the world’s largest fraud case National Bank of Greece (Cyprus) Limited v Ioanna Christofi Republic of Uzbekistan v Oxus Gold Confidential arbitration includes wind farms, data sites, minority shareholder claims, complex technology and claims under Bilateral Investment Treaties
Kelvin Tanner

Kelvin Tanner

Kelvin Tanner is a Partner in the firm’s immigration team and a specialist in both corporate and private client immigration. His corporate clients range from multinational companies through to SMEs and start-ups and he assists them on matters related to their immigration strategy, compliance and the relocation of their staff into the UK. Kelvin assists private clients on the full range of UK immigration applications, with a particular specialism working on the immigration matters of high net worth individuals seeking an alternative residence or citizenship. Kelvin regularly assist clients on the immigration aspects of UK inward investment matters, working with companies and entrepreneurs. He also regularly works on complex immigration matters and has had a number of notable successes in persuading the Home Office to exercise their discretion to approve applications outside of the Immigration Rules. Where necessary, Kelvin liaises with a range of Government contacts on the complexities and processing of his applications. Kelvin is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences on both private and corporate immigration matters.
Robert Thomas

Robert Thomas

Robert specialises in all areas of employment law and has a particular interest in advocacy. He has dealt with almost every type of case in the employment tribunal and has appeared on numerous occasions in county court, the High Court, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. Robert has several reported cases. He has acted for clients (several of which are household names) in a variety of industries and sectors, including finance, construction, local government, education, food and drink, electronics, sport and transport. Experience: a number of major reorganisations/collective redundancies (involving several hundred employees); a large pension change exercise affecting over 700 employees; the successful defence of a whistleblowing and discrimination claim where a costs order of over £300,000 was secured against the claimant; resisting a trade union recognition claim for a major employer in the leisure industry.
Lucy Thorpe

Lucy Thorpe

Lucy specialises in PE and M&A advisory and transactional work for private equity and venture capital investors, management teams and portfolio companies. Her experience includes advising on buy-side and sell-side transactions for both investors and management teams (with recent examples including the successful exits by FPE Capital of Creditcall and Small World), as well as bolt-on acquisitions for portfolio companies (most notably acting for the Civica Group (an investee company of Partners Group) on its “buy and build” strategy)
Nicola Thorpe

Nicola Thorpe

Nicola advises on a wide range of private wealth matters, including international and domestic personal tax, trust structuring, succession and estate planning. Nicola's clients include entrepreneurial high net worth individuals, trustees and family offices. Her work often has an international element and she regularly advises on the transition of family wealth between generations and across jurisdictions, including advising on the creation of global asset holding structures and sophisticated family governance arrangements. Nicola has experience in advising clients on pre-immigration tax planning, and on pre-departure planning including advising on UK tax matters and co-ordinating multi-jurisdictional advice. She also advises on the UK taxation of high value residential property and works closely with advisers in other jurisdictions in order to advise clients on appropriate holding structures and estate planning options for their properties and other assets abroad. Her work often involves advising on international estate planning, including drafting wills and powers of attorney and relevant cross-border issues. She has experience advising in relation to a wide range of assets including real estate, family business interests, art and luxury assets and other diversified investments. She advises executors, trustees, protectors and beneficiaries on a wide range of non-contentious issues and works closely with colleagues in the firm’s private wealth disputes team in relation to contentious matters.
James Trafford

James Trafford

James is a trusted adviser to individuals, families and organisations with complex trust and tax issues. James is often the first port of call for other lawyers, accountants and private bankers, from the UK and overseas, seeking specialist private client tax and trust advice with a commercial approach. He is known for his diplomacy in handling delicate family situations that often involve complex matters across several generations. As a trustee of many large trusts, he is frequently called upon to chair meetings and bring clarity to areas of legal technicality and complicated decision-making. James is highly regarded for his international work on which he has focused for the last 20 years, particularly in the Channel Islands. His clients are based across the UK and in numerous jurisdictions worldwide.
Esther White

Esther White

Esther has over 10 years pensions experience advising companies and trustees on all aspects of pensions law. This includes pension issues arising from corporate re-structuring, mergers and acquisitions and auto-enrolment. She has experience of complex scheme funding arrangements and liaising with the Pensions Regulator and the PPF and winding up. She also has experience of equalisation issues and advising in relation to individual member matters.Esther started her career as a barrister and then worked for the Parliamentary Counsel Office drafting government legislation. She has also worked as an independent professional trustee and was appointed to trustee boards for schemes of all sizes and facing a range of challenges. She has first hand experience of the issues facing trustees and corporates.
Sarah Wigington

Sarah Wigington

Sarah is a corporate transactional adviser with a particular emphasis on private company mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, fundraisings and corporate reorganisations. She has extensive experience advising on matters with a real estate focus and specialises in development joint ventures in the residential property and regeneration sectors. Sarah is actively involved in the Firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and heads up the “Growing Female Leadership” initiative in the Corporate team. Sarah is admitted to practise in England and Wales.
Jaclyn Wilkins

Jaclyn Wilkins

Jaclyn is a commercial lawyer who advises on a broad range of matters with a particular focus on IT and technology related agreements. Jaclyn also has considerable experience advising and representing a large cross-section of companies within the computer games industry ranging from start-up developers to large global publishers. She heads the firm’s computer games team. She provides advice on software development, licensing, publishing, hosting, support and maintenance agreements as well as general commercial agreements and associated issues including data protection, consumer and e-commerce legislation. In addition, Jaclyn is involved in the firm’s sports sector, with specific expertise in eSports. She advises on commercial rights deals, including sponsorship, licensing, media rights and endorsement agreements, as well as giving regulatory advice to organisations in the sector.
Alice Wilne

Alice Wilne

Alice advises a wide range of UK domiciled and non-UK domiciled individuals and their families, as well as trustees. Alice has expertise in advising on: Wills and succession planning arrangements; tax and estate planning involving UK resident and non-UK resident trusts; the English law concept of domicile, the statutory rules which determine UK tax residence and the implications of domicile and tax residence; and a wide range of other matters for individuals typically involving complex UK tax issues. She enjoys building and maintaining long-standing client relationships and acting as a trusted adviser to clients and their families. She regularly works collaboratively with clients’ accountants and other professional advisers, including in other jurisdictions, to coordinate and dovetail their advice and estate planning. She also enjoys working together with other teams within the firm where a client’s needs extend outside her own expertise.
Sarah Wray

Sarah Wray

Sarah advises on all aspects of private client work. Her particular specialism is Landed Estates, both rural and urban, and heritage property. Sarah is passionate about helping her clients, many of whom have held their Estates for hundreds of years, to build strategies which ensure the long-term integrity and success of the Estate. This involves ensuring good internal governance, with open dialogue between trustees, beneficiaries and key executives, within a flexible structure able to respond to the pressures, and opportunities, of the modern world. Her work with Trustee / Family / Estate Offices and other professional advisers ensures a collaborative and joined-up approach to tax and succession planning. Taking the time to get to know and understand an Estate’s concerns, ambitions, values, and day-to-day niggles to ensure that the solutions provided will help it to thrive both now and in the future. Sarah achieved the highest score of all students who took the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ Advanced Certificate in Administration of Trusts in her sitting, and was recognised with a Worldwide Excellence Award for this accomplishment.
Martin Wright

Martin Wright

Martin is a corporate lawyer and advises public and privately owned companies on all aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, joint ventures, financing and general commercial advice. He has a particular focus on acting for French companies and overseas multinationals and within the property and regeneration sector. Martin also holds a number of non-executive directorships. He is the liaison partner for the Paris office and common clients. Experience: acting for the Cherry family on the acquisition of Countryside Properties, one of the UK’s largest privately owned residential developers, by Oaktree Capital Management, the Cherry family, and the current management team; advising Caring Homes Group on a corporate structured deal with Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II to dispose of and lease back 44 freehold elderly care properties for a consideration of £300m, to clear group bank debt and to secure the provision of up to £75m in specific development finance; advising Bouygues Bâtiment International on acquiring the full ownership of the Leadbitter Group; various joint ventures for development and regeneration projects and real estate investment projects in the UK.
Caroline Young

Caroline Young

Caroline specialises in commercial contracts, with a particular focus on technology and intellectual property. She works with clients across a broad range of sectors, from TMT and FinTech to life sciences, retail and insurance. Caroline has considerable experience working on the commercialisation of IP and a broad range of technology contracts, including complex licensing and distribution models, development, support and other IT services agreements, IP strategies and exploitation, procurement and outsourcing. Caroline also advises on data protection, consumer law and e-commerce.
Victoria Younghusband

Victoria Younghusband

Victoria is a corporate lawyer who has specialised in advising investment funds and their managers and other advisers on all aspects from set-up, fund raising, governance, acquisitions, disposals and mergers to restructuring and winding-up. The funds may be open-ended or closed-ended, onshore or offshore, authorised or unregulated and in a number of different legal structures. Much of her work is cross-border with the managers, funds or underlying assets being based worldwide, including in particular the USA, continental Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa. In the quoted funds arena, she acts for sponsors on occasion, as well as for the funds themselves, or their managers.  She has been an expert witness in a dispute on the terms of an investment management agreement. She is a member of the Company Law Committee of the City of London Law Society and led their Joint Working Group on Market Abuse. She is also a member of the technical committee of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) and a member of various working groups of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA).  She chairs the Governance Committee of Listed Private Capital (LPeC).  She is ranked as a leading individual for Investment Funds in Chambers  and Legal 500, and recognised as an expert in Who’s Who Legal: Private Funds and is highly regarded for investment funds in IFLR1000 .  She is also a member of the 100 Women in Finance London Legal and Compliance Peer Advisory Group. Experience: acting for India Capital Growth Fund Limited on its move from AIM to a premium listing on the Main Market, advising on the 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code and the  2019 AIC Code of Corporate Governancwe; advising on the establishment of an Irish EuVECA fund to invest in start-ups and more mature technology companies.