Joanne Thompson > Blake Morgan LLP > Cardiff, United Kingdom > Lawyer Profile

The ‘very professional’ team at Blake Morgan LLP provides ‘high-quality advice’ to private and public sector clients across a myriad disputes. Lee Fisher takes the lead on much of the private sector work, both across corporate/shareholder litigation, as well as IP matters, including on the enforcement of patents and trade marks. Joanne Thompson co-heads the team alongside Fisher and is best-known for her procurement defence work for contracting bodies in challenges made by unsuccessful bidders. She is also one of many in the team who have considerable experience handling major public inquiries, including her work for NHS England in the Covid-19 inquiry. Sarah Whittle is also pivotal to the firm’s success for public sector clients (particularly within the health sector), including as it relates to public procurement and judicial review challenges. Joanna Corbett-Simmons maintains a good balance of public and private sector instructions and ‘has a very bright future ahead of her’. 

Leveraging extensive pure public law expertise, from both a UK perspective and in the context of Welsh devolved powers, and also drawing upon more broad-based public sector prowess across the firm’s full-service offering, Blake Morgan LLP offers ‘sound legal advice’ to a myriad public sector bodies (including at local and central government level), ensuring it can provide a tailored service addressing issues unique to entities in the space. ‘Calm and incredibly friendly’ team head Eve Piffaretti  is a reassuring presence to Welsh public sector and UK regulators in the context of health and social care law matters, including when responding to safeguarding issues and advice relating to adults at risk (areas which have an added layer of complexity due to their adherence to secondary legislation which is Welsh specific). The vastly experienced Graham Miles  is also very active in the health and social care sectors, both as it relates to his work for regulatory bodies investigating fitness to practice, as well as his niche expertise in the area of human fertilisation (where Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is a cornerstone client). Public procurement-related work also continues to generate a substantial amount of work, with Penri Desscan  and Simon McCann  noted for their expertise on behalf of contracting authorities, including in the context of long term, complex, high-value services and supplies contracts. Litigator Joanne Thompson takes the lead in the event of procurement challenges and is also at the forefront of the firm’s public inquiries offering, which includes continued representation of NHS England in the Covid-19 inquiry. Sarah Whittle is also very active in the healthcare sector and as well as being involved in the aforementioned inquiry, is regularly engaged in procurement challenges in the sector. Trish D’Souza excels at work at the intersection of public and education law, regularly advising, inter alia, on disciplinary matters and judicial review challenges. ‘Approachable and highly communicative’ associate Daniel Taylor  is also gaining market recognition, particularly among local authorities, for his aptitude at handling complex Court of Protection-related litigation matters.