Mr Harold Brako > Addleshaw Goddard > Manchester, England > Lawyer Profile

Counting domestic clearing banks and international financial institutions, challenger banks and alternative providers in the fintech sector among its key roster of clients, Addleshaw Goddard’s finance disputes practice is fully embedded in niche areas, including asset finance, regulated lending, and digital assets. Praised as an ‘outstanding operator’, Harold Brako leads the team and has demonstrable experience in banking, asset-based lending and receivables financing disputes, often involving cross-border elements. Legal director Helen Collinge is a ‘fantastic source of knowledge’ when advising on recovery, enforcement and fraud actions involving factoring, invoice discounting and asset finance, while managing associate Ashlee Simms is praised as a ‘star of the future’.

Led from London by the ‘commercial and knowledgeable’ Mike Davison and able to call upon significant resources in key regional locations, including Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh, Addleshaw Goddard has ‘deep bench strength’ across the asset-based lending (ABL) product, from a new money, as well as restructuring/litigation perspective. This knowledge manifests itself not only in transactional work, but also helping to launch new products for established lenders, as well as working with start-ups bringing tech-led ABL products to market. As well as its core involvement in domestic transactions for lenders and borrowers, the team also continues to gain traction handling cross-border mandates, including Davison’s work for Indian-owned company Jubilant Pharma on their entry into $400m facilities with Standard Chartered Bank. Manchester-based Lauren Priest-Stephens was also involved in the aforementioned deal and is noted for her ‘superb market knowledge and practical approach’. Other recommended practitioners include Anna Hodgson, for ABL-related restructurings/insolvencies; Manchester-based Harold Brako , for ABL and receivables financing disputes; Euan Cluness, in Edinburgh, who has a specialism advising on ABL financings in the distillery sector; and Leeds-based Philippa McCarthy, whose arrival in September 2022 from Pinsent Masons LLP enhances the firm’s ABL transactional capability in the North East of the country. All named practitioners are based in London unless otherwise indicated.