Career Biography

I was called to the Bar in 1990, and was a tenant of 8 King Street Chambers in Manchester from 1990 until 2006. During my tenure I provided in-house support and counsel to British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL).

Shortly before leaving 8 King Street Chambers, I was fortunate to appear in the House of Lords before the advent of the Supreme Court. It seemed a fitting point to hang up my wig and gown.

I then became a partner with DLA Piper, requalifying as a solicitor where I continued to look after companies which were formerly part of BNFL, such as Magnox, Westinghouse and Sellafield, as well as developing relationships with nascent nuclear jurisdictions.

In 2015, I moved to King and Wood Mallesons (KWM) where I was the relationship partner for China General Nuclear (CGN), looking after their nuclear new build interests in the UK and globally.

With the demise of KWM I moved to Squire Patton Boggs in 2017, where I continued to serve the likes of CGN, Magnox and other nuclear entities such as the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) in the UAE.

In 2022 I was fortunate to be appointed as the general counsel of Sellafield, bringing me almost full circle back to where my nuclear career started, as an in-house lawyer at BNFL.

The role of general counsel at Sellafield is broad and challenging and I would not be able to fulfil it without an amazing team around me both within the organisation, our parent organisation, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and our parent department, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

At Sellafield I have been privileged to be part of an Executive and Board who have made massive advances on the mission, including decommissioning our legacy facilities and cleaning up the site, and keeping the lights on through fuel storage for the EDF nuclear reactor fleet.

I also feel very proud to be part of an organisation who put people at the forefront of everything we do: safety, security, diversity, inclusion to name but a few of the attributes we hold steadfastly to. To be told by one of the leaders of our LGBTQ+ networks that the place they feel safest is Sellafield is something I have been most proud of.

My Directorate is trusted by the organisation to give business critical, timely, pragmatic and accurate advice. Our organisation is being trusted to do more. I am extremely proud to be a small part of that.