Blake Morgan LLP — England

Alison Patten-Hall

Alison is head of Blake Morgan’s Commercial and Charities teams. She is a partner specialising in commercial and complex high value projects. She has a great deal of experience of working with clients in the health and care sector, but also acting for large corporates on commercial projects · Commercial / Corporate

Alison Wood

Alison is a Senior Associate in the Professional Regulatory team, with a wide range of experience across the healthcare and accountancy sectors. Alison has a broad area of expertise with a focus on professional discipline and advising professionals and professional regulators regarding fitness to practise and related investigations. She regularly acts for healthcare regulators and also advises accountants in respect of investigations undertaken by regulators such as the ICAEW and the ACCA. She also has extensive experience representing healthcare providers in a range of matters, including criminal and safeguarding investigations, dealing with enforcement action by regulatory bodies such as CQC and Ofsted, and representing providers at inquests and in the Court of Protection. Alison also has experience undertaking due diligence for sale and acquisitions of care facilities and advising providers on corporate matters, including registration with regulatory bodies and general contractual matters. · Regulatory

Angela Mildenhall

Angela is an experienced solicitor having qualified at a large City firm before practising and qualifying in Sydney, Australia (both in private practice and as in house counsel for a private equity firm with several large FMCG brands). Angela advises institutional investors and occupiers with a particular emphasis on landlord and tenant work for corporate occupiers and a growing specialism in transactional telecoms work. Angela advises on complex lease acquisitions for brands such as CGI Technology, IWG, and DX Group. She oversees and manages acquisitions, sales and landlord and tenant work for Sorbon Estates and Angela has also acted for the Canary Wharf Group on its retail leasing across the estate and for boutique fitness brand, Third Space. · Real Estate

Antonia Dowgray

Antonia has practiced for over 20 years, and is dual qualified in New Zealand and the UK. Antonia has worked on professional disciplinary cases for the majority of key health care regulators including the General Medical Council (GMC), the General Dental Council (GDC), the General Optical Council (GOC), (then) General Social Care Council (GSCC), and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). Antonia has prepared numerous professional conduct cases for professional regulators including complex, multifaceted cases involving dishonesty, health and misconduct matters. Antonia has also provided legal advice to regulatory bodies on the interpretation of statutory provisions and rules, and has advised on High Court appeals from decisions of first instance committees. · Regulatory

Bradley Albuery

Bradley is the Head of Professional Regulation and a partner in our Regulatory Group which advises public and private sector organisations and individuals on investigations, compliance, reviews, prosecutions and risk management. · Regulatory

Bruce Potter

Bruce advises both private and public organisations on all aspects of commercial, corporate policy and governance advice. Bruce deals with corporate work, especially spin outs, acquisitions and disposals and management buy-outs as well as extensive advisory work on business recovery and insolvency across receivership, administrations and complex partnership and public and treaty body insolvency and transfers. Bruce also deals with commercial work, especially in IT and information security, developing new legal models and mixed legal/advisory/educational approaches to new legal risks. Bruce supports organisational development and governance development across health and social care often working with multi-disciplinary teams from other professional disciplines. The hallmark of his advice has been the combination of legal excellence with commercial acumen to deliver effective practical solutions for clients. · Commercial

Chris Potts

Chris leads the Commercial Litigation team in the Thames Valley and London. He handles complex commercial and corporate disputes, often in multiple jurisdictions. His practice includes substantial fraud/breach of duty claims. · Commercial Litigation

Clare Strickland

Clare is a partner and head of our regulatory group. She is a highly experienced regulatory lawyer with particular expertise in advising and representing regulators in the healthcare sector. She is an advocate with significant High Court and Court of Appeal experience. Clare supports clients with all aspects of regulatory law and procedure, including operational casework, advice on strategy and policy, and regulatory reform. Clare has experience of supporting regulators and policy makers across a range of sectors, including healthcare, teaching, legal and financial. She also advises and represents individuals and organisations facing regulatory action, and the bodies representing them. Clare has been operations/delivery partner for three large healthcare regulators. She has specialised in serious and high profile case work, including High Court/Court of Appeal matters. While working in-house at a healthcare regulator, Clare: Led the policy and change teams responsible for the development of the regulator’s fitness to practise strategy Led on the formation of a public support service Led the operational fitness to practise teams · Regulatory

Conor Daly

Conor is a partner in the Commercial Litigation team in the London office. He specialises in commercial litigation and insolvency litigation. Conor predominantly handles high-value, complex commercial litigation both national and international. Conor also advises clients on all aspects of contentious corporate and personal insolvency and has experience working on cases involving asset recovery, misfeasance, challenging antecedent transactions and also on general commercial disputes. Conor acts for a broad range of clients including large businesses, high net worth individuals from the UK and overseas and Insolvency Practitioners. In recent years, Conor has increasingly acted for a number of high net worth individuals from FSU countries. · Commercial Litigation

Dan Geddes

Dan is a Senior member of Commercial Litigation team in Southampton dealing with a wide variety of disputes. He has specialist knowledge in company law, insolvency, insurance, debt recovery and contract law. Dan's main areas of practice include: Commercial litigation Commercial disputes Insolvency Dan’s clients include: Many local businesses and private individuals on and around the South Coast Insolvency practitioners from firms including RSM, Mazars, Quantuma and CVR; Large international insurance companies and their policyholders; A variety of banks, invoice discounters and factors, debt purchasers and motor/equipment finance companies; · Commercial Litigation

Daniel Scognamiglio

Daniel leads our travel team based in Southampton. He is a specialist in multi-jurisdictional disputes, travel insurance litigation and tour operator liability and is qualified as a solicitor in England and Attorney at Law (non practising) New York. He has a particular specialism in handling travel insurance and foreign personal injury matters, advising insurers and the public as a result of accidents that have happened abroad; dealing with general insurance litigation and commercial disputes with an international or multi-jurisdictional element. Daniel also advises travel agents and tour operators as to the Package Travel Regulations, ATOL and CAA. · Travel

Darren Price

Darren is a Senior Associate in the Succession and Tax team in our Southampton office. Darren’s main areas of expertise includes dealing with and advising on:- Wills of all degrees of complexity Lasting Powers of Attorney Registration of Enduring Powers of Attorney Administration of Estates Applications for Grants of Representation Deeds of Variation Declaration of Trust for Co-owners of Property Inheritance Tax Advice and Planning Principal Private Residence Relief from Capital Gains Tax Asset Protection Trusts · Private Client

David Hill

David advises public and private sector organisations on all aspects of regulatory, policy and governance advice. David works with clients on issues of public law, governance and regulation with a particular focus on the health sector. David has advised organisations on key projects including primary legislation for the NHS, the supply and administration of medicines and organisational change. He is best known to clients for offering advice which is practical and reflects the political environment in which they operate. David works with organisations across the public, voluntary and private sectors. These range from national regulators to charitable providers of health services and health tech companies. He has acted as an adviser to NHS England for several years. · Regulatory

David Miles

David has acted as a Privy Council agent since 1993. He has conducted many cases from most of the Privy Council jurisdictions. In his capacity as a Privy Council agent, David conducts a wide variety of cases including professional negligence, clinical negligence, personal injury, company and commercial, probate and construction. · Commercial Litigation

Delme Griffiths

Delme is a Partner within our Regulatory Group, specialising in professional regulation. Delme’s practice also covers a range of commercial litigation and public law matters. Delme has acted for and against a large number of regulatory bodies. He has a particular expertise in the regulation of solicitors and the education, social care and healthcare sectors. He regularly presents cases before fitness to practise/professional misconduct panels and sits as legal advisor. Delme also has extensive experience in public law and judicial review. He has acted in numerous judicial review proceedings and regularly advises public sector bodies. He has provided training to public sector clients, including in relation to judicial review practice and procedure. Delme also advises on a wide range of commercial and corporate disputes including contractual disputes, insolvency matters and company/shareholder disputes, together with defamation and reputation management. He additionally has experience in acting for clients in the not-for-profit/charitable sector. · Regulatory

Dov Katz

Dov is a Partner at Blake Morgan LLP. Dov is a unique lawyer who, in addition to having over 25 years of experience in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, heads up the firm’s thriving Sports law practice. In advising professional sportspeople, including high-profile Premier League and international football players and managers, Dov is the trusted adviser to many well-known individuals, across a myriad of sports, on all aspects of their careers and personal lives. As part of its Sports law practice, Blake Morgan also advises clubs on the full spectrum of legal services. Dov has been recognised as a Leading Individual in the Legal 500 spanning several years. Dov specialises in advising founders, owner-managed businesses and acquirers on complex corporate transactions. He has led on numerous high-profile IPOs, guiding advisers and issuers on admissions to AIM, reverse takeovers, introductions and secondary placings, and M&A deals, including cross border transactions and joint ventures. He is known for his strategic insight and is a valued adviser to businesses seeking to grow, restructure, or exit through M&A. Dov regularly provides strategic legal advice to founders throughout their business lifecycle, including the sale of their shares and exits in a variety of sectors. He also advises secured lenders, brokers and investors, including ultra-net worth individuals, on fundraisings and other forms of investment and growth capital, in the form of equity or debt financing, for public and private companies (particularly SMEs). · Corporate / M&A

Elisabeth Bell

Elisabeth is a Partner in our Reading office, specialising in the fields of IT, data protection and commercial contracts. Elisabeth is a versatile commercial lawyer, having extensive practical experience drafting, negotiating and advising on legal issues arising in connection with a wide range of commercial projects for private, public and third sectors. She has particular experience advising on IT and data protection issues, as well as extensive commercial experience in the health sectors. Drawing on secondments to a number of international companies, and the Commercial Directorate at the Department of Health, she has advised on significant outsourcing and procurement projects as well as a wide range of commercial business as usual contracts including software licensing; supply arrangements for goods and services; distribution and agency arrangements and public sector procurement projects. advises on IP issues for a range of public and private sector organisations. · IT

Elizabeth Carr

Chief operating officer of Blake Morgan. Previously managing parther at Morgan Cole, Elizabeth was head of the firm’s general insurance, health and regulatory practice. Elizabeth specialises in employers’ and public liability, product liability, motor liability, and professional indemnity claims and has published articles on personal injury and procedural matters. · Insurance

Gemma Spiceley

Gemma specialises in private company acquisitions and disposals, helping businesses to grow through acquisition, with particular experience in retail, healthcare and childcare sectors. Her main practice area is corporate transactions, which includes: Buying and selling shares in companies Buying and selling businesses and assets whether from or to companies, partnerships or sole traders; disposals and acquisitions Reorganising corporate, group and other business structures, including partnership agreements and shareholders’ agreements Advising generally on corporate administration · Corporate / M&A

Gina Cheetham

Gina is an Associate in our Commercial and Charities Team based in the Thames Valley, with a particular focus on advising charities. Gina advises clients on a range of charity law, governance, regulatory and commercial issues. These include initial establishment of a charity and Charity Commission registration, constitutional matters, incorporation, merger and winding up. She also helps charity clients with legal and regulatory compliance including assisting clients to engage with Charity Commission reviews and inquiries. Her experience covers advising on grants and funding agreements, commercial sponsorship, collaboration arrangements and trading. Gina works with charities of all sizes, those operating nationally, internationally and locally, education providers (including universities, colleges of further education, academies and independent schools) and NHS charities. She has also undertaken commercial work for NHS Trusts. · Charities

Hannah Clipston

Partner Hannah has considerable experience in commercial litigation and the resolution of disputes for commercial organisations, particularly in the sport and leisure industry. Clients she has assisted include Greenwich Leisure Limited and Nuffield Health. She trained and worked in the City for five years and her practice covers High Court litigation, arbitration and mediation. · Commercial Litigation

Helen Bunker

Helen is Chair of Blake Morgan and a Partner who specialises in Private Law based in our London office. Formerly Managing Partner of Piper Smith Watton LLP and head of PSW’s Private Client department, Helen is a specialist Private Client lawyer who prides herself on the delivery of, often complex, technical information with sensitivity and understanding. Helen advises on a wide range of private client issues. She specialises in tax and estate planning, with particular emphasis on clients with multi-jurisdictional assets and/or issues. Helen acts for a broad spectrum of clients, both UK and non-UK domiciled. She advises private individuals, trustees and estates. She enjoys long-standing relationships with her clients, assisting in the necessary changes during key life-stages. Helen is also keen to assist the next generation understand the importance of obtaining specialist advice for long-term life planning. Initiated by Helen, PSW was the first London law firm to receive WIQS (Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme) accreditation from the Law Society. · Private Client

Hollie Jones

Hollie is a Senior Associate in the Real Estate team within the Built Environment division based Hollie deals with all aspects of commercial property work with a particular focus on portfolio management for both landlords and corporate occupiers in the retail and leisure sectors as well as industrial, marine and office occupier clients. She also has extensive experience in dealing with acquisitions and disposals of commercial freehold and leasehold properties and general property management issues. · Real Estate

Iqval Dale

Iqval is an Associate in the Travel Insurance Team based in our Southampton office. Iqval has experience in a wide range of travel litigation claims. The team are instructed by both insurance companies and private clients. They represent clients involved in multi-jurisdictional disputes. Iqval has particular experience in dealing with claims brought under the Package Travel Regulations. · Travel Insurance

James Danks

James is a Partner in the Professional Regulatory team with nearly a decade of experience in advising regulators and respondents to disciplinary proceedings. James has extensive experience in advising healthcare regulators in relation to Fitness to Practice, disciplinary matters and investigations into the same including representations before Interim Order Committees in urgent matters. James has also considerable experience in representing Respondents before their regulators, including solicitors, legal executives and accountants, including negotiating settlements to avoid disciplinary proceedings. He has also been retained to draft responses to the Information Commissioner regarding DPA breaches and has advised corporate clients as to their responsibilities and repercussions of the Bribery Act 2012. James predominantly manages proceedings on behalf of the General Dental Council (GDC) including those matters before the Conduct, Health and Performance Committees. In addition, he is also involved with matters involving the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the General Pharmaceutical Society (GPhC). James is also retained by individuals for representation before the Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) and, in the past, by corporations including FTSE-100 companies for bespoke, tailored advice on a case-by-case basis. · Professional Regulation

James Davies

James is an experienced family lawyer who often acts in cases of high net value or complexity. He represents all parties experiencing relationship breakdown. James is a Partner and the Family Law Team Leader in our Thames Valley offices. James has specialised in family law since qualification in 2002 and practises primarily in the fields of divorce and financial matters consequent upon divorce. These have often included issues of variation, pension sharing (including armed forces pensions), maintenance and capitalisation and enforcement of such orders. His cases are frequently of significant value. He additionally acts in cases of unmarried families and is adept at dealing with cohabitation disputes including under TOLATA and Schedule 1 Children Act. He also acts in disputes regarding children and their arrangements, including those of complexity or with international issues such as permission to relocate the children’s home or abduction. James acts for all individuals including the owners of owner-managed businesses, company directors, senior executives, members of the professions, those in niche industries and on occasion he has acted for the Official Solicitor. · Family

James Greig

James is head of the Wills, probate, tax and trusts team based in the Thames Valley. He specialises in trusts and high end probate and inheritance tax planning. James main areas of expertise are: Wills, probate and powers of attorney, Section 11 IHTA Maintenance Trusts, the creation, administration, restructuring and termination of Trusts, Will structuring and planning for business owners and Inheritance Tax planning. · Wills

Jane Biddlecombe

Jane has over 20 years’ experience in advising on all aspects of employment law in a variety of sectors. She is also a business immigration specialist. Jane advises on a wide range of employment issues including disciplinary issues and dismissals; performance management; absence management and capability issues; handling grievances; discrimination; redundancies and business re-organisations; post-termination restrictions; employment issues relating to acquisitions and disposals including TUPE; drafting employment contracts and policies/procedures; settlement agreements, including Director exits; and Employment Tribunal claims, including representation at hearings. Jane also specialises in all aspects of business immigration law including obtaining a sponsor licence to employ Skilled Workers in the UK and advising on compliance with sponsor duties. She advises clients on obtaining Certificates of Sponsorship and visas for employees including Skilled Worker visas, Global Business Mobility visas (intra-group transfers of senior or specialist workers), Temporary Worker visas and Business Visitor visas. Jane advises a variety of businesses ranging from large international companies to small and medium sized companies in both the private and public sectors. · Employment

Jasmin Taylor

Jasmin is a corporate law specialist, advising clients on various corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and group restructurings. Jasmin deals with a broad range of corporate matters, including acquisitions, disposals, shareholder agreements and restructuring together with general corporate advisory work for a wide variety of clients. Jasmin acts for owner-managed businesses, SMEs and larger corporates across various sectors. She also assists individual shareholders and directors. · Corporate / M&A

Jennifer Williamson

Jennifer has great success helping people deal with changes in their families, whether advance planning to avoid uncertainty, or resolving problems following a relationship breakdown. Divorce or dissolve their civil partnership with dignity Understand the financial issues arising in all family-law circumstances (including unmarried separation, future planning – pre/post nuptial agreements, upon divorce/dissolution, after a lengthy separation) Put enforceable documentation in place to deal with current and future financial claims Resolve disagreements about children: who they should live or spend time with, where they should live (including whether here or abroad), specific issues about other matters such as education Choose the most suitable approach to resolve their matters: supporting mediation, solicitor negotiations, a collaborative approach, or court proceedings. · Family / Matrimonial

Joe Cowles

Joe is a Legal Director in our Dispute Resolution Division, who specialises in all aspects of commercial litigation and arbitration. Joe has considerable experience with appeals to the Privy Council, and he regularly acts as Privy Council agent for overseas attorneys. Joe has acted on a broad range of commercial disputes, including contractual claims, civil fraud, director and shareholder disputes, and insolvency and property related litigation. Joe also advises on reputation management, and has acted in a number of defamation claims on both the claimant and the defendant side. His practice also consists of advising overseas attorneys on appeals to the Privy Council. Joe represents corporate clients, owner-managed businesses, individuals and overseas attorneys. · Litigation

John Shallcross

John is an experienced real estate lawyer with a background in agricultural and landed estate property work. He has developed a specialisation as an adviser on the stamp duty land tax implications of property transactions and now spends most of his time in this area. His focus is now on SDLT (Stamp Duty Land Tax) -particularly the 3% surcharge for additional residential properties and SDLT on leases and development transactions. He is a regular commentator in the media and contributor to the Zoopla web page on the 3% surcharge here, which explains the outline of the surcharge and has links to other resources such as the legislation and HMRC guidance. John also produces a number of SDLT guides online, as well as stamp duty case notes, intended as short pieces on quirky SDLT issues which arise from day to day. These might be of interest to a variety of people, but are mainly aimed at other property lawyers. An increasing part of John’s practice is acting on a consultancy basis to support conveyancers who advise on SDLT, but sometimes need specialist input. John’s clients are mainly those needing SDLT advice, including home buyers and those dealing with complex property transactions. · Real Estate

Jonathan Sleep

Jonathan is a Senior Associate in the Succession and Tax team in our Southampton Office. Jonathan's main areas of expertise includes dealing with and advising on: The administration of high value estates, including for business owners and farmers Advising on inheritance tax and capital gains tax planning Preparation of Wills, bespoke to his client’s individual requirements Lasting Powers of Attorney Creation of Trusts · Private Client

Justin Weare

Justin is a partner in the Commercial Litigation team in the London office. He has wide experience of complex disputes in national and overseas courts and in arbitration (including under ICC, LCIA, LMAA and UNCITRAL rules). His broad practice includes, in particular, shareholder / joint venture, company, contractual, civil fraud, offshore and energy disputes. Justin acts for the broad range of clients who become involved in commercial disputes, including public and private companies, company directors, funds, investment managers, entrepreneurs, and high net-worth individuals. · Litigation

Karen Foong

Karen is an Associate in the Corporate team based in our London office. Karen’s experience includes advising companies on a wide range of corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, shareholder agreements, corporate reorganisations, and corporate advisory work. Prior to joining Blake Morgan, Karen was practising as a corporate lawyer in Brunei Darussalam with a top City boutique firm. Karen is triple-qualified, admitted in England and Wales, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam. · Corporate / M&A

Kath Shimmin

Kath is a Partner in the Banking & Finance Team. She has over 25 years’ experience in the finance sector, covering a huge range of client and transaction types. · Banking & Finance

Katherine Ettridge

Katherine is a Senior Associate who works alongside a strong team handling a varied caseload encompassing all types of travel claims in multiple jurisdictions. Katherine join the Travel team in September 2015. Prior to that Katherine qualified as a Solicitor in September 2015 having done seats in Succession and Tax, Clinical Negligence and Family Law. She also spent 6 months on secondment with the General Dental Council. · Travel

Kathryn Woodward

Kathryn is a Senior Associate solicitor and Notary Public, who specialises in Wills, inheritance tax planning and high net worth estates. Kathryn advises and prepares Deeds of Variation. Inheritance tax planning post death. She is a member of the Solicitors for the Elderly and specialising in elderly client matters, to include preparation of lasting powers of attorney and applications to the Court of Protection. She is the Secretary for the Thames Valley Branch of STEP and also acts for the trustees of a local Charity on a pro-bono basis. · Wills & Probate

Laura Bennett

Laura provides advice where a dispute has arisen between married and unmarried couples, both during a relationship and in the event of a separation. Laura is an experienced negotiator and advises clients through alternative dispute resolution forums in addition to traditional litigation. She also represents parents in cases where child arrangements are disputed. Laura's main areas of practice include: Divorce or dissolution of civil partnership; Financial provision upon divorce or separation, acting for both married and unmarried couples; Experienced in managing cases involving business assets, foreign properties, pensions, family trusts and insolvency; Future planning – preparation and negotiation of pre- & post-nuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements; Child arrangements, including cases of disputed paternity, international and domestic relocation, disputed education arrangements in both state and private sectors and disputed arrangements for foreign travel; Experienced in advising clients through mediation, solicitor-led negotiation, arbitration or Court proceedings. Laura advises clients from a wide range of professional backgrounds, in addition to small to medium business owners and home makers. She has particular experience of cases involving doctors, surgeons, members of the clergy, academics, teachers and individuals within the banking and aviation sectors. Laura also has interest in cases where mental well-being is an issue. She has significant experience in difficult cases involving abusive and narcissistic behaviour, mental ill-health and addiction. · Family

Laura Richards

Laura is a Senior Associate in the Succession & Tax Team. She deals with a wide range of clients in relation to their estate planning and has particular expertise in relation to trusts. Laura assists clients in preparing wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, inheritance tax planning advice and in relation to the preparation, dissolution and administration of trusts. She has particular experience in advising trustees and beneficiaries of trusts as well as individual clients. · Private Client

Laura Sheratt

Laura is a Senior Associate in our Commercial Services team based in the Thames Valley, with a particular focus on advising charities. Laura advises clients on a range of commercial, governance and regulatory issues including charitable incorporation, registration and dissolution, charitable mergers and acquisitions, academy conversions and transfers, grants, sponsorship and collaboration agreements, and working with the Charity Commission, the DfE and other regulators in the sector. Laura regularly advises charities, public bodies, academies and schools, social enterprises, registered societies and other not-for-profit organisations. · Charities

Louis Howlett

Louis is an Associate in our Employment Law team. He advises on a wide range of issues, both contentious and non-contentious. Louis advises employer clients across a range of sectors and industries on the full spectrum of employment law issues. He regularly assists in: defending employment tribunal claims; advising on internal processes, such as disciplinary, grievance and performance issues; drafting employment contracts and staff handbooks; redundancies; and enforcement of restrictive covenants. Employer organisations in both the private and public sectors, ranging from large businesses to small and medium enterprises as well as charity/third sector employers. · Employment

Madeleine Mould

Madeleine is a Senior Associate in our Employment Law team, she advises on a wide range of issues, both contentious and non-contentious. Madeleine works with a wide range of private and public sector employer clients of varying sizes. Advising on contentious and non-contentious matters, from the defence and/or settlement of employment tribunal claims, to managing internal employee relations processes, drafting employment contracts and company policies and providing advice on day-to-day employment law enquiries, Madeleine tailors her advice to reflect the commercial and relational context of the issue in hand. Madeleine has a strong commercial background, having completed seats in Blake Morgan’s Corporate and Banking, Commercial, Employment and Commercial Property teams during her training contract. · Employment

Manoj Styche-patel

Head of corporate department. Partner specialising in corporate finance work including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, management buy-outs and buy-ins; also advises on partnership matters. · Corporate / M&A

Mark Hepworth

Mark is an all round corporate law specialist including corporate transactions, banking and private equity. His main practice areas include company and business acquisitions and disposals for private and public companies, acquisition finance, private equity and joint ventures. Mark’s clients include private investors and private equity houses. · Corporate / M&A

Martin Kay

Martin heads the Corporate team in London and advises corporate clients and not-for-profit and public bodies, including universities, on a range of corporate and commercial issues. With extensive experience in private and public companies, Martin advises on capital re-structuring, equity fund raises, mergers and acquisitions including by general offer, MBOs, MBIs, IPOs including by reverse takeover, on AIM and delisting. His clients include Blackbird plc, International Greetings plc, Quindell Portfolio Plc, Tantalus Rare Earths AG, Telecom Italia SpA, The Royal British Legion and the University of Reading. · Corporate / M&A

Mathew Wilson

Mat is a corporate law specialist and Partner, advising clients on various corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, joint ventures and group restructurings. Mat’s main areas of practice include acquisitions and disposals of private companies, private equity and venture capital investments, restructuring of corporate groups and general corporate advisory work. Mat acts for high-net-worth individuals, owner-managed businesses, family offices, large privately owned groups and publicly quoted corporates within a range of sectors including Technology/IT, Health & Social Care, Travel & Leisure and Manufacturing. · Corporate / M&A

Max Craft

Max is a consultant in our employment team. He has specialised in advising in employment law matters for over 20 years. Recognised as a leader in his field by Chambers, Max heads a team which advises clients on all aspects of employment and pensions law. He has built a national reputation for his work in this field. He still practices as an advocate and has represented the firm’s clients before employment tribunals and the EAT. He has also advised extensively on the transfer of undertaking of regulations, outsourcing issues and education. He remains actively involved in community affairs in Portsmouth where he has lived for 37 years. Max has managed and successfully represented clients in some of the Employment group’s most complex and demanding cases before the employment tribunals, including a number of high profile cases involving the Transfer of Undertaking Regulations (TUPE). · Employment

Michael Colledge

Michael is a Partner and senior member of the Commercial Litigation team in Southampton. He assists clients in resolving complex contractual and commercial disputes. In addition, Michael acts for clients in claims against professionals in all areas. Michael’s main area of practice is related to a wide variety of commercial litigation and professional negligence. Most of Michael’s work involves significant claims in the High Court with cases also in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Michael has developed particular expertise in negligence, insurance law, regulatory law and intellectual property disputes. Michael acts for a broad range of clients from individuals to corporate clients including listed companies and well-known brands. Professional negligence Michael is experienced in advising clients on a wide range of professional negligence issues, cases of note include: Conducting a claim in relation to an accountant’s failure to advise on a number of complex partnership taxation issues. Acting in relation to a claim against a top 50 firm of accountant in relation to advice given relating to the computation of group company basic corporation tax banding. The claim included losses over a period of 15 years. In addition, to claims against accountancy firms Michael has acted on substantial claims against property agents including a negligence claim in excess of £50m in relation to the mismanagement by a leading firm of property agents in relation to a substantial flagship property in the centre of London. Michael has also acted on numerous claims against solicitors ranging from conveyancing issues including restrictive covenants and planning issues to issues relating to company commercial matters and contractual drafting. General commercial litigation Michael has a broad range of litigation experience in all courts including the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. His litigation case load varies from without notice injunctions to protect client assets to long-running cases involving complex facts and legal argument. Cases of note include: Acting for the SRA in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court case of AIG v Woodman [2017] UKSC 18. This is the leading case in respect of aggregation in Solicitors’ Professional Indemnity Insurance. Acting in Godiva Mortgages v Travelers Insurance Company and others [2011] EWHC 3687 (Comm) involving a successful application by the Law Society in both its representational capacity and regulatory capacity to intervene into proceedings. This case was listed as one of The Lawyer’s top 20 cases of 2014. · Commercial Litigation

Michael Ward

Michael is based in the Blake Morgan Reading office, a senior real estate lawyer dealing with all aspects of commercial landlord and tenant work with an ongoing specialism in the development and healthcare fields. Michael has expertise in dealing with all areas of commercial real estate including the development, sale, purchase and letting of commercial premises. He is experienced in acquiring and selling development sites, negotiating development and promotion agreements as well as dealing with secured lending and heading up the Real Estate Finance Practice in the Thames Valley. He has a particular expertise in acting on healthcare developments for both the developer, care homes and medical practices including surgery relocation, developments, leasing and building schemes including specialist property leasing arrangements relevant to NHS funding. · Real Estate

Michelle Davenport

Michelle takes a solutions orientated approach to advising clients in buying and selling businesses and in respect of their other corporate and company law requirements. Michelle advises clients on a range of corporate matters, notably exit strategies, mergers and acquisitions, shareholders’ agreements and joint ventures. Michelle provides commercial and pragmatic advice on a range of corporate and commercial issues. Michelle acts for owner-managers and decision makers of companies particularly in the Tech, retail, hotels and leisure industries. · Corporate / M&A

Mike Wilson, Managing Partner

Mike is the managing partner at Blake Morgan. Mike specialises in all aspects of employment law, including restrictive covenants, commercial agents regulations and disqualification of directors. He has particular expertise in employment tribunal work and high court litigation, where he undertakes his own advocacy. His work also focuses on the social housing, retail and education sectors in relation to employment. Mike is recognised by Chambers and Partners as a key individual with ‘particular expertise in the social housing and retail sectors’. (‘Chambers UK, A Client’s Guide to the Legal Profession’ 2012). · Employment

Niall Brook

Risk partner. · Risk

Nicola Diggle

Nicola leads the Blake Morgan Privy Council appeals team and is a Consultant in our London litigation group. Formerly a partner at Blake Morgan and general commercial litigator for UK and international cases, she now specialises in appeals to the Privy Council. Nicola has over 10 years of experience assisting overseas attorneys and their clients with appeals to the Privy Council in London from Permission to Appeal stage through to hearings and costs. Main areas of practice Nicola’s main area of practice is now acting as a Privy Council agent to assist overseas attorneys and clients with appeals to the Privy Council in London from foreign jurisdictions. Nicola has been practicing as a Privy Council agent since 2012. She has acted in Privy Council appeals from multiple Privy Council jurisdictions including the BVI, Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos, Anguilla, Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Mauritius. Nicola is also highly recommended as a commercial disputes lawyer with over 20 years’ experience and specialist expertise in: Commercial contract claims IT and Software disputes Director and shareholder disputes Warranty claims Commercial mediation Schemes of Arrangement · Privy Council Appeals

Oliver Sowton

A specialist in real estate, Olly is Head of the Property Services Group. He has vast experience in corporate occupier and asset management, as well as the retail and leisure sectors. His main practice areas include the sale, purchase and asset management of commercial property. He and his team undertake the full complement of landlord and tenant services, including lease renewal management. He has experience in delivering new store roll-out programmes, in particular working with the firm’s Construction team in delivering commercial development documentation for new-build projects. He also deals with the environmental aspects of real estate and has particular expertise in dealing with contaminated land. Oliver’s career began with advising owners of farms and landed estates and, as a result of this, he brings to Commercial Development an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the relevant legal issues. Olly has experience of working with a wide variety of clients including private individuals, companies and public sector bodies, whose real estate needs vary in type and portfolio size. He is the operational partner for a number of the firm’s key clients who operate in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. Asset management: Olly spends a great deal of his time working on the communication between the different portfolio stakeholders, so that asset management programmes can be put in place, appropriately resourced and implemented. Energy and climate change: he acts for landowners, advising on and documenting the delivery of solar farm projects. Retail, leisure and hospitality: with his team, Olly advises clients in this sector from both the owner and operator perspectives. Public sector: he acts for a number of public sector clients dealing with their asset management requirements, including the implementation of property rationalisation strategies. · Real Estate

Owen Williams

Owen is a Legal Director in our national Construction Group and has over 20 years’ experience of working in the sector. Owen undertakes both (non-contentious) project work and contentious work. Owen advises on procurement strategies, contract drafting and negotiation for stand-alone and complex property/ development agreements and all related construction legal documentation, as well as advising on disputes should they arise. Owen’s work comprises projects procured across a variety of sectors including commercial, infrastructure, retail & leisure, education, healthcare and residential for a large range of clients. Owen’s expertise covers the entire procurement chain, from inception to completion, and he works with a wide range of clients including local authorities, private developers, landlords, tenants, funders, registered providers, contractors, consultants, and sub-contractors. · Construction

Paula Shea

Paula has over 20 years’ experience. She is a Solicitor, Partner and is Head of the South Coast Succession and Tax Team. Paula is well liked by her clients and is known for her practical and sensitive approach. She thrives on the technically challenging, unusual and interesting cases and creates innovative solutions to tricky problems. In addition to entrepreneurs and those with significant business interests, Paula acts for a number of well known sports and media clients in connection with wills, probate, and tax-related matters. Paula is particularly skilled in advising elderly clients and assisting families with vulnerable children. Paula believes in a holistic approach, working with other advisers and those within her team and the firm to deliver the best outcome for their clients. · Private Client

Penny Rinta-Suksi

Penny is a commercial partner and a member of the Berkshire Business Board. She leads Blake Morgan’s Local Government England team with over 20 years’ experience in advising private sector clients, funders, public sector and third sector on major projects and commercial contracts specialising in leisure, housing, energy waste , utilities, and blue-light. Penny excels at outsourcing, public private partnering and joint ventures. · Commercial Contracts

Rachel Giles

Rachel qualified as a solicitor in 2015, having trained with the firm, and is now an Associate in the Family team. Rachel advises clients in a variety of matters relating to relationships. This regularly includes divorce and dissolution of civil partnerships, financial proceedings and private children matters. Rachel also advises on pre- and post- nuptial agreements, cohabitee matters and domestic violence matters. Rachel has experience in dealing with matters through Court proceedings, and also assists clients in resolving matters through alternative dispute resolution where appropriate, including negotiation and advising clients attending mediation. Rachel is an active member of Resolution and Hampshire YResolution, and approaches matters with a constructive and non-confrontational attitude, to work towards the best outcome for families and children. Rachel is a mediator, having trained in 2022. She works with couples and families to assist with communication following the end of a relationship, covering all of the issues that may result from this. Rachel helps clients from all backgrounds, and in varying stages in their lives. Rachel develops a relationship of trust and confidence to support clients in often challenging situations. · Family

Rachel Sales

Rachel is a Senior Associate in the Real Estate team who focuses on charity property matters and providing advice to clients in the education sector. During her time with the firm she has gained exposure to a broad range of commercial work including sales, purchases and corporate support work for a range of clients. Rachel acts for registered charities of all sizes including household name charities, multi-academy trust companies and other clients in the education sector. She has experience of acting for both landlords and tenants on her transactional work. Having acted for a number of charity clients, Rachel has been able to develop specialist knowledge of the issues affecting the charity retail sector through her landlord and tenant work. Charities: She acts for household name and local charities dealing with the wide ranging property issues which arise out of their varied portfolios. Rachel has advised on acquisitions, disposals, renewal leases and in delivering general property advice. She also advises clients on purchasing properties with the aid of bank finance. Education: Rachel has a specialism in the property specific issues arising when schools covert to academy status as well as dealing with property issues arising post-conversion, including experience of submitting consent applications to the Education Funding Authority. · Real Estate