Avocats – England

Deborah Ramshaw

Deborah is a Partner and heads up our procurement team and is well regarded for her pragmatic and commercial advice. She is a highly regarded practitioner with substantial experience of advising a wide client base including central and local government, health bodies, education institutions, housing providers, energy and transport utilities, private sector clients and charities. She advises on procurement law aspects of a range of projects including large scale PPP projects, major outsourcing initiatives, joint ventures, regeneration projects and challenges. Deborah lectures regularly and also writes for Westlaw and Lexis PSL.

Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP

Deborah Rose

I specialise in personal injury law and work in the Serious Injury team, representing people who have sustained life changing injuries in accidents. I act for people who have sustained the most catastrophic injuries including severe brain and spinal cord injuries and amputations. My primary goal for each of my clients is to get them the support and rehabilitation they need to return, as far as possible, to the life they had before the accident. I also undertake a lot of fatal accident work, supporting the families of those who have lost their lives through accidents to find answers and security for their futures. I have always enjoyed working with people and I love meeting my clients, getting to know them and helping them through what is an extremely emotional and stressful time. The most rewarding aspect of my job is helping to ensure the needs of my clients are met at the time when they need it most.

Irwin Mitchell

Deborah Rowntree

Partner in the Banking and Finance team

Ashfords LLP

Deborah Sayers

Solicitor

Irwin Mitchell

Deborah Selden

Deborah Selden is especially well known for her expertise in the chemicals and biotech sectors, where she is valued by clients for her “sharp mind” and deep understanding of their products and businesses. Deborah’s broad patent practice is founded on a background in chemistry, which – together with her acute business brain – helps her to “understand technical matters in depth and apply what is needed for success.” Experienced in working with a wide range of clients, from start-ups and individual entrepreneurs to multinational corporations, she has also developed a flourishing trade mark practice. Deborah’s technical background is in chemistry. Her practice spans a wide range of fields, from photovoltaic devices and printing techniques to carbohydrate synthesis, biotechnology, and a number of separation technologies, including air separation, chromatography and protein extraction. An expert in drafting and prosecuting patent applications for a variety of businesses, ranging from multinational corporations to small start-up companies, she enjoys helping her clients develop and protect their inventions, going the extra mile where necessary to achieve the results they need. In addition, Deborah has experience in prosecuting and defending oppositions to European patents, and providing infringement and freedom to operate advice to clients across a range of technical fields. Deborah also practises in trade marks. Here she has particular experience in the fashion and beauty sector, handling an international portfolio of marks for a well-known fragrance brand. This includes advising on strategies for extending and maintaining the portfolio, and conducting and advising on searches. Deborah is also regularly called upon to defend the brand in a number of jurisdictions, through opposition proceedings and the negotiation and drafting of settlement agreements.

Beck Greener LLP

Deborah Sharples

Partner, Head of Environment and Public Access to Land

Birketts LLP

Deborah Sullivan

Deborah is a Legal Director who qualified in 1998 and has worked in Weightmans' Specialty Team throughout her career, specialising in lawyers’ liability claims. She has extensive experience of acting for solicitors and barristers in professional negligence claims arising from a wide range of underlying subject matters. Deborah frequently deals with lenders' claims and cases involving complex commercial transactions. She is particularly adept at dealing with document-heavy claims and has successfully handled several matters arising from personal injury litigation involving brain damage and other catastrophic injuries. She also advises on coverage issues. Deborah has been highly successful in protecting a number of her professional clients from vexatious litigation by obtaining Civil Restraint Orders and has an excellent track record in the management of persistent litigants. Having worked for both mutual indemnity funds and open market professional indemnity insurers, Deborah has a keen insight into the importance of understanding client needs and objectives. A highly experienced litigator, she is equally comfortable with resolving claims by ADR. Deborah is experienced in dealing with solicitors’ disciplinary cases and has drawn upon her considerable knowledge of claims against lawyers and regulatory matters to advise other professionals about risk management and compliance issues. She also regularly publishes articles in the legal press.

Weightmans LLP

Deborah Yam

Deborah acts for banks, accountancy firms and corporates in relation to all aspects of restructuring and insolvency. She is experienced in advising boards of directors in relation to fiduciary duties in times of financial distress. Deborah also acts for purchasers and vendors in relation to purchase/sale of assets from companies facing financial difficulties including advice on the use of a pre-pack sale.

Keystone Law

Debra Burton

Partner

Shakespeare Martineau LLP

Debra Cooper

Partner

Hill Dickinson LLP

Debra Martin

Debra heads up the Corporate practice in the Midlands. She specialises in corporate finance and has worked on a range of transactions including mergers and acquisitions, disposals, private equity deals, transitions to employee ownership and joint venture investments and shareholder arrangements. Her clients range from corporate bodies, owner managers, family-run companies, management teams, employee ownership trusts, business angels and institutional funds. Debra’s strength and depth of experience is reflected by the broad range of needs she manages for her diverse client base. Debra regularly undertakes transactions for owner managers and corporates looking for investment to grow their businesses, either organically or through a buy and build strategy, and business angels and institutional funds looking to make equity investments in privately owned companies in the UK. Transitioning the ownership of businesses is also a regular feature of Debra’s work, either to a third party by way of a sale, or to a management team through a Management Buy Out, or to employees by transition to an Employee Ownership Trust.

Geldards LLP

Declan Cushley

Browne Jacobson LLP

Declan O’Brien

Heads up the commercial property team (with Barry Shaw). Specialises in all aspects of commercial property law as well as banking.

Solomon Taylor & Shaw LLP

Dee Aktar

Partner

Miles & Partners LLP

Dee Sian-Bieleman

Dee is a corporate lawyer with over 20 years’ experience, specialising in venture capital, private equity and M&A transactions. She advises financial institutions and companies on their investments, refinancings and shareholder arrangements as well as acting for corporates and individuals on mergers, acquisitions and disposals. Dee has extensive experience advising on EIS and VCT investments and on M&A transactions in the healthcare sector.

Keystone Law

Deepa Deb

Deepa specialises in both real estate investment and development, acting for domestic and overseas developers, property companies, institutional investors and funders. She has significant expertise in complex real estate transactions including structured investments and disposals, joint ventures and all aspects of corporate real estate and real estate finance transactions both single asset and portfolios. She has notable experience leading multidisciplinary teams on both real estate and corporate transactions and has developed a particular expertise in the residential sector (student accommodation, co-living, build-to-rent and senior living schemes). Deepa also acts for national and international developers on residential-led mixed-use schemes including scheme structuring and risk analysis. Deepa has been ranked in top legal directory Chambers & Partners for the last eight consecutive years for Real Estate: £150 million and above and was ranked as a Leading Individual in the 2022/23 edition of the Legal 500 for Commercial Property Development. Deepa is included in the Hot 100 most influential lawyers (The Lawyer).

Edwin Coe LLP

Deepak Purushothaman

Partner - Corporate

Weightmans LLP

Deepak Vij

Director

ABV Solicitors

Deepesh Upadhyay

Partner

Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP

Deepika Raino

Deepika is a Legal Director in our professional conduct team. She acts for a range of professional clients and organisations in misconduct and fitness to practise investigations by professional regulatory bodies around allegations such as dishonesty, plagiarism, exam cheating, sexual misconduct, drug taking, acting beyond scope of practice, crossing professional boundaries, fraud, gross negligence manslaughter, performance and health concerns. Deepika assists professionals in criminal investigations and interviews under caution and represents healthcare professionals in medical inquests. She also works with students facing university disciplinaries and in applications for registration or restoration onto their professional registers. With expertise in relation to safeguarding concerns, Deepika commissions independent investigations for organisations into allegations of racism and toxic work environments and makes recommendations for improvements. She also advises professionals and organisations in whistleblowing, defamation and harassment cases, as well as data protection and third-party disclosures. She advises many organisations on their existing standards of practice, codes of conduct and whether risk assessments, policies and procedures are up to date and effective. Working across a wide range of sectors, Deepika’s professional client list has included Sports Resolution, British Ice Skating, the Department for Education (DfE), the Independent Doctors Federation, NHS Trusts, ambulance services and trade unions, as well as individual athletes, university lecturers, university students, doctors, dentists, solicitors, barristers, social workers and medical experts. Deepika’s work has led her to deal with trauma victims and those suffering with severe mental stress. Many years in healthcare and social work investigations have provided her with strong experience in cases that involve the abuse of children and inappropriate relationships between healthcare professionals and vulnerable individuals. She leads a contract with the DfE to investigate and case-present against teachers accused of sexual, criminal or inappropriate conduct towards students and investigates and prepares cases for hearing by tribunals in cases of misconduct. An approved panel member of the Sports Resolution Panel for SCMP (Safeguarding Case Management Programme), Deepika receives safeguarding disciplinary investigations through Sports Resolution. A member of our Pro Bono Committee, Deepika appears on the Law Society Pro Bono Recognition List for her support for access to justice.

Brabners LLP

Deirdre Healy

Deirdre works in the Serious Injury Team in Manchester. She is known nationally for her work with clients who have sustained life-changing injuries. Deirdre specialises in supporting those individuals and their families who have suffered serious brain or spinal cord injury. Her focus is to secure funding to ensure her clients have access to prompt and appropriate rehabilitation. She has over 25 years' experience in acting for clients and specialises in complex injury cases. She has recovered more than £200 million in damages to provide for her clients’ futures. Deirdre has spoken at many brain injury conferences. She has appeared on radio and television to discuss aspects of cases she has been involved in. She was United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Lawyer of the Year in 2015.

Irwin Mitchell

Deirdre Moynihan

Partner

Kemp IT Law

Deirdre Sheahan

Deirdre Sheahan is a Director at Paragon Law where she is head of the Asylum and Human Rights team. Deirdre specialises in asylum and human rights claims, in particular those relating to very vulnerable migrant groups. These include the asylum claims of unaccompanied children, LGBTI claimants and women who have suffered gender based violence as a form of persecution. Deirdre's legal work has led to changes in law at both national and European law level. LQ (Age: immutable characteristics) Afghanistan [2008] changed the UK approach to orphaned children under the Refugee Convention. HJ (Iran) UKSC 2009/0054 at the UK Supreme Court changed the test applied to LGBTI claims. R (MA, BT, DA) v SSHD [2011] EWCA Civ 1446 was referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union and led to changes at EU level regarding responsibility for deciding the asylum claims of children in the EU. Deirdre also provides training and workshops on her areas of speciality for a wide range of organisations.

Paragon Law

Deirdre Smith

Deirdre qualified in 1989 and has practised in a whole range of commercial property areas becoming a partner in a large law firm in the city of London. Since having a family, Deirdre practised in house for a FTSE100 company as well as for the local authorities before then joining the firm in 2019.

Gardner Leader LLP