Speakers

Sam Dormon, VP, Datasite

Sam Dormon is the Regional Vice President for the UK at Datasite. Based in London and successfully driving sales growth for Datasite since 2020, he oversees the company’s UK Legal and Corporate Team. Prior to joining Datasite, Sam honed his understanding of SaaS technology platforms as a business development manager at Centtrip and his knowledge of the legal sector as a recruitment consultant for Michael Page and Taylor Root, helping top 20 firms in the US and UK build their practices. Sam holds an MSc in Finance from the University of Bath.

 

Tom Hartwright, corporate partner, Travers Smith

Tom is a Corporate Partner at City law firm Travers Smith LLP specialising in complex cross-border and domestic private equity and M&A transactions and has been recognised by the industry as one of “Europe’s Best Up-and-Coming Lawyers” and a Private Equity “Rising Star”.

Tom is a member of Travers Smith’s Technology Sector Group with a focus on technology M&A and also devotes part of his time to Travers Smith’s pioneering Legal Technology team, working alongside its software engineers to design more agile and efficient ways to deliver legal services.

 

 Jonny Bethell, corporate partner, Taylor Wessing

Jonny is a corporate partner in the private equity group at Taylor Wessing. He advises private equity and other institutional investors, portfolio companies, management teams and corporate clients on complex UK and cross-border acquisitions, disposals, investments and restructurings, as well as general corporate matters. Jonny is also one of two partners at Taylor Wessing overseeing the firm’s use of AI tools and wider AI initiatives.

 

Mila Trezza, executive coach and founder, Coaching Lawyers

With more than 20 years of international experience, including serving as a director for over 30 companies, Mila Trezza is a former General Counsel for a Fortune Global 500 energy company and an award-winning executive coach. Her contributions to legal leadership have been recognised by Women Influence & Power in Law UK, where she received the Lifetime Achievement Award (In-House). In addition to running her own business, Coaching Lawyers by Mila Trezza, Mila also serves as an expert adviser and consultant to global organisations.

Daniel Dunne, escrow specialist, Interpolitan Money

Di Yu, M&A partner, White & Case

Kim Pons, head of corporate and commercial, Britton & Time Solicitors

James Lyons, corporate director, Lawrence Stephens 

Kate Eades, partner, head of corporate deals and structuring, KPMG Law

Kate is an experienced corporate lawyer with over 20 years’ experience of advising on a wide range of transactional and business advisory matters. She now heads up the national team of around 50 corporate lawyers at KPMG Law having previously practiced at international law firms Greenberg Traurig and Mayer Brown. She has a proven track record of advising on international cross-border and domestic M&A, joint venture and corporate finance transactions as well as group restructures and general corporate law advisory matters. Kate has spent time on secondment to the General Counsel’s offices of a multinational pharmaceutical company and a leading global insurance organisation.

 

Charles Sunley, placement leader, senior vice president, Marsh

Charles is the UK placement leader and a Senior Vice President in Marsh’s UK Transactional Risk practice. He is an experienced W&I insurance broker having spent around 3 years advising on transactions across a wide range of sectors and jurisdictions. Prior to joining the W&I insurance market, Charles spent around 5 years in legal private practice at Jones Day and Osborne Clarke, focusing on corporate and private equity transactions.

 

Will Slaiding, head of corporate, group legal, London Stock Exchange Group

Will Slaiding is LSEG’s Head of Corporate in the Group Legal function, with responsibility for the Group’s M&A and other corporate and financing activities. He joined LSEG in 2016, prior to which he was a corporate lawyer in private practice at Ashurst.

 

Ross Lima, head of energy and infrastructure, EMEA, Lockton

 

Timothy Geer, director, Fingleton

Tim is a director at the regulatory strategic advisory firm, Fingleton, where he advises companies undertaking a merger on how to get merger clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority. Before working at Fingleton, Tim was a director of mergers at the CMA for over 7 years.

 

Michael Engel, partner, antitrust, White & Case 

Guy Potel, M&A partner, White & Case

James Arculus, deputy director general, The Takeover Panel

Rupert Krefting, head of corporate finance and stewardship,  M&G

Sian Evans, managing director, Citi

Keiran Wilson, managing director (Global Technology),  Lazard

 

Sophie Condie, chief executive officer, Shieldpay

With a career spanning banking, fintech, and payments innovation, Sophie Condie is a leading voice in the transformation of client money management. As CEO of Shieldpay, she is pioneering new approaches to secure, transparent, and efficient payments for legal and professional services. Before stepping into the CEO role, Sophie led operations and strategic growth at Shieldpay, driving the company’s evolution as a trusted partner for law firms, dealmakers, and financial institutions. Prior to that, she held key leadership roles at Form3 Financial Cloud, Barclays Corporate Banking, and RBS, where she built deep expertise in cash management, payments infrastructure, and regulatory compliance. Sophie’s insights into high-value transactions, risk mitigation, and financial technology make her a powerful voice in the future of payments for M&A. At the Legal 500 M&A Summit, she will explore the hidden risks in payments, how firms can streamline financial operations, and why the way money moves is just as critical as the deal itself.

 

Robert Ogilvy Watson, founding partner, Ogilvy Wachtel

Former partner in London and Hong Kong with Ashurst LLP and Macfarlanes LLP and Secretary to the UK Panel on Takeovers and Mergers. Robert has advised on significant transactions (including activism) involving listed and private companies, private equity, venture capital and strategic investors. Robert has worked across all business sectors and has particular expertise in Financial Services, Energy & Natural Resources and the Green Economy. Robert has experience of several Panel Appeals both as external secretary to the Hearings Committee and the Takeover Appeals Board; and as advocate at appeals before the Hearings Committee and Takeover Appeal Board. Robert is co-author of the chapter on Takeovers and Stakebuilding in the textbook, European Securities Law 3rd Edition which was published by Oxford University Press in April 2021. Robert was born in Singapore and has worked from Hong Kong and London on international transactions worldwide.

 

Jacob J. Turner, associate, Baker McKenzie

Jacob is an associate in the corporate team based in London. He trained at the Firm and has completed secondments with bp and Kantar. Jacob is also the London Private Equity and Investment Funds team’s pro bono coordinator and holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law & Practice. Jacob’s practice focuses on corporate matters, with a particular specialism in advising financial sponsors in the infrastructure and TMT sectors. This has included global reorganisations, carve-outs and acquisitions and divestments by private equity, listed, and private clients. A large proportion of his work is also in relation to cross-border or multinational transactions.

 

Shawn Atkinson, partner, Orrick

As Europe’s premier tech business advisors, Shawn and his team have overseen several hundred venture financings, private equity buyouts and M&A transactions over the course of the last decade. Leading venture capital and growth funds, private equity, and high-growth tech companies rely upon his unsurpassed industry knowledge as much as his relentless commitment to their business. In addition to sheer volume of deals, Shawn’s incomparable market insight stems from his leadership roles at Orrick, the only global firm focused on technology, and his experience working throughout the UK & Europe, North America and Asia. Shawn leads Orrick’s London Corporate practice, its Global Emerging Markets practice and co-leads the Global Fintech team and the Global Technology Companies Practice Group. These complement his practice serving public and private companies in UK multi-jurisdictional and complex corporate transactions, including countless acquisitions and disposals, cross-border mergers, bankruptcy infused asset sales, recapitalisations and reorganisations. He is also a recognised leader in late stage venture transactions and in early stage private equity transactions in Europe and the emerging markets.

Ceri-Ann McGraa, partner, Eversheds Sutherland

 

Thomas Maw, senior legal counsel – corporate and business affairs, DAZN

Tom is a Senior Legal Counsel at DAZN having been with the business for nearly six years. He supports the business on all forms of corporate activity and has played a key role in a number cross border and domestic M&A transactions as well as various equity and debt financings. Tom has an interest in seeing how in-house legal teams can use legal tech and automation to improve their processes and make them more efficient. Prior to joining DAZN, Tom was a corporate associate at Fladgate.

Paul Kelly, partner – corporate deals & structuring, KPMG Law

Nehzan Ekkeri, group legal counsel, Tech Universal Ventures

Jon Gill, partner, Eversheds Sutherland