Hill Dickinson LLP

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Alex McCann

Hill Dickinson LLP

 Alex is a partner in the property team.

Andrew Williams

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner specialising in acquisition and disposal of commercial property (freehold and leasehold); all aspects of management transactions; and landlord and tenant matters.

Andrew Gibson

Hill Dickinson LLP

Andrew qualified in 1989, and gained a wide range of employment litigation experience with a niche commercial law firm in Manchester before joining Hill Dickinson in September 2001. Andrew has extensive experience in a range of employment law matters, and undertakes advocacy in the Employment Tribunals, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He has conducted litigation in the Court of Appeal. He advises on all aspects of an increasingly complex area of law, including TUPE, the Working Time Directive, race, sex and disability discrimination and redundancy. He is also involved in extensive litigation on-going nationally relating to equal pay. Notable cases include Walton Centre for Neurology & Neurosurgery NHS Trust v Bewley and the national test issue of Jones & Ors v Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Ors. He acts primarily for employers, from small private companies to large PLCs, NHS Trusts, Colleges, Local Authorities and Universities. He has acted for teachers and lecturers in disputes with their employers, and as a school governor for many years has a particular interest in Education Law. He is also a prominent member of the firm’s on-going training and continuing development activities for clients and potential clients, as well as coordinating the training needs for solicitors and support staff in the employment and pensions practice group.

Andrew Leslie

Hill Dickinson LLP

A highly experienced practitioner who specialises in defendant clinical negligence representing the NHS. He manages a high-value caseload of catastrophic injury claims, with a predominant focus on the most complex adult and child brain injury claims. Substantial experience in ADR, achieving multi-million pound settlements using periodical payment orders and successfully defending claims to trial when merited. Background in healthcare advisory work and coroner’s inquests, as well as lecturing to health sector audiences. Firm client relationship partner for a number of NHS clients.

Anthony Houghton

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner specialising in commercial property, site assembly, landlord and tenant, large project/portfolio work, leases, multi-site telecommunications lettings and property development.

Anthony Allen

Hill Dickinson LLP

Tony heads our world renowned yacht team, and has more than 20 years' experience of yacht-related legal issues. With an international client base and having worked with most of the leading European yacht underwriters and yards, he enjoys a reputation as one of the leaders in this field.His work focuses primarily on large yacht transactions and major yacht insurance disputes whilst he also has an active involvement in industry bodies such as the Superyacht Society, the British Marine Federation and its Superyacht UK initiative, and the Royal Yachting Association.

Anthony Gibbons

Hill Dickinson LLP

Legal director dealing with professional negligence claims and complaints against the firm.

Chris Tyrrell

Hill Dickinson LLP

A partner in the commercial litigation team, Chris' expertise is in high value contractual disputes, but with particular specialisms in corporate, healthcare and financial services disputes.Chris has been with the firm since 2006 and has become widely regarded as a specialist in complex contractual claims, and has acted for clients in the aviation, sports, property and retail sectors, across a number of different jurisdictions. Hehas also developed a particular specialism in complex healthcare disputes and has led a number of multi-disciplinary national investigations into healthcare contractors, especially those involving allegations of fraud.Chris has a first class degree in Law (winner of the Law Prize) and a master of philosophy degree in law from Manchester University. His expereince includes: Successfully representing the Peel Group in High Court and Court of Appeal case of Durham Tees Valley Airport -v-bmibaby ([2010] EWCA Civ 485 Successfully representing Wayne Rooney and his company, Stoneygate 48 Limited in the claim brought by Proactive Sports Management (2010 EWHC 1807 (QB)) Chris also represented Lancashire County Cricket Club in Judicial Review proceedings against Derwent Holdings ([2011] EWCA Civ 832) Sucecssfully acting for the Peel Group in arbitration proceedings for ongoing royalties under a long-term contract Acting for eight NHS trusts in a dispute against a contractor pursuant to a £70 million service agreement Acting for former shareholders of two businesses in separate £10 million+ breach of warranty claims

Chris Johnston

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner leading the property finance team in Manchester.

Claire Cosgrove

Hill Dickinson LLP

A partner in our property team, undertaking a wide range of property tranactions with particular emphasis on acquisitions amd disposals and landlord and tenant work, Claire was originally a trainee at the firm and qualified into the property and construction team in 2005. She was promoted to senior associate in 2008 and partner in 2011. She has particular expertise in acquisitions and disposals and landlord and tenant work. Particular areas of specialism include: bulk disposals and acquisitions investment acquisitions including retail parks and shopping centres acting for tenants in the retail sector - Claire has acted for national retailers since qualification in all aspects of their property portfolios                                        

Colin Lavelle

Hill Dickinson LLP

Legal Director within the Liverpool Shipping team, specialising in both commercial and contentious shipping matters, having joined the firm in 2002. Acts for a cross-section of clients in the shipping sector ranging from P&I Clubs, cargo interests and Owners to Freight Forwarders, Shipping Lines and Lenders. Colin advises on matters ranging from dispute resolution to a broad range of commercial shipping issues. Recent work carried includes: recovery of large debt for bunker supplier and ships’ agent, which included the arrest and sale of a fleet of vessels in the UK and Spain; various ship sale and purchases; admiralty Court action to determine whether Filipino law or English Law applied to the calculation of a personal injury claim; advising on issues relating to the Bribery Act and alleged free trade infringements including providing in-house training for clients; handling contractual dispute to determine whether major Port was responsible to pay Agency provider on termination of contract; multimillion pound recovery of super yacht seized in Turkey on behalf of major UK Bank; acting for Liner Agents in respect of issues arising from administration of major retailers including Woolworths, Habitat and Unipart Automotive. Colin has been involved in presenting and organising various external presentations on a range of subjects including Bribery, Competition Law for Liner Agents and Commercial Shipping Issues.

Craig Walker

Hill Dickinson LLP

A consultant specialising in property litigation.

Craig Scott

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner- National Head of Corporate

Darren Hamer

Hill Dickinson LLP

Darren has worked on some of largest property transactions in the north-west over the last few years and his clients are both public and the private sector. Darren's areas of recent expertise includes in respect of investment transactions, complex lease interpretation, neighbourly issues and joint venture acquisitions. He endeavours to obtain a full understanding of the client’s business that he believes is fundamental to achieving the best outcome for his clients.Experience: • Acted in provision of advice to a local authority in connection with the £80m regeneration of its town centre• Acted on the sale of a portfolio of Office buildings for a private investor for £17 million• Acted on the sale of land for residential development for a partnership for £17.45m• Acted on the sale of a central London buildings for private investors for £15.3 million• Acted on the acquisition of a shopping centre for a local authority for £27 million• Acted on the strategic acquisition of key town centre sites for a local authority for £9 million

David Oram

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner specialising in contentious and non-contentious construction.

David Swaffield

Hill Dickinson LLP

David heads the thriving (and growing) property and construction team based in the Liverpool, Manchester and London offices. His own particular areas of expertise include property investment and development work, and landlord and tenant issues.Originally joining the firm in 1976, David has served on its board (in various manifestations) for 25 years. He currently chairs the audit committee and is its compliance officer for legal practice. He was president of the Liverpool Law Society in 2000.David has a broad commercial property practice but his particular areas of expertise include investment and development work, and landlord and tenant matters, especially in the office, industrial and logistics sectors and infrastructure projects. He acts for a number of major developers, occupiers and institutions.

David Locke

Hill Dickinson LLP

David is a partner in the health litigation team, dealing with complex, catasrophic litigation and health sector group actions. A solicitor-advocate with higher rights of audience, regularly appearing in appeals and High Court matters on behalf clients. On a day-to-day basis, manages a caseload of maximum severity and multi-party clinical negligence claims on behalf of NHS Trusts, with a number of trial successes. Expertise relating in particular to the innovative management of complex group litigation, notably the Liverpool urogynaecology litigation and the Leicester epilepsy litigation. The ADR Protocol devised in the Liverpool litigation has now been widely adopted as the standard model in NHS group actions and has been updated following the changes to civil litigation funding rules. Has consulted on various other group actions including matters outside of the health sector.

David Parry

Hill Dickinson LLP

David is head of the Commercial Employment team in Manchester. He has over 12 years’ specialist employment law experience.Acting for UK and US listed companies through to owner-managed businesses, David's practice spans the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment law, HR and ER issues. The bulk of David’s practice sees him working on significant, complex, high-value and reputationally important people matters. David is routinely instructed on heavyweight employment disputes in the High Court, including urgent claims for injunctive relief arising out of the breach of restrictive covenants, the misuse of confidential information and team-move situations. He also has particular expertise in large-scale reorganisations (especially where collective consultation is required) and the employment aspects of outsourcing, joint venture and M&A transactions.David previously spent a significant period on secondment to Barclays Bank plc where he undertook the role of legal counsel within the bank's global retail division.Recent experience includes:• Acting for the UK subsidiary of a NYSE listed global provider of diversified consumer packaging in a claim against an ex-employee who had joined a competitor and misused confidential information• Acting for an international travel group in a dispute with a former director who resigned from the business to join a competitor in breach of his restrictive covenants.• Acting for an international travel group in relation to an unlawful team move to a competing business.• Acting for an international travel group in relation to a major site closure / relocation. • Acting for a retail technology business in conducting an independent inquiry in response to allegations of sexual harassment and bullying made against members of its senior leadership team.• Acting for a casino operator in relation to a claim for injunctive relief brought in the Employment Tribunal arising out of alleged protected whistleblowing disclosures.• Acting for a global soft drinks manufacturer in relation to the implementation of a GDPR compliant data protection regime for its UK and European workforce.

David Chinn

Hill Dickinson LLP

David is a partner in the construction team and advises on both contentious and non-contentious construction and engineering work. He is also head of the business services team.David joined the firm in 1988 and became a partner in 1992. He has been advising on construction/engineering law since 1990. Involved in many high profile projects relating to football stadia, a zoo, theatres, bridges/tunnels and various iconic buildings, David is also involved in project work including advising on, drafting and negotiating building contracts, consultants' appointments, collateral warranties and other security documents. He also deals with dispute work including litigation, arbitration, adjudication and mediation.

David Pitlarge

Hill Dickinson LLP

Has specialised in shipping and commercial law since qualifying in 1989. Undertakes a broad range of shipping and related commercial work, including advising on contractual disputes arising from bills of lading, charterparties, MOAs, shipbuilding contracts, ship management agreements and international sale agreements (this has included investigative work following casualties); drafting and advising on documentation for shipping and shipping-related transactions, including management contracts, sale and purchase, construction, loan and ancillary security documentation; advising on insurance coverage, principally P&I and H&M issues; and advising on general commercial litigation. Clients include ship-owners/operators, P&I clubs, banks, charterers, underwriters, brokers, traders and non-English lawyers. While acting for clients from a diverse range of locations, David has a particular interest in the Mediterranean markets.

David Rabagliati

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner dealing with a wide range of issues in the non-contentious commercial field. Focusing on banking and financial work, including lending and the taking and enforcement of security; the construction, sale and purchase, and finance of ships; infrastructure projects including PFI/PPP projects in the rail industry; joint ventures and other corporate transactions, and the restructuring and documentation of a wide range of commercial transactions. Major transactions include Manchester Metrolink, Midland Metro, Croydon Tramlink, the fleet renewal programme of the Libyan State Shipping Company and the restructuring of the Szczecin Shipyard.

David Hill

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner, Governance, Regulatory and Public Law

Emma Stockwell

Hill Dickinson LLP

Head of Governance, Regulatory and Public Law

Fiona Parry

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner, Head of Commercial Litigation

Fionnuala Kenny

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner specialising in succession trusts and personal tax planning.

Geraldine Ryan

Hill Dickinson LLP

Heads the firm’s commercial litigation team. Head of Manchester office

Graham Archibald

Hill Dickinson LLP

Graham is a partner in our property team. He undertakes a wide range of property transactions with particular emphasis on acquisitions and disposals, portfolio management and development projects. With particular expertise in undertaking acquisitions and disposals, and portfolio management, Graham also has extensive experience of acting for both landlords and tenants on leasehold transactions. Particular areas of specialism include: The undertaking of development transactions Site disposals to residential developers Disposals and acquisitions of industrial estates Transactions involving the leisure sector He acts for private investors and national corporates, as well as a number of public and third sector bodies.

Iain Campbell

Hill Dickinson LLP

A partner in our commercial litigation team, Iain has lengthy experience of both dispute resolution and regulatory defence work for clients in many sectors, including financial services, retail and higher education.His litigation experience ranges from commercial disputes to emergency injunctions and crisis management. Iain's specialisms include competition law, restraint of trade and financial regulation. He lectures for CPD providers on technical topics such as legal professional privilege, and is also a mediator, being a member of the national panel of The Mediator Network. As a student, Iain won the Observer Mace debating tournament and subsequently graduated in law from Manchester University.

Ian Gardiner

Hill Dickinson LLP

Training with the firm and then qualifying in 1999 before becoming a partner in 2003, Ian specialises in defending clinical negligence and employers’ liability/public liability claims (EL/PL) in the NHS setting. He also advises on most other healthcare issues and manages the Manchester health litigation team.A nominated partner for clinical negligence and EL/PL claims for the NHS Litigation Authority, ian also lectures widely to clients on health litigation topics.

Ian Maclean

Hill Dickinson LLP

Provides his international client base of ship owners, ship managers and their insurers with extensive multi-jurisdictional casualty experience, including collisions, structural failure, pollution, actual and constructive total losses, fire, and salvage and cargo damage. Known for his practical and measured approach in the emotive environment that characterises the immediate aftermath of a casualty. Also advises on the contractual and third-party disputes arising from casualties through to settlement, and has a pragmatic and proportionate approach to case management and settlement negotiations. In addition advises on MARPOL issues, hull and machinery claims, piracy and ship management disputes. Master mariner with 12 years’ seagoing experience; worked for a major ship manager in Cyprus where, as deputy director, he was responsible for the marine superintendency, safety, loss prevention and the casualty management/investigation functions. Contributes to seminars and writes for the trade press on litigation risk management, casualty management, seaworthiness and the ISM code. Has advised the Cyprus government on the introduction of shipping legislation.

Ian Gillis

Hill Dickinson LLP

Head of Corporate Manchester

James Williams

Hill Dickinson LLP

A partner in the employment and pensions team, James advises both employers and employees on a full range of matters, including day-to-day surgery advice, transactional support, executive severance and litigation.James joined the firm in April 2014, having qualified into a large European law firm in 2000 and spent eight years as a partner in a niche city employment practice. He acts for organisations across a range of sectors, with a particular focus on financial services, shipping, education and advertising. He specialises in: Tribunal and High Court litigation (including whistle-blowing, discrimination, TUPE and breach of contract claims) Dealing with team moves, post-termination restrictions and applications for injunctive relief Providing day-to-day ‘surgery’ advice Advising senior executives on their contracts and severance packages James attended the University of Liverpool, where he completed his law degree and an LLM in International Law.

James Lawson

Hill Dickinson LLP

Transactional aspects of the owning and operation of superyachts, including construction, refit, sale and purchase, design, project management, yacht management and crew management agreements and issues arising out of the ownership, operation, chartering, taxation, registration, regulation and crewing of superyachts.

Jeff Isaacs

Hall of fameHill Dickinson LLP

Partner with a recognised specialism in commodities, international trade and shipping law, with especial expertise and specialisation in sugar and cotton. Work undertaken includes commodity disputes, international sale and purchase contract litigation and arbitration (principally at GAFTA, FOSFA, ICA and RSA/SAL but also at LCIA and ICC ), and all aspects of international trade, including futures and options and other commodity-based derivatives, together with all forms of dry shipping litigation, including charterparty and bill of lading disputes, cargo claims and ship sale and purchase disputes. Clients are commodity trading houses, commodity trade associations and energy majors. Speaks regularly at seminars on all aspects of his practice, particularly sugar.

Jim Purves

Hill Dickinson LLP

Head of the national property and construction team, Jim joined Hill Dickinson’s rapidly-expanding Manchester property team from Pinsent Masons in May 2015 and in May 2017 became the first Manchester-based head of Hill Dickinson’s national property practice.Key sectors: logistics/industrial property; retailKey clients: DHL, Lookers Motor Group, EuroGarages, Williams Lea Taghttps://www.hilldickinson.com/people/jim-purves

Jim Garton

Hill Dickinson LLP

James is head of real estate and real estate finance in London and his particular areas of specialism are hotel and residential (and mixed use) development; real estate finance and joint venture arrangements. James has many years’ experience of acting for investment funds and institutions, property companies, developers, banks, high-net-worth individuals and end users on a diverse range of real estate work including development, investment, real estate finance and landlord and tenant. Recent successes include advising on hotel developments and mixed use schemes – including joint venture arrangements, acting on numerous secured lending transactions including hotel acquisitions and developments, investment properties, mixed use developments and restaurant premises and representing high-net-worth clients in relation to high-value residential sales and purchases. He has also been responsible for advising West Ham United in connection with its bid to take over the Olympic Stadium in Stratford following the London Olympic Games in 2012.

John Hulmes

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner with the Liverpool shipping team, with particular expertise in P&I, FDD, law relating to ports and managing complex dispute claims. Increasing role in risk management issues and has advised company boards (including P&I club boards) in relation to confidential matters. Clients include leading banks, charterers, liner agents, ports and owners.

John Caddies

Hill Dickinson LLP

Head of our Marine PI and Regulatory, John worked with the previous head of department, Maria Pittordis, for 28 years and has taken over the role as a result of her sad passing. Specialising in high-value, complex personal injury and industrial disease claims, John joined the firm in 1988 and has dealt with complex and high-value employers' liability and public liability personal injury claims for over 25 years, varying from athletes to divers. A marine and transport claims' specialist, he regularly visits ports and attends onboard vessels to carry out immediate post-accident investigations, liaising with the HSE, MAIB, MCA and the police, and advising in relation to both the consequent criminal prosecutions as well as the civil claims. John has significant expertise in dealing with fatal claims, psychiatric injuries and multi-party litigation in the “BOWBELLE”/“MARCHIONESS” and “COSTA CONCORDIA” litigation, and leads a team with extensive experience in GI, legionella, norovirus and sexual assault claims. John also has specific expertise in dealing with industrial disease claims, particularly asbestos, asthma, vibration white finger and stress at work and argued the only successful date of knowledge defence for ship owners in the reported case of G Smith (deceased) -v- P&O Bulk Shipping Limited. He regularly lectures and provides training to clients both in the UK and Europe on both personal injury and industrial disease claims.

Jonathan Brown

Hall of fameHill Dickinson LLP

With almost 30 years’ experience as a corporate transactional lawyer advising a wide range of public companies, large privately owned companies and SMEs, Jonathan has excellent experience in a wide variety of sectors, and a wide variety of clients undertaking transactions  in the UK and abroad. Jonathan deals with all forms of corporate transactions including: Mergers Acquisitions Disposals Private equity Public equity Joint ventures Re-organisations His experience includes: Stobart Group - sale of 51 % of Eddie Stobart to DBay Capital Bibby Line Group - sale of Bibby Ship Management Edward Billington and Son Limited - acquisition of TSC Foods and Dunkleys Limited Cammell Laird - acquisition of A & P Carr's Group PLC - acquisition of Meneba Holdings including Class 1 transaction Cammell Laird Gibraltar - sale Highneal Group – section 110 re-organisation Benfield Sports - sale to IMG Swinton Group - sale of NI business Connect Airways/ Stobart Group – acquisition of Flybe Group plc Huaxiang Corporation - acquisition of Lawrence Automotive Systems Labelling – sale to Americk ( NI )

Jonathan Heap

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner in the NHSLA team specialising in clinical negligence and personal injury. Caseload includes a full range of claims with particular interest in brain injury, spinal injury, ophthalmic and complex surgical cases. Jonathan handled the key clinical negligence case of Reaney v University Hospitals of North Staffordshire NHS Trust & Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust [2015] EWCA Civ 1119 which the Defendants successfully appealed. He regularly lectures to clients on various legal issues, with particular interest in patient safety and the application of the legal duty of candour.

Jonathan Dover

Hill Dickinson LLP

Jonathan is a partner in the Manchester property team with over 25 years’ experience working in commercial property.Prior to joining the firm in February 2009, Jonathan was a partner at Berg Legal in Manchester, having trained at Eversheds. He specialises in dealing with various aspects of commercial property including the buying and selling of property and landlord and tenant transactional work.

Julia Stansfield

Hill Dickinson LLP

A legal director in the property litigation team, Julia is experienced in dealing with a wide range of property claims, including landlord and tenant disputes, rights of way, restrictive covenants, overage and property damage claims.Julia originally qualified into the commercial property team, which provided her with the experience essential for a property litigator, before moving into a litigation role, which included dealing with a large number of property related professional negligence claims. She then took this valuable experience with her to the firm's specialist property litigation team.In addition to Julia's expertise in professional negligence and working on the ‘bread and butter’ work of a property litigator, such as landlord and tenant disputes and property damage claims, Julia specialises in ‘real property’ disputes, for example, issues relating to a variety of different easements, restrictive covenants and adverse possession. Julia also acts for a number of leading legal indemnity insurers who provide insurance to commercial and residential property owners. She is appointed to act for the policy holder when a claim is made under the policy. She also provides advice on policy/coverage issues for insurers.

Kathy Holuba

Hill Dickinson LLP

Kathy is a professional support lawyer in the corporate team, providing technical legal support to the team and its clients. Kathy advises on the technical aspects of corporate law, such as share and business sales, M&A transactions, shareholder agreements and articles of association, director issues and partnership and limited liability partnerships, including the relevant documents and procedures .

Kerstie Skeaping

Hill Dickinson LLP

Head of Liverpool Commercial and Head of Health, Employment

Kevin Lee

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner in a real estate group specialising in property litigation, particularly property insolvency, rights of light and interim remedies. His clients range from banks and insurance companies to universities and a growing number of overseas companies and investors.

Malcolm Entwistle

Hill Dickinson LLP

Malcolm is head partner in the London corporate and commercial team. He is experienced in all aspects of corporate and commercial law and is involved in all types of financing and equity finance structures.A director or company secretary for a number of the firm's clients, he is, and has been for over 30 years, honorary secretary of the Jubilee Sailing Trust. A high proportion of Malcolm's clients are overseas and his work involves multi jurisdictions. His experience covers all types of assets or arrangements including joint ventures, but he has a particular specialism in all types of commercial shipping transactions including shipping finance, sale and purchase, ship and yacht instructions, repair contracts, charter parties and other related contracts where he has substantial experience and expertise.

Mark Walker

Hill Dickinson LLP

Best described as an international mercantile lawyer, Mark is a partner in the corporate and commercial team in the London office. His practice is a diverse one and includes expertise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and cross-border joint ventures, finance, commercial shipping and commodities.Mark qualified as a solicitor in 2008 having completed his articles at the firm and upon qualification he joined the commercial and corporate team in London before becoming a partner in 2014.  He is experienced in handling matters as diverse as the sale and purchase of ships, businesses and assets, asset finance (acting for banks and owners), trade and structured trade finance, cross-border joint venture and investment agreements, corporate restructuring and the drafting of commercial agreements. In addition, Mark is also experienced in drafting supply contracts, both domestic and international, negotiating and drafting shipbuilding contracts and regularly provides the firm’s commodities clients with advice on a range of commercial and corporate matters relevant to their businesses.Mark completed a degree in law and accountancy at the University of Brighton where he graduated with first class honours and won the American Express prize for his performance in his final year. He undertook his LPC at the College of Law.

Mark Fitzgibbon

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner – Head of Commercial, TMT and IP

Mark Weston

Hill Dickinson LLP

Mark heads our London offering for commercial, information technology (IT), intellectual property (IP), on-line commerce and media law, in both non-contentious and contentious areas. He particularly loves the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector.Mark joined the firm in February 2016 after 12 years as partner and head of the commercial/IP/IT team at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP. Before that, he spent several years at Baker & McKenzie in London and Chicago and has also previously been seconded to Hewlett Packard and other technology businesses. Mark is used as a 'trusted adviser' by many clients in all sorts of businesses and often acts as ‘private practice in-house counsel' for many clients. He specialises in tech and internet businesses. Within IT law, Mark has particular expertise in IT projects, software issues (including development, licensing, maintenance and distribution), SaaS, Cloud and virtualization issues, outsourcing, facilities management, new media solutions, transmedia development (particularly transmedia gaming), solutions for/methods of transacting on and via the internet, online retail, ecommerce generally, s-commerce, m-commerce, liability management strategies, IT audits, procurement, IT policies, data protection (privacy) and freedom of information issues. He is also experienced in dealing with commercial disputes (including software disputes and IT litigation). The increasing media side of his practice relates primarily to publishing (both real world and digital content), to games and gaming platforms (and particularly new transmedia technologies), advising companies about their advertising onscreen, online and in print and managing their public communications strategies generally - and also television, film and music exploitation. Mark completed his law degree at University College London in 1993 (achieving top first class honours) and achieved a distinction at the College of Law, London (1994). He then trained at Allen & Overy (1995-1997).

Martin Penny

Hill Dickinson LLP

A marine partner in the yacht team with many years’ experience of yacht transaction and related disputes.

Martyn McDonald

Hill Dickinson LLP

Acts for a number of major retailers including Poundland, Spar and Bonmarche. Long-standing client Mason Partners continue to acquire and dispose of substantial investment properties comprising retail parks, office buildings and industrial sites. Martyn’s work involves significant acquisitions/disposals, leases and property aspects of asset/share acquisitions, and specialises in retail and sector matters. He has acted over the past 12 months in relation to a programme of new leases for Poundland and in relation to a number of complex relocations for Bonmarche. Has acted for Spar in relation to the disposal of 33 stores to One Stop. Has acted for Costcutter (Bibby) in relation to the property aspects concerning the sale of 26 stores to Conviviality Retail.

Matt Noon

Hill Dickinson LLP

Matt Noon has built a strong and growing reputation in both the local and national advisory community. Matt is also a Hill Dickinson LLP Board member as well as being a Board member of Professional Liverpool. Matt has recently led and worked on a number of high profile national transactions including, but not limited to:- Advising the management team of JLA (a leading critical asset supply and services business for laundry, catering and heating in the UK) on the acquisition of JLA by the international private equity firm, Cinven (Confidential deal value was £640M. Only the value is confidential and our role is otherwise publishable).- Advising Carr’s Group Plc on the acquisition for £8.5m of Animax Limited and Clinimax Limited (specialists in research, development and manufacturing of animal health products); - Advising the company and management team of the indoor climbing business, the Climbing Hangar, in the £3m of growth capital investment from NVM Private Equity; and- Advising the shareholders of Fieldway Supplies Limited in relation to the £2m investment from Foresight.- Advising the shareholders of We Are Discounts Limited on the MBO of WADL.

Michael McKenna

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner in health practice group dealing with catastrophic injury cases involving brain, spinal and cerebral palsy injuries, general insurance-related matters for major insurers, loss adjusters and brokers.

Michael Jones

Hill Dickinson LLP

Primarily advises on corporate transactional mattersincluding acquisitions, disposals, reorganisations, joint ventures and shareholder issues. Mike also has wide experience in corporate funding and joint ventures.

Michael Woolley

Hill Dickinson LLP

A partner in our construction and engineering team, Michael has a wide range of experience in the industry covering both contentious and non-contentious work including, adjudication, litigation, arbitration and mediation. Head of construction.His non-contentious work covers advice on procurement, contracts and related professional appointments whilst he has extensive experience in large developments including those for multiple business occupation. Michael's contentious experience extends to all forms of dispute resolution and he is a Technology and Construction Solicitors’ Association (TeCSA) approved construction mediator.Cases include: Baxall and Norbain v Sheard Walshaw; Henry Boot v Malmaison Hotel; George Hunt Cranes v Scottish Boiler; CRS v Taylor Young and Hoare Lee; Millers Specialist Joiner v Nobles; David McLean v Albany Building; and Construction Partnership v Leek Developments.

Michael Stephens

Hill Dickinson LLP

Consultant specialising in commercial property, retail, investment, landlord and tenant, and large project/portfolio work, for Iceland, investors and others. Leader of team on Iceland’s disposal of 28 shops to Marks & Spencer Simply Foods and Iceland’s acquisition of 51 Woolworths shops.

Michael Blakey

Hill Dickinson LLP

Michael is a partner in our property and construction team based in Manchester. He is also the anti-money laundering officer for the LLP. With over 35 years' experience handling high-value commercial property investment work, Michael has been involved in some of the largest transactions in Manchester. These include: £100 million sale of the Arndale Centre Redevelopment of the Marks and Spencers store Acquisitions and sale of Lee House Churchgate House The Zenith Building and; many other multi-million pound sales and purchases, particularly office buildings in the City of Manchester. Michael acts principally for land owners and developers, including UPS Limited, P&O Shopping Centres Limited, The Wrather Group and various Friendly Societies and numerous private investors in the North West. His portfolio includes a number of covered shopping centres, industrial parks and retail parks.

Nick Pye

Hill Dickinson LLP

Nick is a partner in the property corporate and investment team, dealing with all aspects of non-contentious property work.Nick acts for a number of corporate clients and individuals, working with a team of experts in connection with aspects of commercial conveyancing, including sale and purchase, and landlord and tenant work. He also deals with site acquisition for residential development and all post-acquisition work, including overseeing the sale of developed residential plots.

Panos Pourgourides

Hill Dickinson LLP

Originally engaged in both contentious and non-contentious work in the commercial shipping sector, but has since focused on yacht work for most of his career. Extensive experience acting for yacht owners and almost all of the major banks involved in the provision of finance for new build projects and second-hand yachts. Also advises on the negotiation of construction agreements, sale and purchase work and other yacht-related regulatory issues.

Paul Walsh

Hill Dickinson LLP

Paul is a partner in the award winning commercial litigation team with wide ranging commercial dispute resolution experience - acting for corporate clients in relation to complex litigation both in the UK and internationally.Working with clients to proactively manage legal risk, Paul helps them tackle disputes effectively, whether through traditional means such as litigation or arbitration, or alternative methods including mediation and expert determination. He has particular experience advising clients in respect of claims for breach of contract and arising on termination of contracts, IT, outsourcing, technology and telecoms disputes, professional negligence claims, warranty claims, shareholder disputes, competition law claims and sports disciplinary matters.

Paul Taylor

Hill Dickinson LLP

Specialising in commodities, shipping and insurance with particular expertise in energy, Paul is a dual qualified English solicitor and French avocat. He advises traders, insurers, ship owners, charterers and operators, P&I clubs, oil majors and companies generally. In addition to his commodities and shipping expertise, Paul also has extensive marine and non-marine insurance experience.He handles disputes in England before the High Court and appellate divisions as well as disputes in ICC International Court of Arbitration, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA), GAFTA, FOSFA, FCC and LME arbitration. Paule has appeared before the courts and arbitrators throughout France and he lectures around the world and publishes on issues in the commodities, shipping and insurance fields.He studied law and French Law at University College London, spending a year at the University of Aix-Marseille and qualified as a solicitor in London in 1997 and as an avocat of the Paris Bar in 2004.

Peter Jackson

Hill Dickinson LLP

Managing partner specialising in marine and goods in transit litigation and commercial litigation, mainstream activity in the area of cargo and transit work, acting for cargo and goods in transit insurers in all aspects of cargo claims, charterparty disputes, international road haulage matters, salvage, shipping casualties, arbitration work and policy interpretation matters.

Phil Sheard

Hill Dickinson LLP

Having qualified as a solicitor in 2005, Phil specialises in all aspects of commercial dispute resolution, across a wide range of industry sectors. He also heads up the commercial debt recovery and enforcement team. Phil deals mainly in finance/banking disputes with a particular specialism in invoice financing, factoring and guarantor claims. He also has expertise in relation to restitution claims for the return of mistaken payments/overpayments. As part of those restitution claims, he has a particular expertise with applications for Norwich Pharmacal Orders. Phil also handles general commercial contract disputes, misrepresentation claims and disputes relating to vehicle quality and vehicle finance. He regularly advises his clients on jurisdictional issues arising in cross-border claims and deals with claims to restore companies to the register at companies house.Phil received a first class (Hons) LLB in law at Liverpool JMU, winning the Sir Graham Day Prize and the Law Society Proxime Accessit Prize.

Phil Gazzola

Hill Dickinson LLP

Phil is a senior associate in the construction and engineering team and advises and acts in contentious and non-contentious matters

Philip Bradbury

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner specialising in the defence of medical negligence and employers’/public liability claims for health authorities and NHS Trusts. Phil has extensive experience in defending high value clinical negligence claims with a particular emphasis on obstetric claims. He has concluded multiple settlements involving Periodical Payments, including one of the first Orders made under the present regime. He also specialises in accident and disease claims for major insurance companies.

Philip Farrar

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner and head of Hill Dickinson’s NHS employment team with over 25 years’ experience in employment law, acting for the NHS, local government and education bodies. Leading expert in matters of healthcare discipline within the NHS and extensive experience of senior level disputes and discrimination issues (in particular whistle-blowing) and industrial action. Experience includes acting for a Special Health Authority on general employment law and also advising as to the management of employees and the related unlawful discrimination claims for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Practitioners throughout England including claims for judicial review and in Employment Tribunal.

Philip Haddon

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner dealing with casualty-related work, including collisions, salvage, groundings, strandings, oil pollution and fires. Extensive experience dealing with cases from initial instruction to final resolution, including on-site investigations, trials, arbitrations, mediation and other forms of final resolution. Also has extensive experience in marine insurance and charterparty and cargo matters.

Philip Moy

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner, Head of Regulatory

Ralph Bullivant

Hill Dickinson LLP

Ralph is a partner in the property litigation team and advises on all types of property disputes, specialising in landlord and tenant, tenant default and lease renewals.He acts for a wide range of clients including high street retailers, NHS trusts, developers and landlords, and provides advice on issues arising out of tenant default, achieving vacant possession and lease renewals. Ralph is a member of the Property Litigation Association and is a regular presenter to the RICS and clients on contentious property issues. He also has extensive experience in advising and obtaining vacant possession of commercial lease premises whether or not with the benefit of protection under the 1954 Act and is an acknowledged expert on the recovery of commercial rent arrears. He acts on behalf of one of the country’s largest firms of certificated bailiffs and over the last 12 months has spoken to approximately 2,500 of their clients on the implementation of commercial rent arrears recovery (CRAR).

Richard Watson

Hill Dickinson LLP

A partner in the health litigation team representing the NHS in complex and varied claims, Richard is highly regarded for his expertise in defending many complex high value clinical negligence birth trauma and other high value neurological  claims brought against NHS organisations. He has dealt  with claims worth up to £15 million, many of which have attracted media interest. He has 30 years' experience of working in the health market place with substantial experience of defendant work and legal developments and changes in the sector generally. That experience includes not only management of challenging high value cases, but also the successful leadership of a large team of others in various health disciplines over a prolonged period of time.

Richard Taylor

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner advising on the acquisition, development, disposal and funding of investment and redevelopment properties, and real estate transactions for a wide range of main stream businesses including: hotels, casinos and travel-related leisure businesses, healthcare, oil and energy, transport and logistics. Advises owners, financial institutions, and commercial landlords and tenants of all types of freehold and leasehold commercial property. Reflecting Hill Dickinson s long-standing international reputation, Richard has a large renowned international clientele from a wide geographical base encompassing North America, the Middle East and Far East, Africa, Italy and other Mediterranean countries. Known to be commercially astute and a good communicator who has successfully led many multi-discipline lawyer teams on large company commercial deals in which real estate is a key factor.

Robert Wallis

Hill Dickinson LLP

Robert is a consultant in the marine trade and energy team. He specialises in admiralty law and insurance litigation and is legal advisor to International Salvage Union.

Roderick Palmer

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner undertaking general commercial and finance work, specialising in asset, acquisition, yacht and ship finance and aviation.

Roger Pointon

Hill Dickinson LLP

Roger is a consultant at Hill Dickinson. He specialises in all areas of corporate law including corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, re-organisations, management buy outs/ins and public markets work

Russell Gardner

Hill Dickinson LLP

Partner specialising in all aspects of shippingand superyacht litigation.

Sharon Thomas

Hill Dickinson LLP

A partner in the healthcare team, Sharon has wide experience in representing NHS bodies and detaining authorities at mental health review Tribunals, inquests, in declaratory proceedings and in bringing and defending judicial review.She provides regular training sessions to NHS staff, both locally and nationally, on topics such as consent to treatment, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty safeguards, changes to the Mental Health Act 1983, data protection and data sharing and Children Act issues. Sharon has also successfully defended a large number of judicial review and human rights claims at letter of response stage. She also advises NHS trusts in a number of high-profile matters that are not subject to litigation. Her expereince includes: R (On the Application of DR) -v- Mersey Care NHS Trust (2002) MHLR 386, QB (Admin) Re GK (Patient: Habeas Corpus) (1999) MHLR 128 Re SC (Mental Patient: Habeas Corpus) 1996 QB 599 Royal Liverpool Children's NHS Trust and North West Wales NHS Trust -v- Luke Winston-Jones and Rith Winston-Jones (2004) QB (Family)

Simon Felce

Hill Dickinson LLP

Experienced commercial property conveyancer who since 1995 has acted principally for property developers/landlords handling a wide range of property and planning related matters both freehold and leasehold. Extensive use is made of option agreements and conditional contracts leading to development agreements/agreements for lease with major national retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, B & Q and Dixons.

Stuart Armstrong

Hill Dickinson LLP

Initially specialising in subrogated cargo recoveries before broadening his areas of practice to include all types of logistics and commodity trade disputes, Stuart qualified as a solicitor in 1983. He joined the firm in 2001 and heads our London cargo and logistics team.Stuart's expertise lies in marine, air and road cargo claims and related marine cargo insurance and freight liability insurance disputes and his caseload now encompasses: Charterparties Bills of lading CMR and domestic road haulage Warsaw and Montreal conventions GAFTA/FOSFA contracts The Institute Cargo Clauses With experience in admiralty and commercial court cases, London arbitration and mediation, Stuart's focus is on dispute resolution in a quick and cost-effective manner.

Sue Russell

Hill Dickinson LLP

Sue is a legal director in our corporate team. Also holding the corproate finance qualification from the Institue of Chartered Accountants, Sue's time is predominantly spent leading acquisitions and disposals and providing strategic advice.Sue handles acquisitions and disposals of companies and businesses, corporate re-organisations and advises on company constitutional matters including shareholder issues and corporate governance. With a client base ranging from serial entrepreneurs to FTSE listed companies, she also frequently advises non-UK entities in connection with investment into UK companies.Sue has a lot of experience of working with manufacturing, production and processing companies through which she has gained a thorough understanding of the legal issues they face, which is particularly useful in resolving problematic due diligence issues. Frequently leading large and complex transactions, Sue has developed strong project management skills. She has also worked for clients in professional services (solicitors, surveyors) and in the football sector, including Everton Football Club and Blackburn Rovers.

Susan Leonard

Hill Dickinson LLP

Legal director in the commodities team and practises shipping and international trade litigation and arbitration. Has acted in Commercial Court, LMAA, LCIA, GAFTA, FOSFA, and RSA/SAL proceedings.