Irwin Mitchell

Partner

PartnerHas a special interest in asbestos-related disease cases, particularly mesothelioma, and has written and lectured widely on the subject of asbestos disease and personal injury litigation. Represented June Hancock in the Armley environmental asbestos case and also achieved what was, at the time, the highest award for an industrial disease/fatal injury case, of £4.37m.

Adrian Barlow

Partner and national Head of Real EstateAdrian has considerable experience in the real estate sector, advising both public and private sector organisations in project strategy and the implementation of portfolio and business change management from a legal perspective.

Ailsa Anderson

Associate

Alex Newman

Alex helps his clients to identify, manage and resolve contentious issues relating to intellectual property rights (of all kinds) and information technology. His strategic approach to dispute resolution and early case analysis frequently enables clients to avoid or settle disputes without litigation. He also helps clients to understand their intellectual property rights better, to secure appropriate IPR protection for what they create, and to realise the value of that IPR by commercialising it. Alex’s practice focuses primarily on the engineering and technology sectors, and he also has extensive experience in the retail (particularly FMCG) sector. His areas of expertise include: intellectual property and IT, patents, copyright, trade marks, designs and breach of confidence.

Alex Ruffel

Partner

Alexander Davenport

Associate

Alice Robinson

Paralegal in the Sheffield Wills, Trusts and Estates team.

Alida Coates

Alida is the partner who heads up the Midlands and South West Workplace Illness teams, which are two of the largest and most experienced specialist teams in the area. Qualifying in 1996, Alida has only ever worked for injured claimants and has over 18 years’ experience recovering compensation in the asbestos disease arena, having worked as part of the team which won the first environmental asbestos exposure case (Hancock) in 1995. Since that time, Alida and her team have worked tirelessly to obtain justice for victims exposed to asbestos who have developed asbestos illnesses (Mesothelioma, lung cancer, pleural thickening and asbestosis) both through their employment and through environmental exposure. Alida has obtained one of the highest awards during lifetime for a Mesothelioma sufferer (£1.5m) and regularly engages the services of experts to assist families to engage carers to assist with practical care needs caused by these illnesses. The emphasis of the team is to make a difference to the quality of life of their clients, as quickly as possible, not merely to measure success in terms of damages recovered. Alida has a unique insight into the difficulties suffered by the victims of asbestos exposure, she is respected both for her knowledge and understanding of the issues facing her clients. Alida is recognised by many health and other professionals as a leading lawyer in this field. She lectures regularly and is a Trustee of Mesothelioma UK. The team has also recovered compensation for those affected by other workplace illnesses over the last 12 months, including (but not limited to) asthma, vibration white finger, carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injury.

Alison Bruce

Associate solicitor

Alison Eddy

I head the Medical Negligence team in London and also have expertise in neurotrauma. I specialise in claims for adults and children who have suffered brain or spinal injury, associated with permanent disability, caused as a result of clinical negligence or as a result of a road traffic collision. Our aim is to obtain interim payments wherever possible, so that we can put rehabilitation, a care package and suitable accommodation in place before the claim is concluded. As a team, we are dedicated to improving the quality of life of our clients. Our clinical negligence team has extensive experience in clinical negligence claims arising from obstetric, neonatal, anaesthetic, neurosurgical, cardiac and psychiatric care. In 2019, I won Champion of the Year at First 100 Years' Inspirational Women in Law Awards and Insurance Individual of the Year (London) at the Legal 500 UK Awards.

Amanda Holden

I am a paralegal in the Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team in our Sheffield office. I have been with Irwin Mitchell since July 2018, during which time I have developed a specialism in: Will validity challenges Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975 Executor and trustee disputes Proprietary Estoppel and claims under the Trust of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA).

Amandeep Samra

Associate solicitor

Amy Au

Associate Amy specialises in resolving IP disputes relating to trade marks, copyright, design rights and she assists Alex Newman in relation to patent and breach of confidence disputes. Amy acts for household names such as Mizuno and she works closely with leading UK businesses such as Gravity Fitness Limited, BetterYou Limited and Whitby Seafoods Limited. [Amy has worked on a number of high-profile reported cases such as L’Oreal SA and L’Oreal (UK) Limited v RN Ventures [2018] EWCH 391 Ch and [2018] EWCH 173 (Pat) and [2020] EWHC 3450 (IPEC)]

Andrea Jones

Partner

Andrea Prescott

I'm an associate in the Public Law team. I specialise in various aspects of health and social care law, in particular Court of Protection health and welfare law. In the majority of my cases, I represent vulnerable adults in cases where life changing decisions are being made by the court. Such decisions include where a person should live, the care they should receive, and their contact with other people. More often than not, this involves deprivation of liberty.

Andrew Crudge

Using the knowledge and experience that he has developed in over 10 years as an employment lawyer, Andrew works closely with clients to provide tailored employment law advice and support. He gives practical and commercial advice on employment law issues. This includes supporting businesses with their employment documentation, together with more complex staff matters such as reorganisations, discrimination disputes, TUPE and business mergers and acquisitions. Andrew also regularly speaks at employment law seminars and runs training and update sessions for HR professionals and management teams.

Andrew Parry

As a partner in the Reading and Newbury teams, Andrew advises private individuals, the owners of rural estates and businesses, trustees of private trusts and charities. He specialise in helping families with inheritance issues, probates, tax and succession planning. Andrew's work often involves advising on wills, family trusts, powers of attorney and other legal structures.

Andrew Walker

Andrew specialises exclusively in turnaround and insolvency matters; including advising banks, asset based lenders, boards of directors, insolvency practitioners, debtors and other creditors on all matters arising where insolvency is likely unless action is taken by restructuring or where a formal insolvency is imminent or has occurred.

Andrew Buckham

PartnerAndrew helps injured Service personnel and their families on a variety of issues. This includes assisting severely injured service personnel with compensation claims (On and Off Duty), Boards of Inquiry and Coroners Inquests. I have represented a number of soldiers with brain and spinal injuries, including Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson. I supported Ben and his family in their fight for fairer compensation for injured soldiers. I represented and provided support to a family affected by the SAS Brecon Beacons accident, where they were able to successfully recover compensation from the MOD following a fatal accident claim.

Andrew Cotton

Senior Associate

Andrew Arthur

I specialise in bringing claims for clients who have been the subject of unlawful acts committed by police officers and by the state. I bring civil claims in the County Court and High Court for assault; false imprisonment; malicious prosecution; violations of the Human Rights Act; and discrimination under the Equality Act. Since 2001, I have acted successfully for clients in complex civil jury trials, in addition to securing many damages settlements over the years for the wrongs committed against them. I also assist them in bringing complaints about police misconduct to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. I represent clients who have been unlawfully detained by the government under immigration powers. In addition, I act for clients who have been assaulted whilst in prison, either by prison officers or other inmates, well as challenging their conditions of detention. I have brought several successful Court of Appeal cases establishing innovative changes in the law. In 2016, I was shortlisted for the Law Society Excellence Awards in the 'Human Rights Lawyer of the Year' category. Notable Cases: - R (Johnson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2002] (unreported) Successfully challenging the timing of reviews considering a life sentence prisoner’s suitability for release after the tariff period had ended - Mason v Ministry of Justice [2008] EWHC 1786 (Admin) Securing compensation for man after a prison failed to release him in time to benefit from the Home Detention Curfew scheme - R (Graham) and (Allen) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] Prison LR 316 Representing two prisoners in a judicial review - The High Court found that handcuffing the prisoners to prison officers during serious medical treatment was “inhuman or degrading” and an infringement of their human rights - R(Cakir) and (Bhatt Murthy & Others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWCA Civ 755 A challenge in Court of Appeal against the Secretary of State’s abolition of a compensation scheme for victims of miscarriages of justice - Copeland v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2014] EWCA Civ 1014 Representing a client whose successful High Court compensation claim for assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution was appealed against by the police. The Court of Appeal upheld the claim, establishing and confirming important legal principles for all malicious prosecution claims. - Zenati v Crown Prosecution Service and Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2015] 1 All ER 124 Securing compensation for a man who was kept in custody weeks after evidence had proved his innocence. The Court of Appeal held that Human Rights legislation obliges the police to diligently bring such evidence to the court’s attention as soon as they can.

Angela Jackman

My areas of specialism are mental capacity, education and public law. I work with individuals who are unable to make decisions on important aspects of their lives. This can mean their care, residence or contact with their family members or friends. In addition, I work with individuals who are deprived of their liberty in care homes or hospitals as well as family members who seek representation in these disputes. In my education work, I help parents and young people facing disputes with education providers. This includes special educational needs, exclusion, admission and policy challenges. I also advise clients with their challenges to schools, colleges and local authorities. In my public law work, I challenge decisions made by public bodies which may be unlawful or be breaching an individuals’ human rights. These public bodies include local authorities, funding bodies and central government.

Angela Batchelor

Angela is a well-respected Senior Associate who plays a key role in the Serious Injury team at Irwin Mitchell. Angela specialises in complex personal injury claims, mostly` representing Claimants who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries and serious orthopaedic injuries/amputations.

Angela Kirtley

Partner at Irwin Mitchell and heads the clinical negligence team in their Newcastle office. Many years of experience dealing with medical negligence claims on behalf of claimants and has dealt with a large number of cases including: birth injury and cerebral palsy claims; orthopaedic and surgical claims; accident and emergency claims; failure to diagnose cancer and oncology claims and claims resulting in fatality, also representing families at inquests in the Coroners court. Medical negligence claims can be very complex and Angela works with clients not only to recover the compensation they deserve but to obtain answers to questions many clients have following negligent medical treatment. Recovers interim payments whenever possible.

Anna Pask

Anna is a Senior Associate Solicitor and an APIL accredited Senior Litigator. Anna deals with cases involving brain injuries and complex orthopaedic injuries, including amputations. Anna is also a member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers and represents victims of child abuse in cases being brought against both individual abusers and institutions including schools, the church and local authorities.

Anna Stacey

I qualified as a solicitor in 2018. I have over 20 years of experience handling a variety of cases, including maternal injuries, spinal cases and amputations. I specialise in birth and neonatal catastrophic brain injuries. I take a special interest in improving the client journey.

Anne Kavanagh

I am a partner who specialises in representing women and children injured through pregnancy, obstetric, or gynaecological treatment as part of my broader clinical negligence caseload. No one can turn back the clock but provided we can prove treatment was negligent, we can at least provide some financial security for the future and if possible in the process of the investigation, provide answers about what went wrong. I was awarded the Law Society Solicitor of the Year Award 2021 for my work in this area and I am ranked in the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners guides.

Anoushka Parker

Associate Solicitor Anoushka specialises in acting for individuals buying and selling residential properties in central London and throughout the UK. In addition, Anoushka works closely with Trust and Tax specialists and is often involved in the sales of properties held by trusts, as well as acting for internationally registered trust companies transferring properties to their ultimate beneficial owners and other beneficiaries in a trust structure. The properties in question may form part of a portfolio or be the client’s main residence. Her client base ranges from first time buyers to seasoned, multiple property owners and she regularly works with HNW and UHNW individuals. She endeavours to offer practical, bespoke, advice and always looks to efficiently find solutions to any complicated problems which may arise. Anoushka works closely, and builds strong relationships with clients and agents throughout transactions, ensuring that all parties are kept fully informed from the outset. Should any additional advice be required that is outside of her expertise e.g. tax advice, she is quick to identify this and will refer clients to specialists qualified in that area.

Ashley Hill

Partner

Aurelia Butler-Ball

Senior associateExpertise in the media and entertainment industries, advising individuals and businesses working in film, music, TV and digital media. Specialisms include information technology, data protection, technology and telecoms, intellectual property.

Auriana Griffiths

I am a Partner specialising in Medical Negligence. I predominantly focus on obstetric cases resulting in brain injuries arising from asphyxia or hypoglycaemia. My work also covers a range of other areas including paediatric brain injury, Erb’s palsy, wrongful birth, maternal injuries and spinal injury. I have been Head of the London Medical Negligence department since January 2021. I sit on the Medical Negligence Executive Board as well as IM’s Risk Forum and Technical Strategy Group.

Ayesha Hasan

Ayesha has particular expertise in real estate investment, real estate finance and restructuring and insolvency. She has a broad range of experience in commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions and disposals (acting for both sellers and buyers), landlord and tenant work (acting for both landlords and tenants), real estate aspects of real estate finance (acting for both borrowers and lenders), insolvency (acting for administrators and receivers), restructuring and enforcing security (acting for lenders) and corporate support.

Ayse Ince

Associate

Balbinder Dhami

Balbinder has worked on numerous high values, complex cases. She is an active member of Resolution and very highly regarded amongst her peers. She has an excellent rapport with clients and is well known for her client care skills and patience in dealing with difficult clients. Bal abounds in tact, confidentiality, discretion. Wins the confidence of her clients in the most difficult and trying circumstances. Described as “unflappable and calm” yet she has the ability to present a steely side and fights hard for her clients. She is a winning combination of strong, sensible and hard working.

Ben Gale

Ben joined the team in 2015, and was made up to Senior Associate in February 2020. His focus is on the private company space and acts on a wide range of domestic and international transactions, including M&A, venture capital and private equity investments, joint ventures and reorganisations.

Ben Gildea

Associate solicitor

Ben Lyon

I am a Solicitor in the Will, Trust and Estate Disputes. Day to day I deal with a wide variety of claims involving contested Wills, including: Challenging or defending the validity of Wills for lack of capacity, undue influence or fraud Disputes in respect of the conduct of Executors and Trustees Claims for financial provision from estates on behalf of a variety of applicants including children, spouses, cohabitees and dependents

Bethan Smith

I am a Solicitor in the Will, Trust and Estate Disputes Team at Irwin Mitchell. I specialise in estate and trust litigation and have expertise in both bringing and defending: Will Validity challenges on the grounds of forgery, formalities, lack of testamentary capacity, lack of knowledge and approval, undue influence and fraudulent calumny Disputes between executors/ trustees and beneficiaries or executors/ trustees themselves regarding the administration of an estate/ trust Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975 for reasonable financial provision from an Estate by children, widows/ widowers, cohabitees and dependants Proprietary Estoppel Claims including disputes relating to family farming businesses Financial abuse claims Attorney/ Deputy Disputes.

Bethany Chamberlain

Solicitor

Brian Dowling

Senior associate

Bryan Bletso

PartnerBryan has considerable experience in all corporate transactions, but has a particular focus on working for international clients in relation to buying and selling businesses in England and for owner managed businesses providing all types of corporate advisory services from everyday business law questions to buying and selling companies.

Candy Stockton

I'm a Partner specialising in resolving disputes about wills, estates and trusts. I work with Beneficiaries, Executors and Trustees (including professional Executors/Trustees) in order to resolve disputes as quickly and efficiently as possible, with a view to minimising costs. I aim to use alternative dispute resolution methods, such as mediation, wherever possible, to resolve matters in a more timely and cost effective manner. However, I also have considerable experience of litigating matters up to the High Court where necessary. People involved with these disputes are often suffering the effects of bereavement at the same time. This can make it more difficult for them to cope with the dispute or to see how best to resolve it. I aim to give clear and pragmatic advice, while remaining sensitive to the effects of the bereavement on all sides. When dealing with Executors or Trustees, I advise how to protect their position, in line with their obligations, such as by maintaining their neutrality in sometimes difficult circumstances. My experience includes: Claims against estates or trusts by disappointed Beneficiaries Challenges to the validity of Wills Disputes between Executors, Trustees, and Beneficiaries Removal of Executors Disputes about the interpretation of Wills Disputes about Estate or Trust assets or their distribution Guidance for Trustees or Executors about their obligations Claims against professional advisors Disputes over property ownership (where a trust has arisen) Disputes involving the actions or removal of Attorneys Disputed deputyships.

Carmel Brown

Senior associate Specialisms Divorce Children law Civil Partnerships Cohabitation/Living Together Pre and Post Nuptial Agreements Pre-Nuptial and Cohabitation Agreements Divorce and Finances International Family Law International children

Carol Purang

Senior Associate Solicitor

Caroline Shelton

Partner

Caroline Barrett

Associate solicitorSpecialisms: Administrative/Judicial Review Court of Protection Education - Special Needs Education Admissions and Exclusions Human Rights- Public Law Judicial Reviews

Carolyn Heaton

I head a team of specialist solicitors who act for adults and children who have sustained severe brain and/or spinal cord damage. Quite simply, our job is to try and make the lives of our clients and their families easier and more comfortable. The cases my team pursues are often very complex and involve large amounts of money. Rehabilitation is always at the forefront of our minds, and we aim to get our clients the help they need when they need it. This normally involves sorting out help with care and getting the client the therapies they need such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. Equipment/transport/housing/employment and education are some of the other issues that we look at during the course of the claim. Compensation can never turn the clock back, but it can enable clients to have a decent quality of life again and reduce or eliminate the stress placed upon their loved ones.

Catherine Dear

Associate Solicitor Catherine regularly acts and has considerable experience of dealing with complex property disputes for commercial and individual clients across a range of sectors including development, retail, housing and corporate occupiers. Catherine is regularly instructed and advises on all real estate dispute matters including freehold and leasehold disputes, landlord and tenant disputes (residential and commercial), complex and conditional break clauses, dilapidations, breach of restrictive covenants and recovery of rent and service charge. In addition to this Catherine is growing and developing her specialisms in business rates and rights of light and is regularly writing articles for the property publications on business rates and has been quoted within the press. Catherine has also provided training to RICS on rights of light and service charge disputes.

Catherine Leech

Catherine is a solicitor specialising in claims for people who have had all manner of serious injuries, especially brain and spinal cord injuries.

Chani Dhaliwal

Partner

Charlie Milsom

Charlie joined the team in 2011 and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2021.

Associate solicitor

Partner

Partner

Cheryl is a Partner in our International Personal Injury team.

Chris Ellison

Chris specialises in the preparation of Wills, obtaining Grants of Probate and full estate administration. He also manages the Estate Administration Team in Sheffield.

Chris Rawstron

Partner. Birmingham head of business legal services and national head of corporate and commercial.

Chris Baker

Partner

Christopher Hurlston

Senior Associate Solicitor

Claire Petricca-Riding

Claire is the Head of the Planning and Environment Team.

Claire Pilsworth

Senior associate

Claire Howard

Claire is head of the Serious Injury team in Southampton and specialises in claims for adults and children who have suffered life-changing injuries, which may include brain or spinal injury. These injuries can result from road accidents, accidents at work, falls from height, defective products or chemical exposure. Claire has over 20 years of experience and has acted on behalf of accident victims throughout that time. She always ensures that clients receive the rehabilitation they need via co-operation with the defendant insurer, issuing proceedings early and securing court ordered payments or, if liability is disputed, ensuring the NHS provide all available support.

Claire Newstead

Partner

Claire-Marie Cornford

Partner Claire-Marie is the lead Partner for the Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team in London. Claire-Marie specialises in private client disputes and litigation, specifically those concerning trust, estate and succession disputes. Her clients include private individuals, trustees, executors, administrators, protectors and beneficiaries. She deals with all manner of disputes both in the UK and internationally, including claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, will disputes, and claims in respect of beneficial interests in property. Claire-Marie was named in Citywealth's list of Top 10 Powerwomen Trust Litigators 2020 and Top 100 Trust Litigators and Polymaths in May 2020. She is also ranked in Legal Week's Private Client Global Elite Directory as 'One to Watch'.

Clare Davitt

Senior Associate Clare has considerable experience in all real estate transactions acting for a mix of investors, lenders and occupiers, but has a particular focus on landlord and tenant and real estate finance transactions. Clare also has experience of acting on significant investment acquisitions and disposals. She also assists the corporate team with the property aspects of transactions and has considerable experience in dealing with transactions in the healthcare sector and insolvency practitioners.

Clare Wiseman

I am a Family Law partner with over 30 years’ experience, having recently relocated from the Midlands to the South Coast of England. I deal with all aspects of family law - both domestic and international - including financial matters, cases involving children and cross-border disputes. I regularly act for high profile public and private sector individuals, entrepreneurs, and sports personalities. I am, a member of the prestigious International Academy of Family Lawyers - being one of only a few English Fellows based outside of London. I am also a member of ‘Reunite’ ( the leading UK charity specialising in child abduction). I regularly attend domestic and international conferences and am head of International Family Law at Irwin Mitchell. I have vast experience of alternative dispute resolution in family cases by way of round table meetings, private FDRs and am an experienced collaborative family law practitioner and Resolution member. I am also a tenacious litigator, when required, featuring in reported cases at all levels up to and including the Court of Appeal such as Kingdon V Kingdon and Brack V Brack. I have a particular interest in the ongoing review and analysis of our existing law and sit on the Centre For Child and Family Law Reform Committee - The Centre is sponsored by The Law School of City University of London. The Centre’s purpose is to scrutinise existing family law and to facilitate reform where appropriate.

Clare Pearson

Associate legal executive

Clare Comiskey

Associate legal executive

Clementine Burch

Senior associateClementine has considerable experience in high-value, complex and international disputes, specialising in commercial contract and professional negligence litigation. She acts for a wide range of businesses including financial institutions.

Clive Garner

Partner in the personal injury division and head of Irwin Mitchell’s international personal injury, product liability and aviation law teams. Clive specialises in acting for the victims of severe brain and spinal injury arising overseas and in complex fatal accident and mass tort claims arising in the UK and overseas following aviation, marine, road traffic or other incidents. Clive has successfully represented thousands of victims in more than 300 group actions arising in numerous countries around the world. He has also acted in several precedent setting cases both in England and overseas and has won record awards of damages for a number of clients and for the families of those killed in fatal accidents. Author of several published articles and a contributor to several legal textbooks on international personal injury. Clive has chaired numerous international events and has regularly presented at International conferences and conventions across Europe and the US. He has been consulted on law reform issues by the European Parliament and the European Commission, The Law Society, The Consumers Association and the Ministry of Justice. He is a regular commentator in the media. Winner of the Birmingham Law Society ‘International Lawyer Of The Year 2013’.

Colette Kelly

Partner

Craig Weston

Senior associate barristerCraig advises on and defends FCA enforcement and supervision investigations involving authorised firms, non-authorised firms, approved persons, SMFs, NEDs, Board Directors and senior managers. Particular areas of experience are insider dealing and market abuse investigations, unauthorised business and financial promotions breaches, UCISs. He also advises on individual and firm rule breaches, approval issues and approved person FIT and proper issues and Form A advice.

Damian Hodkinson

Partner.

Dan Bastide

Partner

Daniel Woolnough

Associate Daniel deals with the full range of real estate transactions, but has a particular emphasis on charity and third sector transactions and projects. Daniel also assists the corporate and banking teams with the property aspects of transactions. Highlights include: Acting for a hotel operator on an intra group property restructure and an agreement for lease conditional on development. Supporting the banking team with the property elements of the financing and development of The Savill Court Hotel & Spa (141 bedrooms). Advising on the title aspects on the acquisition of various retail units in Portsmouth for the property’s development into a £80m retail and student accommodation complex. Advising on the title aspects on the acquisition of land in Birmingham for the property’s development into a £120m student accommodation complex. Advising on the title aspects for the acquisition of land adjoining the Belvoir Shopping Centre, Coalville required for ongoing development of the Centre. Advising on the property aspects of the re-finance of a retirement living development and associated matters. Assisting with the property elements of the £54m refinance and development of a student accommodation and retail scheme (860 beds) Advising a charity on the terms of a new lease (including a sub-lease of a floor to an existing tenant) for its proposed office relocation and connected company acquisition. Advising on the property aspects of the phase 2 development finance (including rights to light matters) for a student, retail and office development. Acting on new leases, renewal leases, surrenders, assignments and other matters in relation to a portfolio of garden and retail centres. Acting on various transactional and general matters for a national charity, in relation to their property portfolio in excess of 200 properties including disposals, estate management, lettings and overage.

Daniel Hedley

Daniel is a specialist IT lawyer who worked in technical and service delivery roles in the IT industry for a number of years before retraining as a lawyer. His particular focus is on software licensing and development, IT service contracts, outsourcing and cloud services. I also advise on open source compliance, data protection, software IP issues and the IT aspects of M&A and IPO transactions. He regularly acts for both established corporates and early-stage and fast growth businesses.

Daniel Webster

Daniel is a finance partner who joined the firm from King Wood & Mallesons SJ Berwin in February 2014. He is an acquisition finance specialist but also has substantial experience in debt restructuring, fund financing, real estate finance and debt portfolio disposals. Whilst at SJ Berwin he advised numerous clients including Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, Lloyds Banking Group, Duke Street, Lion Capital and Intermediate Capital Group PLC.

Danielle Parsons

Danielle specialises in acting for senior executives and achieves excellent results in cases against large corporations. Many of her clients work in the creative industries including TV and print media and she has built a formidable reputation in this market

Danni Brannon

I’m a solicitor in the wills, trusts & estates team in our Leeds office. I specialise in private client disputes and litigation, including: Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975 Disputes surrounding the ownership of assets under the Trust of Land, Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and constructive trust cases Executor and trustee disputes Financial abuse matters. Proprietary estoppel cases Will validity challenges I act for private individuals all over the country in both advancing and defending these claims.

Danny Revitt

Heads the Yorkshire property litigation team based in Sheffield. Advises on all types of property litigation disputes including contentious and non-contentious business lease renewals, dilapidations claims, rent and service charge recovery, disputes over easements, disputes over development agreements, applications for consent to assign/sublet, change use and the eviction of squatters. Specialises in complex landlord and tenant disputes and works for a number of clients with large commercial and residential property portfolios, including major property investors, retailers, developers and property management companies together with banks, insurers, charities, local institutions and educational establishments. Clients include: Thorntons plc; Lloyds Pharmacy Ltd; Dobbies Garden Centres plc; HSS Hire Service Group Ltd; Keepmoat Group; Henry Boot PLC/Hallam Land Management Ltd; Redevco; Max Industrial; British Land; A & J Mucklow; HSBC Trust Company (UK) Ltd; Sheffield Hallam University; Sheffield International Venues/Sheffield City Trust; Jones Lang Lasalle; Countrywide Residential Lettings; Lapithus Management.

Darran Fawcett

Partner (Non Lawyer)

Darren Wilson

Darren is a Senior Associate within the serious injury Team in Sheffield. He has been at Irwin Mitchell since 1997 with over 22 years of experience dealing with cases involving serious and life changing injury, as well as complex causation cases and emerging areas of law. Darren deals with a variety of injury types but primarily those involving serious orthopaedic injury, psychological and pain type cases, often with difficult causal factors and/or where capacity is an issue. Darren places great emphasis upon rehabilitation to maximise recovery, working with industry professionals to deliver comprehensive care plans, ideally using the Serious Injury Guide or the Rehabilitation Code, but unilaterally where necessary. Darren has been commended for his friendly and approachable yet professional demeanour. Darren is an accredited APIL Senior Litigator and regularly delivers talks and in-house training. Darren is the MASS (Motor Accident Solicitors’ Society) regional coordinator for the Central East region.

David King

David joined Irwin Mitchell’s Neurotrauma team in 2013 and became an Associate in 2018. David has over 10 years of experience in PI and, for the last 7 years, has specialised in complex brain and spinal cord injuries, dealing with claims of maximum severity. In his relatively short career in this field, he has obtained damages well in excess of £50m and is highly regarded as having particular strength in complex liability cases. Equally adept in relation to quantum, David drafts his own Schedules of Loss in cases with values up to 8-figures, attracting descriptions such as ‘exceptional’ and ‘superb’ by Leading Counsel.

David Johnston-Keay

Partner Specialisms: Industrial Deafness Respiratory Claims RSI Claims VWF Claims Cancer - Occupational (non British Coal) Tinnitus Dermatitis Caused at Work

David Withers

Partner

Dean Gormley

Dean is a partner in the national banking and finance team. Dean has extensive experience of advising on banking and debt finance transaction across a wide range of sectors. He regularly advises the corporate real estate finance teams of major lenders on transactions, and also acts for funds and other investors on real estate lending, restructuring and work-out deals. A major part of Dean’s practice involves advising on corporate banking and leveraged finance transactions, advising borrowers, sponsors and lenders. He has particular expertise in cross border transactions and complex financing structures. Dean also advises on syndicated and club financings and has experience of advising on transactions involving more complex structures, such as senior notes and super senior facilities, conduit and securitised loans. His clients include HSBC and HSBC Invoice Finance, Lloyds Bank and Lloyds Commercial Finance, NatWest, RBS, Santander, Allied Irish Bank, Rothschild, Kleinword Benson, ABN AMRO Commercial Finance and Handelsbanken.

Debbie Serota

Debbie specialises in M&A, joint ventures, equity fundraisings and shareholder agreements. She also advises companies as they prepare for sale.Debbie has a particular focus in the Technology and Real Estate sectors.

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.

Deborah Sayers

Solicitor

Deborah Levy

Deborah has a wealth of experience having practised Family Law in London for more than 25 years. I specialise in advising clients including high net worth clients on a range of financial remedy applications and children’s matters. Deborah has also acted for a number of clients with international, cross jurisdictional and religious elements including Talaq and the Get. She acted for Galina Besharova in the largest divorce settlement in the UK in 2011 and following this she was the Times Lawyer of the Week.

Deborah Casale

Deborah is partner in our London employment team advising senior executives and directors. She advises on all aspects of employment law including: Whistleblowing All types of discrimination including pregnancy/maternity, sex, race, age and disability discrimination Equal pay Bonus disputes Unfair dismissal Redundancy Settlement agreements Grievances and disciplinary issues. Deborah has significant experience in the financial services sector negotiating high-value settlements and litigating complex claims. Many of her cases settle confidentially without progressing to a full merits hearing.

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.

Demetrius Danas

I have a wealth of experience in acting on behalf of people who sustain serious injuries abroad, and foreign nationals who are injured in England. I have pursued cases on behalf of clients in over 40 jurisdictions worldwide and have particular expertise in dealing with complex jurisdictional and foreign law issues. I also specialise in accidents taking place on board ships and aircraft. I have represented clients all the way up to the Court of Appeal, the UK Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union and have achieved record breaking results on behalf those most seriously injured. I am an expert in Brexit-related issues as they apply to seriously injured clients, navigating their cases through to a successful conclusion in a post-Brexit world.

Diana Wright

International commercial dispute lawyer advising on international trade and sales of food, agency and distribution, contractual disputes and ‘shareholder disputes’, conflicts of law and jurisdiction. Reported cases: Re Portbase Clothing; Else (1982) Ltd v Parkland Holdings (CA); Glencore International v Bank of China (CA); Klickner Holdings v Klickner & co.

Dina Lambourne

I am a Senior Associate in the Medical Negligence department in Irwin Mitchell’s Manchester office. I specialise in birth injury, brain injury, spinal, cardiac and renal claims. As a former nurse and Sister on an Intensive Care Unit, I am able to use the medical knowledge gained during my years of nursing to the benefit of my clients. Every client has individual needs and their wishes are at the forefront of my mind when progressing their claim. I am committed throughout the life of the claim to achieving the best possible outcome for my clients.

Dipal Patel

Associate solicitor

Dominique Dolman

Senior associate

Donna Seferta

Senior associateExpertise: employment law; employees and employers, employer internal investigations, disciplinary advice.

Doug Robertson

Doug has considerable experience in all aspects of insolvency, with a particular specialism in property insolvency. He acts for banks, insolvency practitioners and businesses in relation to any situation requiring insolvency or restructuring advice. Doug also has a large and successful practice dealing with both bulk/Fixed Charge LPA Receivership instructions and also bespoke and high-value LPA/Fixed Charge Receiverships and property recovery from a number of high street banks and other lenders.

Edward Judge

Edward has extensive experience and knowledge of all areas of contentious and non-contentious turnaround and insolvency matters, regularly lecturing on the subject. Edward has developed a wide client base comprising, insolvency practitioners, financial institutions, major creditors and distressed companies creating a strong reputation for dealing with difficult problems in a commercial and innovative way.

Elaine Huttley

Senior associateLeads on contentious matters and experienced in the Employment Appeals Tribunal, including conducting her own advocacy, for a range of clients, primarily in the manufacturing and retail sectors.

Eleri Davies

I am a Senior Associate Solicitor in the Medical Negligence team at Irwin Mitchell's Cardiff office. I handle a variety of claims including delay in diagnosis of cancer, pregnancy and gynaecological injuries and fatal claims. I work closely with Julie Lewis, the partner in the team assisting her with cerebral palsy claims and delay in diagnosis of brain haemorrhages. Bringing a claim can be a very daunting experience and I am also passionate about supporting local charities that can assist my clients and provide them with support and guidance outside the claim process. I work closely with Flamingo Chicks, an inclusive dance school, Meningitis Now and MacMillan Cancer Support and Irwin Mitchell’s Court of Protection and Public Law teams to ensure that my clients receive all the support and services they need to help them move forwards with their lives.

Elizabeth Whitehead

Liz is a Senior Associate Team Leader within the serious injury team in Sheffield. She has over 25 years’ experience of acting for Claimants who have sustained injuries following Road Traffic Accidents. Liz has a specialist interest in dealing with polytrauma claims, including chronic pain cases. She is passionate about client service and helping clients through the stressful journey of litigation. She is tenacious in her approach to obtaining the best rehabilitation for her clients. Liz is an accredited APIL Senior Litigator.

Elizabeth Perry

Partner

Elizabeth Gibbison

I joined the firm in November 2021 as an Associate Solicitor having worked in in other highly regarded firms in Newcastle upon Tyne preceding this appointment. I have over 10 years’ experience working in the area of private client. I am Chair of the Law Society’s Private Client Solicitor’s Section Advisory Committee. Our role on the committee is to assist the Law Society to design and deliver the outputs of the private client solicitors’ section. My role involves advising clients on complex wealth protection/ estate/ succession planning (including advising business owners, those with domicile nuances and cross-border interests, and high-net-worth individuals). I also advise on management/ protection of funds in cases involving congenital defects at birth. I also deal with estate administration of complex estates (including estates with cross-border elements, foreign assets and missing beneficiaries to high value estates). I help clients create lifetime settlements as well as dealing with Trust administration and advising Trustees and Executors. I also specialise in advising on capacity issues, including Powers of Attorney and making applications to the Court of Protection. I'm a full member of STEP. I'm also a member of the STEP Special Interest Group for Business Families and of the STEP committee for our North Est and Cumbria Branch. I am also a Fellow at Durham University as a member of the SCR at Grey College. I work closely with local charities and I often volunteer. I'm proud to have been a founding member of Cancer Research UK’s Business Beats Cancer Board in Newcastle upon Tyne and I help to raise money and awareness for the charity locally.

Elspeth Gray

Legal Executive

Emily Sinclair

Associate solicitor

Emma Hubbard

Emma independently handles complex divorce, finance and children matters. Emma is seen as the team’s “children law” guru due to her wealth of experience and expertise in private children work. Emma is also the lead in Sheffield for our modern families work in surrogacy cases. Emma’s diverse skill set complements the offering across the team. Emma’s complex work in the past year includes a parental alienation case, findings of facts in children cases, internal relocation applications and Parental Orders following surrogacy.

Emma Windle

Emma advises both individuals and companies in relation to a range of regulatory matters on contentious and non-contentious bases. Emma specialises in ‘white collar’ crime and regulatory work. Whilst she has experience of general crime matters, she has worked almost exclusively in the field of financial crime and regulatory law for the past 12 years.

Emma Crowther

A Senior Associate Solicitor in Irwin Mitchell's Newcastle office, Emma specialises in dealing with claims on behalf of people who have been abused in childhood and/or have been sexually assaulted. She also deals with complex industrial disease matters, in particular mesothelioma cases.

Emma McCann

Senior associate solicitor Areas of expertise: Wills Administration of estates Tax planning Trust advice & deeds Deeds of Variation Powers of Attorney and Lasting Powers of Attorney.

Emma Yates

Senior Associate Solicitor

Emma Rush

Partner

Erin Sawyer

Erin is a partner in the Family Team, specialising in complex family finances; this includes pre and post-nuptial agreements, separation and divorce and cohabitation disputes between unmarried parties. Most of the cases Erin is involved in have an international element, and she has a particular interest in working with American ex-pats living in this jurisdiction, as one herself. As a result, Erin understands the complexities that internationally mobile families face, which can increase as a result of a relationship breakdown. With her strong academic background in corporate and commercial law, Erin is regularly asked to advise divorce matters that have contentious business elements, including partnership/shareholder disputes. Erin leads Irwin Mitchell’s Team of Excellence specialising in cohabitation disputes. She regularly represents clients in complex disputes under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996. Erin provides specialist advice on professional negligence claims arising from complex family finances.

Faith Salih

Associate solicitor specialising in community care and health and welfare matters in both judicial review and Court of Protection cases.

Faye Bargery

Partner Faye has over seven years' experience in corporate and banking law and is a key member of the firm's sport and leisure sector. She specialises in advising clients on all aspects of corporate and banking transactions and has particular experience working with public markets clients.

Fergal Dowling

Works across all aspects of employment law and human resources, particularly contentious matters. Has brought and defended many high value and complex employment claims in the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Courts. Also advises on non-contentious matters including advising on TUPE, re-organisations, contracts of employment, directors’ service agreements, and employment policies and procedures. Advises businesses on all aspects of human resource best practice. Lead relationship partner for a number of the firm’s main employment clients including Federal Express, OCS and CWU.

Fiona McGhie

I'm a Partner at Irwin Mitchell, specialising in civil liberties and human rights law in the Public Law & Human Rights department. I have experience in a variety of civil liberties cases involving claims against the police and local authorities, inquest, judicial review, health and welfare and Court of Protection. I have recently been appointed as trustee for the Public Law Project, and am a committee member for the South West Court of Protection Practitioners Association. In October 2016 I was awarded Junior Lawyer of the Year at the Bristol Society Annual Awards.

Francesca Mayes

I am a Partner at Irwin Mitchell's Newcastle office and Middlesbrough consulting office. I'm the Regional Managing Partner for Personal Injury and also lead the Serious Injury team. I specialise in helping people who have sustained serious and life changing injuries, particularly assisting individuals who have suffered brain and spinal cord injuries and multiple orthopaedic injuries in claiming compensation following injury. I have a particular interest in complex liability issues arising out of accidents in the workplace, and road traffic collisions particularly involving pedestrians, and have dealt with a number of claims which other solicitors have considered too difficult to pursue. I have obtained many substantial interim payments to fund rehabilitation packages, the purchase of accommodation and care to improve my clients’ quality of life and to maximise their recovery.

Garrath Reayer

Head of residential property team. High-net-worth residential sales and acquisitions for individuals and onshore/offshore trust structures; acting for financial institutions who are market leaders in high-value onshore/offshore sterling/foreign currency lending.

Gavin Maddison

Partner

Gemma Fenton

Associate

George Merrylees

PartnerGeorge acts for entrepreneurs, individuals, companies, private banks, family offices, non-UK law firms and trust companies, with a particular focus on Francophone Europe and Africa, especially Mauritius.

Georgie Collins

Georgie is the Head of IP, a member of Irwin Mitchell’s International Team and Head of the US Desk. Georgie is a leading IP lawyer with over 25 years’ experience. She helps individuals and organisations devise IP strategies and secure the IP rights that are pivotal to a successful market entry and international expansion. She has significant experience in relation to the strategic protection and management of brands internationally and has advised many global corporates and household names on their world-wide brand protection matters. Georgie is an experienced IP litigator and has a broad practice, ranging from trademarks and passing off, copyright and designs, breach of confidence, marketing and advertising issues. She has dealt with disputes in all key dispute forums, ranging from UKIPO, English Courts (civil and criminal), arbitration proceedings and domain name dispute resolution proceedings. Georgie frequently represents clients as lead counsel on the co-ordination of cross border, international disputes. Georgie also advises on issues of reputation, defamation, privacy and crisis management. As Head of Irwin Mitchell’s US Desk, Georgie has spent much of her career in the US and working for US based businesses and individuals. She looks after the firm’s transatlantic relationships, providing legal and practical support to help UK businesses expand and succeed in the US, and to US companies to set up and invest in the UK, often with a springboard into Europe and beyond. She and the US team help clients and prospects navigate the UK and EU legal regulatory environment, connecting them with trusted partnerships when required. Georgie is a regular speaker and contributor to issues concerning brands and reputation management, transatlantic policy, trade and investment. She is an active member of the International Trade Mark Association and serves on the INTA Leadership team.

Georgina Houston

Senior associate

Geraldine McCool

National head of military claims. Geraldine works on serious personal injury claims, specialising in military work and aviation (military, commercial and general). Key cases: Herald of Free Enterprise ferry disaster (1987); Piper Alpha oil rig disaster (1988); Pan Am bombing Lockerbie (1988); British Midland crash at Kegworth (1989); Chinook Mull of Kintyre crash (1994); Swissair crash off Canada (September 1998); Korean Airlines crash at Stansted (December 1999); inequest into death of Sgt Stephen Roberts in Iraq (first soldier fatality); three military Puma crashes (2007).

Geraldine Coombs

Partner Geraldine joined Irwin Mitchell in January 2006. She was one of the first members of staff in the Manchester office, joining the firm to set up our Asbestos Litigation department in the North West. Geraldine trained as a barrister and was called to the bar in 1995, later qualifying as a solicitor in 1998 with a niche practice. She has 10 years' specialist experience of representing victims of asbestos disease, and acted for a lead claimant in the important mesothelioma test case, Fairchild & others, successful at appeal in the House of Lords.

Gillian Coverley

Partner Gillian is the National Head of Partnerships, Wills and Probate within the Private Client Services team. Gillian's areas of expertise cover Wills, Probate and estate administration, tax and succession planning and trust advice. Gillian leads many of the firm’s relationships with key partners in the private client space. This involves working closely with them to ensure that we are delivering a quality service for their customers and supporters.

Gillian Hitchen

Partner

Glen Edney

Head of motor claims department in Birmingham and member of the National Motor Executive.

Glenn Hayes

I am the National Head of Employment Law at Irwin Mitchell. My client experience includes providing support to a number of large and small businesses in a variety of different fields and I am a key adviser and the relationship partner to some of the Employment and Pension Group’s key national clients. These include a number of well-known PLC clients. An experienced Employment Tribunal advocate, I specialise in high value whistleblowing and discrimination matters. I also advise on a wide range of employment law matters including the enforcement and defence of restrictive covenants, advising on senior level appointments and exits, outsourcing, acquisitions and disposals including Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment (TUPE) issues, large scale reorganisations and redundancy, discrimination and equality issues. I am an expert on holiday pay matters.

Gordon Anderson

PartnerGordon has over 12 years’ experience in construction law, with a focus on domestic UK projects. His most notable projects include The Shard and The Aquatics Centre. Representing a range of clients, he has extensive experience advising on complicated commercial, residential and retail development projects across London. He’s also advised on the Victoria Gate retail centre in Leeds.

Graham Walker

Senior associate legal executive

Gurpreet Lalli

I am a Senior Associate solicitor specialising in medical negligence based in the Cambridge office. Since qualifying as a solicitor in 2015 I have acted exclusively for clients in medical negligence cases, helping people bring claims against NHS Trusts, GPs and private practitioners. I manage my own caseload, covering a wide range of issues, including: Spinal injuries, including Cauda Equina Syndrome Adult brain injuries, including failures in treatment and prevention in strokes Wrongful birth claims Delay in diagnosis of cancer Birth injuries Amputation Of these, I have a particular interest in those claims relating to birth injury, amputation, as well as claims arising from the diagnosis and prevention failures in relation to strokes. I also assist a number of clients who have lost loved ones as a result of errors which could have been avoided in their medical treatment. In addition to my caseload, I work with several national charities that support individuals who have suffered catastrophic injuries. I lead the firm’s involvement in the legal panel with national amputee charity, Steelbones and represent a number of group members in their claims. I also alongside the East of England Stroke Network to deliver series of study days to medical professionals, sharing best practices from experts across the country.

Guy Whitehead

Senior Associate Guy has considerable experience in all real estate transactions, but has a particular focus on landlord and tenant and insolvency support work and along with Jennifer Ayris is IM’s go to retail expert. He also assists the banking and corporate teams with the property aspects of transactions and has considerable experience in dealing with transactions for charities and insolvency practitioners. He has acted on behalf of many of the country’s largest institutional landlords and now acts for a number of retail tenants. Guy also has experience of acting on significant investment acquisitions and disposals.

Guy Darlaston

Guy is the Managing Partner of the Southampton office at irwin MItchell, which acts exclusively for victims of both personal injury and asbestos related diseases throughout the South East. Guy has particular expertise in representing mesothelioma patients and their families in obtaining welfare benefits, access to other support services and financial compensation.

Guy Sackett

Partner

Guy Forster

I'm a Partner and head the Medical Negligence team at the Cambridge office. I've specialised in clinical negligence cases since qualifying as a solicitor and act on behalf of clients who've suffered serious injury. I recover substantial amounts of compensation for my clients to fund care, therapies and other needs. I also represent families at inquests where their loved one has died through negligent medical treatment. This is often with the aim of getting answers and bringing about changes to improve patient safety. I act for both adults and children who have suffered brain injury, spinal injury such as cauda equina syndrome, or those who have suffered avoidable amputations. I have substantial experience in handling birth injury cases, involving children who have cerebral palsy as a result of delays in delivery or inadequate neonatal care. I represent mothers who have suffered injury during delivery or where congenital conditions such as Down's syndrome or spina bifida have been misdiagnosed during pregnancy. I also act for numerous clients who have suffered major strokes following delays in treatment. I contribute to learning in the field of stroke medicine through speaking on the subject of patient safety and learning from mistakes.

Hannah Clipston

PartnerHannah 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.

Hannah Nix

Senior associate

Hannah Clifford

Senior associateSpecialisms: HR issues - reorganisations, disciplinary proceedings and dismissals. Employment contracts, policies and procedures.

Hayley Hill

Senior associate

Hayley Trim

Partner

Heidi Grute

Chartered Legal Executive

Helen Revill

Helen has a wealth of experience in family matters having been at Irwin Mitchell in the family team since 1995. Helen deals with all aspect of Family Law, including; Divorce Cohabitation issues Financial matters arising from separation Children disputes, including acting for parents and grandparents Pre- and post-marital agreements Living together agreements Separation agreements Civil partnership disputes.

Helen Royles-Jones

Helen is a Associate Solicitor specialising in medical negligence cases. She is also a Solicitor-Advocate, which means she can represent clients in the higher courts in England and Wales and provide advocacy services. Helen's work involves securing financial compensation for clients who have suffered injury due to medical negligence. Helen has experience in: Surgical procedures Misdiagnosis and delays in treatment Failures in GP and community care Mismanagement of mothers and babies at birth.

Helen Smith

Helen specialises in health and welfare cases in relation to adults who lack capacity in the Court of Protection and has represented vulnerable adults under the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court. She is frequently instructed by the Official Solicitor, advocates and family members in respect of disputes regarding capacity and welfare matters including care, residence, contact, access to social media/internet and consumption of alcohol.

Helen Mycroft

I'm an Associate Solicitor on the Tax, Trusts & Estates team in Sheffield. I specialise in preparing Wills, Declarations of Trust, Powers of Attorney and Deeds of Variation. I also advise clients on Nil Rate Band Discretionary Trusts within Wills. I deal with complex estate matters and I particularly enjoy compiling estate accounts. I qualified as a solicitor in 2006.

Helen Dyke

Senior associateSpecialisms: Disciplinary investigations Disciplinary advice Education - Employment Related Matters Employer internal investigations Employment Law (Employee) Employment Law (Employees) Employment Law (Employers)

Helen Hutchison

Partner

Helen Clarke

Helen is a leading private wealth partner with over 20 years of experience in her field. She specialises in bespoke tax and estate planning involving complex trust and company structures for domestic affluent individuals and entrepreneurial wealth creators, business owners and senior executives including those at large PLCs with significant equity stakes. She leads the national team’s UK business wealth practice and understands the complexities and interaction of private and corporate taxes and the commercial rationale of transactions alongside the personal aspects driving the planning. She has significant experience advising close company participators on structuring and re-structuring their shareholdings to maximise tax efficiency for them and their families and to facilitate their overriding objectives. This often involves working alongside founders to ensure that their business interests are structured tax efficiently from the outset for personal tax efficiency and including advice throughout the evolution of the business including planning in advance of sale and post-sale to facilitate a tax efficient exit and succession. Helen also advises alongside her corporate partner’s on management buy-outs and employee ownership trusts. As well as advising on existing structures, Helen also creates and advises on the use of personal and family investment companies for controlled wealth transfer purposes. She recently authored two chapters of the Law Society Guide to Inheritance Tax on lifetime planning for business owners and planning using alternative vehicles for estate planning.

Hema Rana

I am a Senior Associate Solicitor in the Serious Injury team. I proactively manage a varied caseload of complex, high value cases to settlement. I am client focused and use my interpersonal skills to build effective working relationships with clients, colleagues and other professionals. My main objective is to ensure that my clients have the best treatment and rehabilitation available to them in order to improve their chances of returning to a fulfilling life. I achieve this by looking at various issues including care, therapies, treatment, equipment, housing, transport and employment and ensure that all of my client’s needs are considered in respect of each of these issues. The biggest case I have settled is for £17 million. In every case I endeavour to maximise my client's rehabilitation potential in order to ensure they get the best quality of life.

Hilary Wetherell

I joined Irwin Mitchell in 2000 and became a Partner in the Serious Injury team in Birmingham in 2011. In 2021 I was appointed Lead Partner for the Complex PI teams in Birmingham. I lead a team of seven lawyers and our specialisms include: -Brain injury -Polytrauma (multiple serious injuries) -Severe burns -Complex fatal accident work such as police liaison work and coronial law. We routinely secure settlements for more than £1 million – including an Irwin Mitchell record for the Serious Injury team of £22.7 million. We have an immediate focus from the day of instruction on our client’s rehabilitation needs and routinely refer to our superb Support and Rehabilitation team to make sure our clients and families are supported before we're able to secure interim payments. For road traffic accidents, including fatal accidents, our specialist investigation team works with the police to analyse the accident for our clients. Members of the team are themselves ex-police and draw on their police experience to support our clients' claim. We're extremely proud to be able to work with some truly inspirational clients and to provide the care that they and their families need during their long rehabilitation process. I'm a brain injury, fatal accident and senior litigator accredited member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). My team devised and designed the APIL Fatal Accidents Accreditation and I deliver annual training for APIL across the country. I'm passionate about ensuring that my clients receive comprehensive and realistic advice and that consideration is given in every case to alternative dispute resolution.

Hollie Marcham

Hollie specialises in advising family business clients on tax and succession planning issues including the creation of UK tax reports, trusts and complex Wills. Hollie deals with complex Court of Protection applications with a particular focus on statutory Will and gifting applications. Hollie advises on all legal aspects of work affecting vulnerable, elderly and mentally incapable individuals. Hollie has a particular focus on the administration of complex estates with business interests and where there is a contentious element running alongside the administration.

Howard Davison

Senior associate

Iain Shoolbred

Senior associate

Ian Toft

Ian Toft is Head of the Asbestos Disease Team in Leeds and became a Partner in May 2017. He was named as Partner of the Year at the Yorkshire Legal Awards 2018. At the Eclipse Proclaim Personal Injury Awards Ian’s work in securing client’s access to future treatment was recognised and he was presented with the Outstanding Case of the Year award 2018. He is recognized by APIL as a Senior Litigator and an Asbestos Accredited Specialist.

Ian Bailey

PartnerHeads of the asbestos disease team, helping to recover compensation for sufferers of serious illness due to workplace exposure to asbestos both in the UK and overseas. 20 years of experience in pursuing claims for victims of mesothelioma, including those who worked or lived close to the infamous J.W. Roberts factory in Leeds. Has assisted the families of many clients who have been fatally injured in accidents at work, in agriculture, working on the railways or working in the construction industry. Represented the claimants in the Court of Appeal case of Cox v Transco and the reported case of Gardner v C. Watson & Sons, an important case in terms of insurance cover in mesothelioma. His team has recovered more than £200,000 for hospices following the decision in Drake v Foster Wheeler.

Isabelle Selley

Senior associate

James Henshall

Solicitor James is a solicitor specialising in Family Law. This includes matters arising from a separation, such as divorce, child arrangements, and property disputes. He also helps people protect their interests when taking the next step with a new partner, for instance advising on pre- and post-marital agreements (‘pre-nups’) and cohabitation agreements.

James Mapley

SolicitorJames is developing experience in preparing advice reports and offering dispute resolution advice, as well assisting on several high-value adjudications. On the non-contentious side, James is building experience in preparing large-scale project documents for developments on a national basis.

James Pavey

James specialises in resolving and avoiding public and private property disputes. He acts for landed estates, trustees and institutional landowners, and private homeowners. He is recognised as an expert in his field by Chambers and the Legal 500. He is a member of the CLA's Legal, Parliamentary and Property Rights Committee and a past President of the Cambridge University Land Society.

James Knowles

James has considerable experience in all types of real estate transactions, but has a particular focus on development projects. He also acts on significant corporate and retail lettings, property financing (development and investment) and investment acquisitions and disposals.

James Laycock

I am a Partner in both the Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team and also the Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution team. In the Will, Trust and Estate arena, I have built up years of experience on cases involving challenges to the validity of wills. These challenges may be based on a range of reasons, including lack of capacity, irregularities, undue influence and fraud, challenges to the conduct of trustees, executors, attorneys and deputies, claims for financial provision from estates by children, widows and widowers, cohabitees and dependents and disputes relating to family farming businesses. In the commercial litigation arena, I am frequently instructed on disputes concerning business to business contracts, shareholder disputes and claims against directors, professional negligence claims and disputes relating to restrictive covenants. I also have experience in intellectual property claims, property disputes and fraud cases.

James Davies

I specialise in representing children and adults who have suffered brain and/or spinal cord injuries, amputations or multiple trauma. I have extensive experience in obtaining substantial interim payments to fund treatment, rehabilitation and other professional support for my clients, as well as securing adapted accommodation and specialist equipment where this is needed. I lead a team of specialist serious injury lawyers at the Bristol office.

James Paton-Philip

Partner James is experienced in working with private and public listed companies on a wide range of domestic and international transactions, including AIM and Main Market listings, M&A, venture capital and private equity investments, joint ventures and reorganisations.

James Betts

Associate solicitor

James Wright

I'm a Solicitor in the Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team in Sheffield. I started my training contract at Irwin Mitchell in 2016 and qualified as a Solicitor in 2018. I have experience with different types of disputes including validity of wills, claims for reasonable financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act, and disputes between beneficiaries and executors. I provide clear, practical and logical legal advice to help people resolve their disputes as quickly as possible.

Jane Pyrah

Partner I am a Partner working in the Serious Injury team based in our Newcastle office. Since 2004 I have represented adults and children who have suffered serious and life changing injuries, in particular head injuries, spinal cord injuries and amputation. The cases our team pursues are often very complex and high value. I aim to secure interim payments for my clients at the earliest possible opportunity to provide funding for such things as rehabilitation, support packages, accommodation and equipment needs.

Jason Newall

Senior associate

Jatinder Paul

Partner

Jayne Campbell

I have over 20 years’ experience of representing clients who have suffered life changing injury or loss. I specialize in claims involving brain injury, spinal injury, poly-trauma and serious orthopaedic injuries including those resulting in amputation. It is my job to guide clients through the claims process, which can be quite overwhelming after a life changing incident. I help my clients to access rehabilitation and financial support at the earliest opportunity and make sure they receive the best possible final settlement amount. Life may never be the same again for some clients. However, if we get them the maximum compensation award and we properly invest it to last a lifetime, this forges them a new path toward a brighter future.

Jelena Korobkova

Solicitor Jelena specialises in divorce, financial settlements, the child arrangements, cohabitation separation and issues surrounding domestic violence. She also helps with other matters, such as advising about post- and pre-nuptial agreements as well as cohabitation agreements.

Jenna Lucas

Partner

Jenna Harris

Partner

Jennifer Mullins

Associate Jennifer has a particular specialism in Legionnaires ’ disease, recently concluding a high value case concerning a Claimant who contracted Legionnaires’ disease from their hotel, whilst holidaying in Italy. The Claimant was placed into an induced coma for several months as a result of the severity of the illness. A six figure settlement was secured for the Claimant, who continues to suffer with respiratory issues. Jennifer also acts in a large number of international group actions, currently acting as the lead Solicitor in the Pegasos Royal Hotel claim, where the firm acts for over 50 holidaymakers who fell ill whilst on holiday in Turkey. Jennifer has recently received instructions to act for over 50 holidaymakers in connection with the Riu Touareg Hotel, in the Cape Verde, following an outbreak of illness, with the group continuing to grow in numbers. Liability is primarily denied in international illness group actions, due to complex microbiological issues. This means Jennifer has extensive experience in dealing with complex issues of liability and causation liaising closely with a variety of experts and preparing matters for Trial.

Jennifer Cawthorne

I have worked at Irwin Mitchell for over 22 years and have been a Partner for 13 years. I have worked in Manchester since 2010 having previously worked at the firms Newcastle and Sheffield offices. I have specialised in claims relating to negligent medical treatment since qualifying in April 2001. For over 13 years I have been a member of both the Law Society Clinical Negligence Accreditation Scheme and an accredited Senior Litigator with the Association of Personal Injuries Lawyers (APIL). During my career I have recovered millions of pounds in compensation for clients often dealing with multi million pound cases. I have been involved in high profile cases such as the indexation cases. I have a particular interest in cases relating to child and adult brain injury, spinal injuries and delayed diagnosis of cancer cases.

Jennifer Ayris

Senior associate

Jennifer Craven

Associate solicitor Represents clients in a range of clinical negligence claims including: Delay in diagnosis of cancer Orthopaedic claims Surgical claims Birth injury Brain and spinal injury Amputation Fatal claims.

Jenny Arrowsmith

PartnerSpecialisms: Education, employment discrimination, TUPE, restrictive covenants, grievance, disciplinary, redundancy, employer internal investigations, disciplinary investigations, disciplinary advice, racial discrimination employment, employment law.

Jeremy Raj

National Head of Residential Property

Jessica Beddows

Partner

Joanna Themistokli

Joanna deals with all non-contentious aspects of residential leasehold law. This includes residential conveyancing, landlord and tenant matters, lease extensions, individual and collective enfranchisement, freehold reversion sales and purchases, rights of first refusal, property finance and secured lending. Her clients include institutional landlords, lenders, individual tenants, collectives, and property development companies.

Partner

Partner

Partner

Specialises in Court of Protection matters, often dealing with the family or legal advisors of the client who has lost the mental capacity to manage their property and affairs. Joanne’s clients have often but not always been awarded a substantial personal injury compensation award, and she then assists in the management of those damages in the best interests of the client. Joanne’s work involves dealing with deputyship applications, offering a professional deputyship service, and applications including gifts and statutory wills. She also deals with lasting power of attorneys, personal injury trusts and trusts for infants. Joanne is a specialist in litigation support services and expert witness statements.

Jodie Buck

I specialise in inheritance disputes that arise following death and in lifetime, including: Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975 Will validity challenges including claims involving testamentary capacity, undue influence, want of knowledge and approval, fraudulent calumny and forgery Executor/trustee disputes including claims for removal Proprietary estoppel cases Financial abuse and attorney disputes (lifetime and on death) Disputes surrounding the ownership of assets (i.e. Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and constructive trust cases). I have acted for clients who are claimants and defendants in these types of cases and therefore have experience of both angles.

John Davies

John has extensive experience in all types of investigations and prosecutions brought by a multitude of agencies with the Crown Prosecution Service, HMRC and the Financial Conduct Authority being just three examples.He has a solid grounding in general crime but has built his experience in financial crime, fraud, regulatory and disciplinary matters over the years, working on some ‘heavyweight’ cases in that time.

Jonathan Sachs

Jonathan specialises in professional negligence, commercial litigation and fraud. He has particular expertise in claimant negligence claims against solicitors, surveyors and tax professionals. He has also conducted litigation in various jurisdictions around the world, including the US, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Hong Kong.

Jonathan Betts

Partner

Julia Lomas

National head of Court of Protection. Has a team of people who help her to look after client’s financial affairs. They do this through either the Court of Protection or through a trust. Also able to advise on lasting powers of attorneys, enduring powers of attorneys, wills, deputyships, receiverships and various aspects of financial management. Published in the ‘Daily Telegraph’ and the ‘APIL’ journal.

Julianne Moore

Partner

Julie Straughan

Associate Julie is based in the aviation team in Irwin Mitchell’s London office, and deals with a variety of cases representing passengers, pilots, crew and their families, in a range of personal injury cases arising out of aviation accidents both here and overseas. She is a specialist in cross-border litigation and has been involved in many cases that have helped to bring about changes in the way in which foreign accident claims are approached by Courts of England and Wales. Julie has acted on behalf of British and foreign nationals involving employer’s, occupier’s and road traffic and ski accident liability throughout Europe, Package Travel claims worldwide, as well as those involving International Conventions including the Athens, Montreal and COTIF.

Julie Lewis

Partner

Juliet Spender

Associate Solicitor

Justina Molloy

A Senior Associate, Serious Injury. Justina specialises in acting for those who have suffered life changing injuries, such as traumatic brain injury, spinal injury, amputation, polytrauma and chronic pain arising from road traffic accidents, accidents at work, with a particular interest in cycling related accidents.

Justine Spencer

Partner

Kamal Majevadia

Partner

Karen Codling

Associate director of special damages unit. Karen leads the special damages unit, a resource which is unique to Irwin Mitchell. They are a team of dedicated personnel who deal with the quantification of financial losses. The special damages unit has been developed in-house since 1990 and boasts 20 members with a broad array of accountancy qualifications and work experience. It has prepared schedules of loss for a number of high-profile and boundary-breaking cases, including the claimants Warren and Annable in Heil v Rankin, the Hancock case, the Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease litigation, the Hatfield and Selby cases, the Ladbroke Grove Rail Disaster and the Cadbury’s cases. The unit produces schedules of loss, which are prepared on the basis of in-house procedures accounting for the latest case law and statistics. The team is continually updating its procedures and schedule templates to ensure that any changes in case law and statistics are reflected in all the schedules produced. In addition to this, Karen’s team provides quantum advice to case handlers and in case conferences, and also delivers firm-wide training to ensure full understanding in relation to quantum and to maximise recovery of damages for clients to enhance their quality of life. Karen is also heavily involved in the firms charity and CSR work and works closely with Business in the Community to co-ordinate a number of initiatives between the firm and a local secondary school. Activities which have been delivered include maths workshops (with members of Karen’s team), a reading partners initiative, careers aspiration presentations and CV/interview workshops, as well as assisting in the delivery of a Dragon’s Den style review of business ideas in a national competition.

Kat Wainman

Partner

Kate Caldwell

Kate is a senior associate (New Zealand qualified) and specialises in the international elements of UK taxation, trust law and asset structuring. Kate predominantly acts for high and ultra-high net worth individuals and families with intricate multi-jurisdictional affairs. She has extensive experience in providing complex cross-border tax and succession planning advice, and has developed a particular expertise in advising international family offices.

Kate Major

Associate Solicitor Rebecca has a specialist interest in wrongful birth and obstetric injury cases. Kate has handled numerous high value complex claims including an obstetric negligence case for a 15 year old boy who was brain injured when there was a delay in delivering him and he was starved of oxygen. The structured settlement capitalised at £24.3m.

Kate Byers

Kate is our Head of Pension Documents and has been providing pensions legal advice to sponsoring employers and trustees of occupational pension schemes for 35 years. Although she advises on all aspects of pensions law, and the regulatory environment within which registered schemes operate, she specialises in drafting pension scheme documentation and providing technical support.

Kate Nicklin

Kate is a Senior Associate Solicitor who specialises in representing seriously injured clients, both adults and children, who have suffered life changing injuries including brain and / or spinal cord injuries. Kate is focused upon achieving the best possible outcome for her clients in addition to securing interim payments at an early stage to fund specialist rehabilitation, accommodation, support and care. She works alongside specialist neurorehabilitation professionals (such as case managers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, neurorehabilitation consultants and speech and language therapists). This enables Kate to ensure that her clients' chances of recovery and future independence are maximised. Kate strives to provide individuals with straightforward legal advice and seeks to obtain compensation to meet their significant needs and provide them with financial security for their future. Kate has held various trustee roles including with regional Headway and Citizens Advice Bureau charities. Kate is always looking for opportunities to give back to the community.

Kate Easy

Senior associateExpertise: child abuse, obstetrics, spinal and brain damage cases.

Katharine Shaw

Partner

Katherine Jones

Solicitor

Katie Byrne

Senior associateKatie has considerable experience in a wide range of domestic and international commercial contract, liability and professional negligence disputes specialising in complex, high-value litigation. She has been commended in Chambers as a 'practical and commercial’ lawyer with a fast response time and ability to ‘empathise with organisational values and branding when formulating a strategy’. She regularly acts for large financial institutions and insurance companies.

Partner

Senior associate

Senior associate

Partner

Senior Associate Solicitor

Kevin Cunningham

PartnerKevin has over 30 years’ experience of mergers and acquisitions, private equity and corporate finance. He has project managed many complex deals for private and listed companies including cross-border acquisitions and management buy-outs and regularly provides strategic advice at board level.

Kevin Fox

PartnerSpecialisms include: landlord, tenant leases and contracts. Kevin has particular expertise in development projects providing advice and guidance on all legal aspects of acquisition and site assembly, investment and/or development finance and legal structures (usually tax driven and development layout specific). Kevin also has a high level of expertise in providing advice and guidance to clients in connection with all aspects of large and complex portfolio/estate management.

Kirsty Stuart

Associate Solicitor. Kirsty advises on a range of Court of Protection health and welfare issues relating to the Mental Capacity Act 2005. She represents Relevant Person's Representatives, family members, and is regularly instructed by the Official Solicitor. Kirsty is also qualified as an Accredited Legal Representative, so can act on behalf of those who have been deemed to lack capacity to conduct court proceedings. This is a possible alternative to a Litigation Friend. She has a special interest in urgent medical treatment cases, and cases which involve a crossover of medicine and law. Kirsty also help people challenge unfair public body decisions through judicial review. Prior to working in public law and human rights she specialised in mental health law and continues to advise detained patients, family members and hospitals. Kirsty is Irwin Mitchell’s point of contact for in-house mental health law advice. Kirsty also advices on community care law, covering cuts to care packages, the duties of the local authority and other public bodies under the Care Act and support for carers. More recently, she has developed a focus on assisting and supporting individuals in Assessment and Treatment Units (ATUs) and regularly assists those in these units to move into the community with a suitable care package which can meet their assessed needs.

Kirsty Ayre

Partner and head of the Sheffield employment team. Kirsty advises on all areas of employment law, with particular expertise in employment tribunal litigation, senior exits and strategic change programmes in the financial services, construction and university sectors. She provides pragmatic and solutions-driven advice to clients, and has spent time on secondment to the HR function of a major bank. Recent work includes: representing some of the UK’s largest banks and insurance companies in employment tribunal litigation; advising a global organisaiton on the sensitive exist of its financial director; managing large-scale redundancy programmes involving hundreds of exits; advising one of the world’s largest banks on a high-profile change to its pension and redundancy schemes; providing employment law support on strategic and sensitive outsourcing projects; and adising on collective and union issues. She sits as a fee-paid employment judge in the London Central employment tribunal, and is also a Scottish qualified solicitor, having spent ten years living and working in Edinburgh.

Kris Inskip

Partner

Kunal Gadhvi

Kunal has 19 years’ experience in the Restructuring and Insolvency industry, dealing with a broad range of both non-contentious and contentious work, focusing primarily on advisory and transactional work such as: Debt restructuring Business sales and acquisitions Lender security enforcement and enhancement Cross-border restructuring & insolvency He acts for a mixture of UK clearing banks, UK top 20 accountancy firms, insolvency practitioners, private equity houses, and asset-based lenders. He also works with international clients such as international accountancy firms, foreign and international banks, and foreign law firms. Kunal advises secured lenders on: Restructuring and refinancing of distressed loans Forbearance Standstill and modification agreements Undertaking contingency planning Strategic advice including in relation to security and risk assessment. Kunal also has extensive experience dealing with contentious / insolvency litigation matters, including misfeasance actions and wrongful trading actions, antecedent transaction recoveries, asset recovery and fraud investigations. Kunal regularly advises underperforming companies, boards of directors and investor groups on restructuring options and managing key stakeholders, and advises landlord creditors on enforcing their rights and dealing with tenant insolvency.

Kylie Hutchison

Senior associate.Specialisms: Accidents arising overseas, international travel, travel litigation.

Lara Tucker

Derbyshire born and bred, Lara trained in Manchester but is now based in Sheffield. Lara was promoted to Senior Associate at just 5 years PQE, which is a testament to her technical ability and client care. Lara tackles thorny issues in her cases that have baffled her opponents, many of whom are often Partners, with ease. Lara’s steely determination to achieve the best for her clients leaves them feeling that she is always in their corner. Lara is a specialist in HNW financial matters including cases with offshore assets, complex trust structures and vulnerable clients. She works closely with Ros Bever and Nat Groarke on UHNW cases. Lara has a thriving pre and post-nuptial practice, often being brought in by financial advisors for financial family planning. She is the trusted go-to for many advisors for their clients. In addition, Lara leads our Teams of Excellence for Appeals and Schedule 1 cases, respectively. Lara has considerable experience in Schedule 1 matters, have been part of the team advising a range of clients in relation to Schedule 1 claims, most notably cases involving professional footballers. Lara is at the forefront of appeal cases. She was a fundamental part of the team representing Julia Goddard-Watts, whose case was heard by the Court of Appeal in October 2022. This was a landmark case, in which Mrs Goddward-Watts successfully appealed the final order made following a second rehearing of her claim for financial remedies, the previous order having been set aside due to the husband’s material non-disclosure. Lara was also instrumental in the Sharland and Gohil appeals. Lara’s recent significant cases include: • Advising the former partner of an ex-Premier League footballer in relation to Schedule 1 matters. • Advising clients with significant personal injury damages awards in relation to wealth protection, and the financial consequences of divorce in the context of the source of their assets. Lara’s notable work this year includes a Pre-Nuptial Agreement where the client had assets of £9m to protect, together with representing another seriously injured client in financial remedy proceedings seeking to protect assets of c. £1.5m. • Representing a client with assets of c. £40m in relation to implementation matters following a contested 5 day hearing. • Acting for a former barrister in relation to financial matters arising out of her separation from her husband, a partner at a well-known national/international law firm. At this very early stage, the assets are unclear, but are understand to include a family home and a property abroad worth in excess of £1m, together with other capital assets exceeding £1m and significant pension assets.

Laura Mcilduff

Laura is a Partner in the Serious Injury department at Irwin Mitchell’s Newcastle office. She works with children and adults who have sustained life changing brain, spinal cord and amputation injuries. Since 2016 (and 3 years PQE) she has been responsible for the management of her own complex cases valued at over £500,000 and regularly handles multi million pound cases. In the past 3 years, she has secured £38.264 million in compensation for her clients with settlements ranging between £1.5 million and £21.5 million gross. She is totally committed to her clients, particularly the use of Special Measures in personal injury cases to support vulnerable Claimants through the Court process. She is a strong advocate of the Serious Injury Guide and works collaboratively with Defendant Insurers and Solicitors where possible to obtain early interim payments and meet rehabilitation needs before hospital discharge. Laura also founded NE Amputee, a support group for amputees and their families in the North East, after noting a lack of provision in the local area for her clients. Laura is an APIL Accredited Senior Litigator and Brain Injury Specialist as well as the Early Careers Regional Representative for the Newcastle office, supporting aspiring lawyers from all backgrounds with their legal careers. Laura was nominated as Insurance Rising Star of the Year in the Legal 500 Northern Powerhouse Awards 2023. Recent client feedback: "I cannot fault the service me and my family have received from Irwin Mitchell. I felt My solicitor Laura Mcilduff went above and beyond my expectations and became more than a solicitor but someone I could rely on. Laura took a great deal of time explaining everything to me throughout, to ensure I understood and could make informed choices. Overall, the key point for my experience was the personal touch I felt I received, that was so important. The amazing support she provided, down to the informal friendly chats that were needed of reassurance, understanding and patience was priceless and something I will always be grateful for." Another recent 5* TrustPilot review: “I couldn’t have got through the last 5 years without the team I was provided with by Irwin Mitchell, following a RTA in 2018. It has been a long lengthy process & still ongoing in some respects but the team always made me feel at ease took control of everything that was over whelming to be, easily staying in contact through phone calls and emails. I couldn’t recommend them more for a personal injury claim, my main point of contact was Laura Mcilduff who I could not fault at all she is the best of the best and has met every need I have endured along with Tom Dias who I have pestered at points along the way, but nothing was a bother. It can be very daunting in the beginning but these guys helped not only me but my family members too, and we powered on through, it was a pleasure to have them on my side, also using other departments now as things progress and have to mention the names, John Riley Dibb, Lara Tucker & Connie Smith for their continued support. They are an absolute credit to Irwin Mitchell and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart.”

Laura Harper

Partner

Laura Pang

Senior Associate Solicitor

Laura Gabbey-Cristofini

Associate solicitor

Laura Middleton-Guerard

Partner

Partner

Partner

Associate solicitor

Advises clients in regulated sectors, particularly FCA-authorised firms, charities, healthcare and other public sector bodies and sports industry companies on a range of commercial and compliance matters. These include joint ventures and collaborative working, funding agreements and constitutional arrangements, all of which are affected by new funding regimes and constant regulatory updates. Also advises on corporate finance matters including capital raisings and takeover offers.

Leane Shanks

Senior associate legal executive.Specialisms: accidents abroad, sickness abroad, holiday complaints, road traffic accidents, travel litigation, head injuries.

Partner

Solicitor

Partner

Partner

Lindsey is a Senior Associate Solicitor working in the Irwin Mitchell Newcastle and Middlesbrough offices. She worked previously within the Health Service as a senior MRI radiographer.Lindsey specialises in clinical negligence cases and acts on behalf of clients who have suffered serious injuries, recovering substantial amounts of compensation to fund care, therapies and a range of other needs. She also represents families at inquests where a loved one has died through negligent medical treatment. Her expertise lies in birth injury claims involving children who have cerebral palsy as a result of delays in delivery or inadequate neonatal care. She also represents mothers who have suffered injury during delivery or where there have been failures to diagnose congenital conditions during pregnancy. Lindsey acts for adults who have suffered a brain or spinal injury or who have suffered avoidable amputations and has a special interest in cases involving delayed cancer diagnosis and negligent surgery.

Lisa Stratford

Senior associate She has substantial experience of dealing with complex landlord and tenant matters including lease renewal and termination proceedings, dilapidations claims and rent and service charge disputes & recovery. In addition to landlord and tenant matters, Lisa also acts for investors and developers and in an advisory and risk management capacity. Lisa is regularly instructed in complex matters on behalf of banks, Law of Property Act Receivers and insolvency practitioners to deal with a wide range of property related insolvency matters. Lisa is also instructed in general property litigation matters such as those concerning easements, breach of covenant and nuisance. She has developed a specialism in acting in substantial nuisance cases for both private individuals and developer clients, and also carries out specialist work in all forms of leasehold enfranchisement/right of first refusal work, acting for both freeholders and leaseholders.

Lisa Jordan

Partner

Liz Byrne

Liz is an Associate focussed on building and growing the Rural Tax, Trusts and Estates Team in Manchester and the wider North West. Many of her clients transferred over to Irwin Mitchell as a result of her move. Liz specialises in advising on tax, trusts and estate matters, with a particular emphasis and expertise in assisting all types of farming and equestrian families, High Net Worth individuals and owner managed businesses.

Louise Oliver

Louise advises on all aspects of residential property with a particular emphasis on residential investment, development and funding, high value conveyancing, landlord and tenant work (including rights of first refusal) as well as portfolio acquisitions, disposal and subsequent management issues.She has particular experience with high-end London residential property and currently acts for property investment companies, developers, private individuals, leaseholders and lenders in the residential property sector. Over the past year she has dealt with over £50m of Prime Central London new build property.

Louise Jenkins

Louise is a Partner in the Sheffield office and leads the Serious Injury team comprising of over 50 team members. She has more than 20 years of experience in acting for clients who have sustained serious brain and spinal cord injury and other complex injuries, having joined Irwin Mitchell in 1997. Louise’s cases have won the Post Magazine’s Rehabilitation First Award on a number of occasions (claimant’s solicitor category), demonstrating Louise’s strong ethos of maximising client recovery and prioritising rehabilitation and quality of life in every case. She has been part of legal teams tackling complex and ground breaking issues. These include appearances in the Court of Appeal in relation to securing substantial interim payments, Statutory Services funding, life expectancy, periodical payments and the interaction of legislation regarding Statutory Services provision with damages recovery. Louise has also been involved in a significant number of highly complex, multi-million pound settlements. Alongside her considerable technical expertise, Louise is known for her profoundly caring and compassionate approach with clients, helping them to rebuild lives positively after serious injury.

Louise Forsyth

Senior associate

Lucy Herbert

As an associate in the team, Lucy has worked as a pensions legal adviser and within independent trustee companies for a number of years. She has experience in a range of matters including: Day-to-day scheme matters Legislative changes Governance compliance Scheme funding De-risking projects Scheme closures Scheme wind-ups Mergers and restructuring projects. Lucy’s experience not only as a legal adviser but also from her years of independent trusteeship and her previous administrative background bring an understanding of client needs and requirements. Lucy brings a practical approach to projects and general scheme governance where possible.

Lucy Bazley

Senior Associate Solicitor

Lucy Bloom

Senior Associate Solicitor

Lucy Erdman-Samy

Senior Associate Solicitor

Lucy Nicol

Partner Lucy acts as a professional deputy for clients who have received multimillion pound damages as a result of clinical negligence or serious injury and who have lost their capacity to manage their financial affairs. Lucy’s clients include those who have suffered serious head injuries and birth injuries, those with learning difficulties and those with age related conditions such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. Lucy’s expertise extends to both property and affairs and welfare matters and she has a special interest in legal issues surrounding mental capacity and decision making in connection with financial decision making.

Luke Daniels

Partner

Luke Trevorrow

Associate Solicitor

Maisie Huynh

Maisie is a tenacious litigator. She has great commercial acumen and an ability to understand clients and their businesses. Maisie frequently represents high net worth clients on complex financial matters and has been commended by senior junior Counsels and KCs her impressive handling of cases and strategic decisions. Maisie is part of our Teams of Excellence for Court of Protection / personal injury settlement work. Maisie handles cases where clients lack capacity and/or have suffered a significant injury. Maisie also advises our Serious Injury teams on claims for legal costs relating to a divorce and financial proceedings in schedules of loss; this includes providing statements to the Court in support of those heads of loss. Maisie confidently undertakes her own advocacy, often against experienced Partners and Counsel. As well as her own complex caseload, Maisie works closely with Ros Bever and other Partners across our National Team, specialising in UHNW and HNW matters with a particular specialism in Private Equity assets and complex trusts structures Maisie’s recent notable cases include: • Having assisted a Partner in acting for a client worth £16m in financial remedy proceedings, Maisie was instructed by the client to advise in relation to a pre-nuptial agreement. • Representing a local businessman whose company is due to complete on a £40m deal in his divorce. The settlement involves a company restructure and complex tax issues. • Securing s37 Freezing Orders to preserve over £5.8m of assets, third party disclosure orders, and a set aside of a property transfer, in ongoing protracted proceedings. • Advising on a pre-nuptial agreement in circumstances where the client is due to receive an inheritance in excess of £10m and is the beneficiary of family trusts. • Representing a client in a divorce where the sole asset is her future damages from a wrongful birth claim valued at > £5m.

Mandeep Khroud

Senior associate

Mandy Luckman

Mandy leads our national Cosmetic Law team and has experience of all forms of cosmetic interventions, including: surgical, non-surgical, cosmetic treatment abroad, product liability issues, and dental negligence.

Margaret Windram

Associate Solicitor Margaret specialises in disputes about trusts and wills, and also court of protection work, where there is a dispute involving a potentially vulnerable or elderly person who may lack capacity to make financial or health care decisions for themselves. She can help people bringing or defending claims about the validity of wills, act in disputes between executors and beneficiaries or claims against the estate, for example under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975.

Margaret Ryan

Senior associate

Marian Joseph

Partner in the personal injury team in London office, dealing with both claimant and defendant work. Almost all her cases have an international aspect. Her main specialist area is European PI claims, in particular road traffic accidents, although she also deals with employers’ liability, public liability and some product liability (in conjunction with Antony Colman, a product liability expert). She speaks and writes German. She deals with substantial claims including catastrophic injury claims of over £2m. She specialises in cross-border claims involving jurisdiction and foreign law issues. Current claims (examples without names for confidentiality reasons). Dealing with claim for Belgian client injured in road traffic accident in England – serious injuries and issues of Belgian benefits and tax. Dealing with claim brought against our client by a claimant from another EU state, suffered amputation as a result of accident in England. Dealing with claim brought against our client arising out of accident at factory premises in Belgium.

Marie Kilgallen

Senior Associate Solicitor

Marjha Golding-Evans

Associate

Mark Clinton

Consultant

Mark Hands

I am a Partner and Head of the Birmingham family team. My clients are based up and down the country and I am regularly instructed to deal with cases in London. I have an established practice representing people across a wide range of complicated financial claims on divorce, including business owners, professionals and entrepreneurs. This also includes a niche area advising in the context of third-party intervenor claims and professional footballers and their partners. I am also sought after for my expertise in wealth protection, including pre-nuptial agreements. I have a particular specialism in complex financial cases, in the UK and internationally. I am one of only a small handful of family lawyers that deals with complicated tax structures, overseas trusts and assets. I have delivered training to other family lawyers on these issues, including STEP. I’ve represented many parents in disputes about their children, including relocation locally and abroad. I am regarded as a complete expert in all cases involving alienation of children and fact find hearings in the context of mentally or physically abusive relationships, whether that be representing a victim or defending false allegations. Almost all of my cases come from recommendations. I place a high value on client care, which is shown in the volume of 5* Trustpilot reviews. I have also won multiple awards (IAFL European Lawyer Award 2016, Law Society Solicitor of the Year 2015, Jordan’s Family Law Team of the Year 2017, Birmingham Law Society – Excellence in Client Service 2019, Finalist – Partner of the Year 2023). I am also a trained and accredited collaborative lawyer, which is an alternative to the traditional process and provides clients with a different option to resolving issues out of court.

Martin Jenkins

Martin is a very experienced practitioner who has been dealing with pension issues since the maxwell case (where he acted for the Mirror Group Pensioners, successfully recovering lost funds). He is the author of 'Pensions Act 2004' (Oxford University Press) and a contributor to a number of publications including Sweet & Maxwell's 'Law of Pension Schemes' and Butterworths' 'Pension Law'.

Martyn Holland

PartnerSpecialisms: retail and commercial property, real estate finance, landlord and tenant matters, secured lending, mines and minerals.

Mathieu Culverhouse

With over 15 years of experience in the legal field, Mathieu Culverhouse is a seasoned professional specializing in community care, healthcare, and mental capacity law. As a Partner at Irwin Mitchell, Mathieu's expertise lies in advocating for clients who face ongoing challenges with social services, the NHS, and other public bodies. Throughout his career, Mathieu has been at the forefront of numerous landmark cases, including the cases of Cheshire West, Briggs v Briggs and Tafida Raqeeb, where he successfully represented clients seeking appropriate provision from local authority social services and the NHS. Additionally, he has been instrumental in defending the rights of clients opposing the closure of care homes, day centres, and NHS services, as well as challenging government funding cuts in health and social care using judicial review and human rights law. Mathieu's commitment to his clients extends to vulnerable populations, such as disabled refugees, for whom he secured accommodation from local authorities under their community care duties. He is also sought after for his expertise in advising clients on healthcare rights, medical treatment, and clinical disputes, which often involve complex medical ethics and legal arguments relating to dignity, the right to life, or the right to healthcare. Mathieu also takes on cases representing the Official Solicitor, Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCAs), and the families of vulnerable adults in the Court of Protection under the Mental Capacity Act. These cases involve matters concerning mental capacity, deprivation of liberty, health, and welfare. Mathieu is a founding member and national committee member of the Court of Protection Practitioners Association (CoPPA). Within the firm, he jointly leads the Public Law & Human Rights department's Court of Protection special interest group. With a track record of success and a reputation for delivering results, Mathieu Culverhouse is a prominent figure in the field of health and social care law, making him an invaluable asset to clients seeking expert counsel and representation in community care, healthcare, and mental capacity matters.

Matt Smith

Matt is an Associate Solicitor in the corporate team in our Birmingham office. Matt specialises in all aspects of corporate law, including acquisitions and disposals, private equity and corporate governance and advisory. Matt’s clients range from individual private investors to owner-managed businesses and large corporates.

Matthew Ambler

Employment and Pensions Group

Matthew Brown

Partner

Matthew Garson

Matthew is a Partner and has acted for clients in the field of serious injury for over 20 years. Matthew handles a wide range of serious injury cases which include brain and spinal injuries, amputation and fatal accident claims. He also acts for clients who have suffered complex orthopaedic injuries, including children and the elderly. Matthew is based in the Liverpool office whilst also maintaining a role in the serious injury team in Manchester. Matthew is a Senior Litigator with APIL and has APIL accreditations for specialism in both Brain Injury and in Fatal Accidents. He is listed in the Headway Directory for Liverpool. Matthew was shortlisted for PI Solicitor of the Year at the PI Awards in 2022.

Matthew Currie

Matthew is managing Partner for motor road traffic accident claims at Irwin Mitchell and executive board member for the Personal Legal Services division. He is on the national management committee of the Motor Accident Solicitors Society. MASS, like Irwin Mitchell, is concerned with protecting and promoting the interests of road traffic accident victims and is regularly asked to consult on procedural and legislative changes.

Matthew Newbould

Matthew is a solicitor in Irwin Mitchell's Medical Product Liability and Medical Negligence team. Matthew deals with national and international group actions in relation to defective medical devices and pharmaceuticals or sub-standard medical treatment. He provides advice and pursue legal actions for the recovery of compensation for victims of defective medical products; he does not represent the manufacturers.

Melanie Hadwin

Associate solicitor

Michael Taylor

Partner (Non Lawyer)

Michelle Beaumont

Partner Michelle advises on a broad range of high value commercial property transactions, including: Acquisitions Disposals Forward purchases Development agreements Conditional contracts Michelle has particular experience with the higher education, retail and hospitality sectors, acting for investors, retailers, operators and owners.

Michelle Chapman

Senior Associate Solicitor

Mike Plews

Solicitor Mike advises on EPC contracts, building contracts, professional appointments, collateral warranties, bonds, guarantees, development agreements and other ancillary documentation relating to engineering, construction, energy and secured lending. He also advises clients in relation to dispute avoidance strategies and a broad range of dispute resolution techniques. Mike leads the Sheffield and Leeds construction teams at Irwin Mitchell.

Naomi Neville

Partner

Natalie Cane

Solicitor Natalie is rapidly gaining experience in all aspects of construction law with a focus on contractual documents, particularly standard from contracts and collateral warranties.

Natasha Fairs

Natasha is an Associate solicitor specialising in complex liability accident at work cases, road traffic collisions and public liability cases. She represents clients who have suffered serious orthopaedic injuries, amputations and psychiatric injuries and works closely with a community-based, demand-led charity that helps amputee families live life to the full. Natasha has experience in representing clients in their Applications to the Motor Insurance Bureau under the Untraced Scheme. Natasha also represents adult clients in claims following abuse.

Nathaniel Groarke

Nathaniel is a partner specialising in all areas of private family law work. He is based in the Manchester Irwin Mitchell office but has clients across the UK, most notably in London. Nathaniel has broad experience of financial matters, ranging from high-net-worth cases, to those cases where the assets are more modest but the issues no less complex or important. Nathaniel has particular expertise in cases where there are complicated matters, such as those involving international issues, business assets and trusts. He also specialises in cases where there are suspected hidden assets or non-disclosure. He is regularly instructed on pre- and post-nuptial agreements, to protect family or future wealth. Nathaniel is a Resolution accredited specialist in Complex Financial and Property Matters (High Income Households and Substantial Assets) and one of the only specialists in the North West in European and International Law. Nathaniel also deals with private children matters.

Nazia Nawaz

Senior associate

Neil Whiteley

Regional managing partner and serious injury solicitor covering the Cambridge and East Anglia region. His areas of expertise include serious acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury and poly-trauma cases. He also has experience of working with military clients. He lectures to other professionals on a range of technical issues, including mental capacity after brain injury and rehabilitation in the litigation process. He has a business development brief on behalf of the serious injury team at Irwin Mitchell LLP and is currently national co-ordinator of the serious injury team at Irwin Mitchell. Neil leads in the regional promotion of Irwin Mitchells services at our Cambridge office which opened in 2014.

Niall Baker

Managing Partner of Court of Protection and Public Law and Human Rights

Nick Rucker

Partner and national headExpertise in asset protection, charity and philanthropy, international trust and succession dispute resolution, private wealth.

Nicola Bushby

Partner Nicola specialises in trust and estate litigation for high and ultra-high net worth individuals and families, often involving complex capacity issues. Nicola has particular expertise in claims for breach of trust, inter-family disputes in relation to the administration of estates and constructive trusts, Will disputes and setting aside transactions by reason of mental incapacity and undue influence. Her cases regularly involve multiple jurisdictions and recovering money held offshore. Nicola has enormous strength across the whole spectrum of Court of Protection work, with particular emphasis on contentious financial applications concerning the estates and businesses of those who may have lost capacity to manage them, financial abuse, gift and statutory Will disputes and the removal of attorneys and deputies.

Nicola Gooch

Nicola is a Partner in the Irwin Mitchell Planning Team, with a particular expertise in mixed use regeneration projects and enabling developments. She acts for a wide variety of private sector clients, including house-builders, land promoters and development companies; retail developers, investment funds; care home providers and crematoria. She also regularly advises clients on the Community Infrastructure Levy. Nicola has been mentioned in Legal 500, alongside the Southern Region Planning Team, which is tier one rated in both Chambers and the Legal 500.

Nicola Walker

Head of family law at Irwin Mitchell's Bristol office. Nicola acts for businesses and professionals on all issues arising out of relationship breakdown. She also deals with prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, with specific experience in acting to protect trust assets. In the past 12 months, Nicola has acted for the chief executive of a plc and in divorce cases involving trusts up £35m.

Partner

Associate solicitor

Partner

Associate Solicitor

Oliver is a Senior Associate in the Leeds Asbestos Related Disease team. He has over 15 years’ experience in working with asbestos related disease and occupational illness claims and has a particular interest in Mesothelioma, Asbestos Related Lung Cancer and Silicosis cases. He is also APIL accredited as a Senior Litigator and asbestos and occupational disease specialist. Oliver was a leading member of the team in submitting its bid for the 2020 Yorkshire Legal Awards Litigation and Dispute Resolution award, for which the team have been successfully shortlisted as Finalists. He is particularly noted for his compassion and client care skills representing clients with terminal illnesses. He is an active fundraiser for charities supporting cancer patients, such as Mesothelioma UK, Maggies Leeds, Cancer Support Yorkshire and various hospices throughout the area. Oliver also has provided support to Mesothelioma Support Yorkshire (MESSY), a patient support group run, since its inception over 10 years ago. He has a reputation for his thoroughness in litigation and consistently recovers well in excess of £1m in client damages each year, including vital funds to cover private treatment costs for mesothelioma clients, with circa £1.8m recovered this year with the highest settlement of £350,000 for a mesothelioma case.

Paddy Sturman

Partner

Padma Tadi

Padma is an Employment and Business Immigration Senior Associate who advises on a full range of contentious and non-contentious employment and business immigration issues.From a business immigration perspective, Padma has experience in advising on: UKVI checks, record maintenance and penalties, sponsorship of migrant workers, visa applications and immigration related employment issues.

Paul Henson

PartnerPaul heads up our Real Estate Disputes team in London. He acts for a wide range of investors and developers on all contentious issues, with a particular interest in acting for corporate occupiers in the leisure sector. Paul has experience in a wide range of Court of Appeal, High Court and County Court litigation and has also been involved in mediations and arbitrations. Paul also deals with many issues for clients in the First-tier Tribunal. Paul also has considerable expertise dealing with development disputes, vacant possession strategies, rights of light, contractual disputes and other issues arising from the landlord and tenant relationship in both the commercial and residential context. He advises on business lease renewals and terminations, dilapidations, rent reviews, services charge disputes, rent arrears recovery, breaches of covenant, squatters and possession cases and all associated issues relating to landlord and tenant insolvency.In addition, Paul deals with professional negligence and fraud claims arising in the real estate context. His aim is to provide commercially driven solutions through advice, negotiation and utilising the various platforms for dispute resolution when required.

Paul Haycock

Paul is head of the Northern regulatory and criminal investigations group. Over nearly 30 years, Paul has acquired a wealth of experience conducting high-profile, sensitive and serious cases. His skill set has been developed over many years dealing with the full range of criminal law matters and the broadest spectrum of clients. Many of his cases have been high profile and reported. Over the last decade, Paul has focused on corporate crime, cartel offences, corruption, regulation and compliance and on related civil matters. Paul has acted for individuals, public figures, companies and other organisations. He is increasingly being sought out to assist in either conducting internal inquiries or to protect the interests of corporate clients who are subject to such inquiries from regulatory or prosecuting authorities. He has a proven track record in avoiding or defending prosecutions by all the leading authorities (including SFO, OFT, FCA, CPS, HMRC and HSE). Commercially aware, Paul increasingly receives instructions in matters where there is a criminal and civil law overlap. Recent highlights include: conducted internal corporate investigation into civil fraud, health and safety and an assessment of a multi-million pound commercial dispute; successfully resisted the first of a series of extradition requests from Dubai; defended in a Trading Standards cross-border advanced fee fraud; defended in an SFO prosecution for fraudulent trading and asset stripping; defended a number of SFO prosecutions for advanced fee and boiler room frauds; instructed in an FCA prosecution for collective investment schemes; instructed in an OFT cartel investigation; defending investigations and prosecutions for bribery and corruption matters; instructed in an HMRC investigation into high-yield investors in the film industry tax scheme; and represented solicitors and accountants on issues relating to disclosure and privilege.

Paula Hanlon

Senior associate

Paula James

Partner

Paula Myers

Director of legal services for private client services at Irwin Mitchell, based in Leeds. Handles claims on validity of wills, involving issues of undue influence, and testamentary capacity, proprietary estoppel claims, rectification actions, financial provision claims, disputes involving trusts and breach of trust claims. Professional negligence claims regarding trusts, wills and advice provided in relation to that.

Penny Cogher

Penny has considerable experience in all pension matters, with a particular focus on advising companies, international firms and their pension trustees, on their UK pension arrangements. Penny also has extensive experience of advising charities on their pension arrangements and high net worth individuals on the 2015 pension flexibilities.

Peter Lorence

Peter is a Senior Associate solicitor, who is also an APIL accredited Senior Litigator and Brain Injury Specialist. He represents clients who have suffered severe and catastrophic traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, as well as serious orthopaedic injuries. As a cyclist and biker himself, Peter specialises in representing vulnerable road users who have been injured in road traffic collisions; he has recently worked to prepare Irwin Mitchell’s response to the Highway Code Consultation and is a campaigner for safer cycling.

Partner

Partner

Partner

Polly is a Associate Solicitor based in Irwin Mitchell Leeds office. Polly regularly handles 1975 claims, Will validity challenges, proprietary estoppel and trust claims, and she has seen an increase in claims with a financial abuse aspect. Polly has experience of investigating and unwinding financial abuse and acting where an appointment of an Attorney or Deputy becomes contentious.

Rachael Adams

Associate SolicitorRachael is a Court of Protection specialist and works predominantly with clients who have received multimillion pound settlements as a result of personal injury or medical negligence claims. Rachael’s primary focus is advising on deputyship matters and particularly on matters with on-going litigation claims. Rachael benefitted from training within the PI department for a 15 month period which has equipped her with knowledge to manage these files from the Court of Protection standpoint. Rachael works closely with the personal injury teams to manage interim payments for clients until their claims are fully settled as well as working closely with the professional Deputy to ensure that full and comprehensive witness statements detailing past and future Court of Protection costs are prepared to support the claim. Once a claim has settled, Rachael supports her clients with their everyday financial affairs. This may involve implementing a multidisciplinary team, buying and adapting a property that is suitable for their needs and investment of funds with Deputy approval. Rachael works closely with the client and their families advising and supporting them throughout the Court of Protection process.

Rachael Pavey

Rachael is an Associate who specialises in acting for Claimants who have been catastrophically injured as a result of accidents with an international element. She acts for individuals who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and major orthopaedic injuries amongst others, as result of wide ranging accident circumstances including road traffic accidents, sports accidents and clinical negligence. The vast majority of Rachael’s cases involve applicable law or jurisdictional issues and arise from accidents abroad, including accidents in France, Spain, Austria, Mexico and New Zealand to name but a few.

Rachael Aram

Partner Rachael specialises in representing Claimants who have sustained severe brain injuries, often lacking capacity and Claimants who have sustained spinal cord injuries at paraplegic and tetraplegic levels. She manages one of the specialist serious injury teams at Irwin Mitchell LLP Sheffield Office. Rachael is the National Chair of the Spinal Cord Injury Group at Irwin Mitchell LLP and the National Early Careers Partner for Serious Injury at the firm, responsible for succession planning, budgeting and supporting our young lawyers just starting their careers at Irwin Mitchell LLP via training contracts, graduate programmes and apprenticeships.

Racheal Harrison

Solicitor in the Wills, Trusts and Estates team in Sheffield.

Rachel Baker

Senior Associate Solicitor

Rachel Roach

Partner

Rachelle Mahapatra

I am a Partner in the Medical negligence team in Leeds and the Regional Managing Partner of the Leeds office. I have specialised in medical negligence for most of my career since qualifying in 1993. Over the years I have represented hundreds of people affected by Medical Accidents including babies who are injured during their delivery causing serious brain injuries, maternal injuries including placental abruption and maternal haemorrhage and stillbirths and Neonatal death. I also have experience of cases involving the negligent management of Neonatal emergencies including missed Hypoglycaemia, Sepsis and Encephalitis which all resulted in serious brain injuries. In adults I have experience of surgical negligence caused during elective procedures, unnecessary amputation due to surgical error, spinal injuries caused by surgery or missed spinal Abscess resulting in permanent paralysis. I have experience of dealing with late diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In 1993, I was appointed to represent the patients in a government ordered inquiry investigating the inappropriate conduct of Drs Kerr and Haslam, reporting in 2005. I subsequently settled the former patients damages claims.

Rebecca Walker

Senior associate

Rebecca Brown

Senior Associate Solicitor

Rebecca Maddock

Senior Associate Solicitor

Rebecca Cherry

Senior AssociateSpinal Cord Injury. Birth Injury. Rebecca has particular expertise in Neurosurgical cases and Cauda Equina Syndrome and maximum severity injuries sustained at birth leading to cerebral palsy. She has achieved multi million pound settlements for children and adults who have suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of medical negligence. She approaches her work with compassion and integrity providing excellent client care that is second to none.

Rebecca Hearsey

Senior associate

Richard Smaller

Solicitor Richard specialises in disputes that arise when a person dies. I deal with a wide range of cases and each one is different to the next . People seeking to challenge the validity of wills on grounds of undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity or issues with formalities, and have experience in defending such claims too. Richard has also worked on bringing and defending claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 when someone’s unhappy with the inheritance that they’ve received under a will or the intestacy rules.

Richard Kayser

Partner

Richard Jervis

Senior Associate Solicitor - Team Leader

Richard Purcell

Head of commercial property: acquisition/disposal, landlord and tenant; commercial, property development; commercial and residential, property finance.

Richard Biggs

Senior associateExpertise in: Brain Injury Spinal and complex orthopaedic injuries Spinal Injury Spinal Injuries Enquiries CICA Claims (Criminal Injuries) Road traffic accidents MIB and CICA claims Employer liability claims

Richard Geraghty

Partner

Robert Grove-Smith

I have over 10 years’ experience in the field of Tax, Trusts and Estate law. I gained experience working for the Trusts & Estates division of a Private Bank before moving to Irwin Mitchell in 2016. My expertise includes the following areas of work: Preparation of Wills Estate Planning (including Inheritance Tax planning and succession planning) Obtaining Grants of Probate Inheritance Tax calculations and completion of Inheritance Tax returns Estate Administration, including administration of complex and high value estates Preparation of Declarations of Trust and advice and assistance with setting up or winding up Trusts created by Wills Advice on and preparation of Deeds of Variation to alter the distribution of an estate after death. I gain a detailed understanding of my clients’ circumstances and needs to ensure complex situations are solved effectively. My advice and assistance is explained and presented in a manner which is clear and easy for my clients to follow. Where necessary, I also work closely with colleagues in other departments in the wider firm (including Residential Property, Family Law and Trust & Estate Disputes) to ensure all of my clients’ legal needs are met at often critical stages of their lives. I deliver regular presentations to members of the public (like hospital staff, local and national charities and parents of children with disabilities) on subjects relating to Wills, Estate Planning and Estate Administration.

Robert Parks

Senior associate

Robert Farrell

Robert advises on all aspects of banking and finance with particular focus on real estate finance (investment and development). He also often acts on growth capital lending, corporate M&A and corporate banking, whilst many of the transactions he works on have a cross-border element to them.

Roger Maddocks

Specialised for over 30 years in pursuing compensation claims for individuals who have suffered injury in an accident at work or developed illness as a result of their work. Has dealt with claims for accidents across a wide range of industries as diverse as mining, construction, manufacturing and the health service, with wide experience of dealing with occupational disease claims including mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disease claims. Has also dealt with claims for other lung diseases including occupational asthma and has extensive experience of dealing with claims for other diseases including VWF and RSI.

Roopen Kalirai

Roopen is a Family Law Solicitor who specialises in matters relating to divorce, dissolution or separation. She also advises clients in respect of financial remedies upon divorce or dissolution.

Ros Bever

Director of Legal Services (Family)

Rosalie Reading

Senior Associate Solicitor

Rose Macfarlane

Legal 500 Rising Star and Senior Associate Solicitor, Rose joined IM in January 2020 from another Tier 1 private client in the South East, to assist in the leadership and growth of Irwin Mitchell’s Gatwick private client team. The team has doubled in size since. Rose enjoys advising a wide range of clients, often business owners and entrepreneurs and those with complex assets, some with international elements. She advises on all aspects of asset protection, succession and tax planning using Wills, lifetime giving, trusts, and enjoys working with clients’ professional advisers and corporate and tax colleagues to achieve holistic planning aims. Rose has a strong reputation as a trust specialist amongst her colleagues, peers and referrers, acting as or advising trustees of dynastic family trusts, as well as trusts for business assets. She is a general legal resource for her family office clients, and is honoured to be personally appointed to the trusted roles of executor, trustee and attorney for clients. Law is Rose’s second career, her first being in film, music video and commercials production. She particularly appreciates working with junior lawyers, encouraging and supporting their growth and development.

Rosemary Giles

Rosemary is a Partner in the Cambridge and London offices and has been handling cases for victims of mesothelioma and asbestos-related disease generally for 25 years. She travels extensively within the East Anglian region, visiting patients in their homes to offer advice and assistance. She is a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

Rosie Charlton

Senior Associate Solicitor

Ross McWilliams

Partner

Roy Beckett

PartnerRegional managing partner of Irwin Mitchell’s North West business legal services division. Roy specialises in real estate development and investment transactional work, including corporate real estate occupier work. He has been a real estate partner for over 24 years and acts for a variety of clients such as Bruntwood Estates, Bank Of New York Mellon, Christie NHS Trust, the Exchange Quay Master Trust, General Medical Council, Goals Soccer Centres PLC, Lanebridge Investment Management and Manchester City Council on a variety of investment, development, acquisition, disposal and letting transactions. Additionally Roy acts for a number of overseas investors in relation to their UK property holdings (for example the purchase and later sale of 180,000 square feet, One Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester). Recent highlights of Roy’s work include the sale of Exchange Quay Salford, the ‘Canary Wharf of the North’ to a fund managed by Hunter Property Fund Management and acting for Manchester City Council in relation to the £20m plus development of ‘HOME’ located in Manchester’s First Street area which will provide a hub for North West arts facilities. Roy’s leading market position has been recognised for many years by the legal directories. He is also recommended as Lawyer for Corporate Real Estate in Practical Law Company ‘Which Lawyer?’ year book. Additionally, in the only year when the award has been made, he was voted North West Property Lawyer of the Year.

Ruth Johnson

Senior associate

Ruth Booy

Partner

Sacha Sokhi

Sacha provides pragmatic solutions for her clients on a range of contentious and non-contentious workplace issues and advises on all aspects of Employment and Professional Discipline law. Sacha is focussed on achieving the best outcome for her clients through strategic and practical advice. Sacha is regularly instructed by senior executives to negotiate high value exit agreements, and to advise on the enforceability of restrictive covenants and other contractual disputes. Sacha represents individuals bringing claims in the Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal, discrimination and whistleblowing detriments. Sacha also assists her clients with breach of contract claims in the civil courts. Sacha is experienced in advising regulated individuals from a range of sectors on professional discipline issues, including supporting clients through disciplinary and regulatory proceedings.

Sallie Booth

Partner

Sally Murphy

Senior Associate Solicitor

Samantha Owen

Associate solicitor

Samantha Shaw

Samanthahas an innovative approach to her work representing a wide range of clients across the region and has settled some complex secondary exposure cases and occupiers liability claims.Samantha has also successfully obtained settlements involving provision for future private treatment for mesothelioma clients

Samuel Hill

Partner

Sara Burns

Partner

Sarah Paton

Senior Associate Solicitor

Sarah Brumpton

She has worked at the Leeds office since 1995 and after many years spent as a litigator in a variety of personal injury claims she moved to set up a specialist team to represent clients making claims to the Government funded Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme. Sarah acts for clients who have been the innocent victims of crimes of violence regularly securing awards either from the CICA themselves or by representing clients at Appeals Tribunals for those who have suffered injury as a result of assaults including assaults causing brain injuries (one punch assaults), historical abuse including sexual abuse, domestic violence, hate crimes, fatalities, honour attacks, grooming and stalking, people trafficking and modern slavery and terrorism in the UK and abroad. Sarah was recently successful in reopening a historical abuse claim previously rejected by the authority and securing the maximum award of £500,000. Sarah receives referrals from many victim’s charities and support groups and can act for victims on a pro bono basis.

Sarah Birkbeck

PartnerIP and IT dispute resolution and reputation management.

Sarah Phillips

Partner

Sarah Riding

Sarah heads up the commercial and sourcing team in Birmingham. Sarah has over 15 years’ experience advising on a range of deal-driven commercial arrangements helping clients give legal effect to the commercial arrangements necessary to achieve their goals. This includes supply chain management, routes to market, strategic alliances, brand exploitation and sourcing arrangements. Sarah completes work across all sectors including manufacturing, technology, energy and sport. She has tremendous commercial acumen, having spent a large portion of her career in-house at Alstom, and has completed key secondments including Accenture, Northgate Information PLC, IMI PLC and Siemens PLC.

Sarah Balfour

I am a partner at Irwin Mitchell, specialising in divorce and related financial matters, and private law issues relating to children. I act for a range of clients and offer practical, commercially focused advice. I have a particular interest in litigation involving family Trusts. I’m a vocal advocate of pre- and post-nuptial agreements and I’m regularly instructed to prepare these. I’m also instructed by clients who have separated and wish to hold their spouses to nuptial agreements they’ve signed, as well as those seeking to challenge them. My clients range from those with inherited family wealth to others who have built up assets during their lifetime. I also sit on Irwin Mitchell’s Later Life Group and act for older and elderly clients. I understand the issues faced by those marrying or separating in later life and was key in developing the firm’s Later Life Relationships proposition. I’ve written extensively on family law issues and have delivered training seminars to other professional advisors. In relation to children matters I take a sensitive and child-focused approach. I work on cases involving the National Youth Advocacy Service and children’s guardians, and regularly instruct independent social workers and other experts. I act in cases of internal and international relocation and those involving parental alienation. Whatever a client’s circumstances, my focus is on getting the best result I can.

Sarah Sharples

Associate

Sarah Wealleans

Medical Negligence

Sarah Rowland

Sarah is a Partner in the Medical Negligence department and leads a team of lawyers who are based in the Sheffield office. Sarah has specialised in medical law for more than 20 years, and has particular expertise in birth injury, amputation, and spinal injury cases.

Sarah Griggs

Partner

Sarah Coles

Partner I am regional head of the Leeds and Newcastle medical law teams, having specialised in medical negligence law since qualifying in 1998. I have extensive experience in this field of law with a particular expertise in cerebral palsy, birth injury claims, amputation and brain injury cases. I work with my clients to ensure not only they are fully compensated for their injuries but have the support in their life present and future to succeed in all they want to despite their injuries. I am a keen advocate for patient safety supporting change through the experiences of our clients and where asked support clients in promoting change and raising awareness, I provide training to medical professionals. I am immensely proud to represent my clients and have a superb team who work tirelessly for their clients.

Satinder Bains

PartnerSatinder began her career at Irwin Mitchell specialising exclusively in mesothelioma and other asbestos related disease claims, before developing an expertise in the field of other industrial diseases, including occupational asthma, upper limb disorders, hand arm vibration syndrome and work related cancers. She regularly lectures on behalf of the Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Birmingham University and has been a Trustee of the West Midlands Hazards Trust since 2006.

Satpal Singh

Satpal is an Associate Solicitor specialising in complex personal injury and insurance law matters.

Scott Halliday

Senior Associate Solicitor

Sean Attwood

Sean is a Partner and heads the Court of Protection team in our London and Cambridge offices. He joined Irwin Mitchell in 2008, qualified as a Solicitor in 2012 and has since specialised in Court of Protection matters. As Partner, Sean heads the Cambridge office and jointly heads the London office, supervising a large team of Paralegals, Solicitors, Associates and Senior Associates. Sean specialises in the management of personal injury and clinical negligence compensation. He is a Director of Irwin Mitchell Trustees Limited and the Irwin Mitchell Trust Corporation and is regularly appointed by the Court of Protection to act as a professional Deputy for people who have lost capacity to manage their financial affairs, as well as acting as professional Trustee. The majority of his clients have received multi-million pound settlements and Sean supports them with their everyday financial affairs, from implementing investments to purchasing and adapting property, to supporting their rehabilitation. Sean regularly deals with and advises on a wide variety of Court of Protection applications, from complex property and Trustees Act applications, to dealing with contested transfers of deputyship and statutory wills, as well as Variation of Trust applications within the Chancery Division. He also acts as an expert witness for the court in Court of Protection matters.

Sejal Patel

Associate

Serena Eddy

Serena is a Senior Associate in the London R&I team and leads on the contentious asset recovery offering.

Partner

Senior associate

Legal Director

Associate Solicitor Simon heads a sub-team within the International Serious Injury teams in Birmingham. He specialises in complex and catastrophic injury claims, fatal claims and serious injury claims. Simon has particular expertise in cases with high value complex liability and causation issues and claims involving multiple parties. Simon has a great deal of experience dealing with cases which have an international element and has acted for many clients who have suffered injuries in a wide range of accidents abroad including accidents at work, road traffic accidents, package holiday cases and medical negligence. Some of Simon’s cases have been reported in national and local media.

Simon Harrington

I have acted exclusively for the service and veterans community for over 20 years and have a particular interest in assisting Commonwealth soldier in cases where injury has resulted in their medical discharge before meeting the requirements for residency or citizenship. I was awarded the National Law Society Price for Outstanding Academic Achievement on my LPC and in 2006 was runner up in the national Eclipse Proclaim Young Lawyer of the Year awards. I was the first solicitor to conclude a claim arsing out of the Gulf conflict where Combat Immunity was raised as a defence, and now specialise in acting for past and current members of various SMUs where specialist protocols apply and clients are confined by confidentiality obligations under the Official Secrets Act and UKSF Confidentiality Agreement. In 2020 I became Lead PI Partner for our Cambridge office and in 2021 was appointed as a Deputy District Judge.

Senior associate

Senior associate

Partner

Sofie is a Senior Associate within Irwin Mitchell, an APIL Accredited Senior Litigator and APIL Accredited Brain Injury Specialist. She has extensive experience acting for clients with traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and complex orthopaedic injuries. She has further demonstrable expertise in handling cases involving pain conditions including CRPS. Sofie’s focus in her work is on using the personal injury process to achieve rehabilitation, independence and a better quality of life for her clients

Sophie McKelvey

Sophie deals with both contentious and non-contentious matters and has over 9 years’ experience in restructuring and insolvency. She acts for banks, lenders, insolvency practitioners, individuals and businesses in relation to any situation requiring insolvency or restructuring advice. Sophie has helped to design a new product for debt collection agencies that can help to manage the risk of any adverse publicity, when looking to reverse any decisions taken to petition for a debtor’s bankruptcy and instigate possession proceedings for consumer debts. She has also helped to design a fixed fee product for providing advice to directors where their company is in financial distress or facing insolvency. In the summer of 2020 Sophie was the lead fee earner on a high profile and complex matter which involved the administration and sale of 5 companies, the solvent sale of 2 companies and the liquidation of 5 other companies within a group, including two foreign entities.Sophie is also building a name for herself in Leeds for non-contentious insolvency.

Sophie Evans

I am an associate solicitor based in Gatwick specialising in all work involved with Private Client. Working closely with individuals and families to advise and in all aspects of Private Client, from cradle to grave and beyond. Creating wills which consider mitigation of Inheritance Tax and planning for younger, perhaps vulnerable beneficiaries, whilst giving consideration and protection for possible more complex family dynamics, be that with pending divorce or disputes. Lifetime planning is critical to ensure putting in place structures to ensure maximisation of asset protection. I have specialist experience in advising the Elderly and Vulnerable and Later Life issues and planning, in relation to Lasting Powers of Attorney and registration of Enduring Powers of Attorney, as well as Court of Protection work including Deputyship and Statutory Will applications. Being fully bilingual in French and English comes in very useful not just for my own clients, but helping colleagues too.

Sophie Bales

Solicitor

Stephanie Pelling

Stephanie is an Associate in the Serious Injury Department with over 14 years’ experience in catastrophic claims. Stephanie has conducted applications to both the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and Motor Insurers Bureau. Stephanie continues to represent clients with serious injury, but has a particular interest in sports injury claims and equine claims, which frequently entail complex liability issues.

Stephanie Edwards

Stephanie is an Associate Solicitor with experience in dealing with complex liability accident at work cases, road traffic collisions and public liability cases. Stephanie specialises in representing those clients who have suffered life changing injuries, including traumatic brain injury.

Stephanie Reeves

Associate solicitor

Stephen Cardinal

Senior associateStephen specialise in health and welfare cases in the Court of Protection and a broad range of judicial review cases, including challenges to the provision of community care and healthcare. He is instructed by individuals and charities challenging cuts to public services. He acted for the claimant in the case of R (ZYN) v Walsall MBC [2014] EWHC 1918 (Admin), successfully challenging a local authority’s policy on social care charging. Stephen regularly acts for vulnerable adults who lack mental capacity in the Court of Protection, instructed by the Official Solicitor in relation to disputes regarding their residence and care arrangements. Stephen also acts for families in complex medical treatment cases. He represented the families in the cases of NHS Trust and Baby X and others [2012] EWHC 2188 and Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust v CD [2014] EWCOP 23, (2014).

Stephen Murphy

Stephen’s areas of expertise are commercial and contractual disputes, shareholder disputes, breach of warranty claims, breach of fiduciary duties claims, professional negligence claims, IT disputes and contractual disputes with an Intellectual Property aspect. Stephen acts for individuals and businesses from a variety of sectors, with a focus on limited companies in the engineering and manufacturing sectors.Recent highlights: Obtaining summary judgment for Encon Insulation Limited in a commercial dispute against a recruitment consultant. Acting for the UK subsidiary of an Indian manufacturing company on a variety of claims, including breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy to injure. Successfully acting to recover a substantial sum from two Panamanian companies arising out of breach of contract for services for a large facilities provider. Advising a well-known civil engineering contractor in relation to a multi-million pound dispute arising out of issues with sewerage works in the Greater Manchester region. Acting for a company based in France in a contractual dispute with a UK company over alleged breaches of contract during the supply and commissioning of equipment at a power station.

Stephen Nye

Lead partner of the Birmingham serious injury team. Represents clients who have sustained brain and spinal cord injuries, polytrauma and amputations. Deals with all aspects of claimant catastrophic injury work arising from road traffic accidents, accidents at work, public and occupier liability claims, sport injuries and product liability claims. Cases concluded last year include: a settlement on behalf of a young man rendered tetraplegic in a car accident client in the sum of £9.5m; a settlement of £1m for a woman with severe lower limb fractures after a motorbike accident; a settlement of £1.75m plus annual payments for care costs for life on behalf of a young woman who sustained a below knee amputation in a collision with a police vehicle; and a settlement of £2.75m for a man who sustained a brain injury in an accident at work. The team he supervises has successfully supported many clients through rehabilitation and by obtaining substantial interim funds to pay for care packages and new houses.

Stephen Ireland

I am a Senior Associate in the Contentious Trust and Probate Department and I lead the Chichester team. I deal with a mixture of disputes arising from wills, trusts and the administration of estates which can also involve powers of attorney. I represent executors, beneficiaries, trustees and other interested parties (such as family members) in both bringing and defending claims. This includes arguments about the validity of wills, mental capacity, undue influence, claims for financial provision, breach of trust, removal of executors, intestacy and many others. The majority of cases are brought before the County Court or High Court, but I do represent clients in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court as well as the Court of Protection. Most claims are settled by negotiation or some form of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation. I am listed as a key lawyer in the Legal 500 and I am listed as an Associate to Watch in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2023. I am a full member of ACTAPS and a Director of the Chichester Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Steve Beahan

PartnerExperienced commercial dispute resolution lawyer. Since June 2011 has headed the commercial litigation department in Sheffield of 25+ lawyers. The department handles over 2,000 claims per year. Deals with most aspects of commercial and property litigation including professional negligence. Experience of High and County Court matters and a keen advocate of ADR having dealt with numerous mediations. Recent appearance in the Court Appeal included the reported case of Brown-Quinn and Webster Dixon LLP v Equity Syndicate Management Limited. In addition to traditional commercial litigation work, Steven and his team are panel solicitors for a number of well-known insurers dealing with disputes for individuals, businesses and charities who have the benefit of a legal expense insurance policy. Leading commentator on legal issues facing SME’s and jointly responsible of for the identification and development of new legal product offerings to SME community for the business legal services division. In recent years has developed bespoke innovative litigation funding solutions for commercial clients.

Steven Bate

PartnerSteven is an expert in construction and engineering law, with extensive experience of commercial dispute resolution. He prides himself on the human touch and supporting clients. He leads a team in Leeds that helps clients successfully resolve disputes including those operating in the construction, engineering and infrastructure sectors. His wide range of dispute resolution expertise helps his clients minimise the impact of disputes by acting pro-actively, practically and commercially and by using the dispute resolution technique most appropriate to the issue. He has experience of taking disputes to the highest courts in the land, including the Court of Appeal and House of Lords (as it then was). He has adjudicated more cases than he can remember. He regularly gives upfront and dispute avoidance advice to clients and is an accredited mediator. He has a particular specialism in the NEC standard form of contract and has helped resolve many disputes under its terms, especially compensation event and ground condition claims. He also has procurement experience, and helps his clients avoid or minimise the risk of disputes by ensuring that their interests are properly protected in construction and engineering contractual documents. He worked previously at DWF, Hammonds and Walker Morris and has significant expertise in general commercial matters, thereby strengthening both the construction and commercial dispute resolution offering in Leeds and across the country. His recruitment is part of the strategic growth of the firm in business areas and in key cities, including both Leeds and Sheffield. Legal specialties: construction and engineering law, dispute resolution, arbitration, litigation, adjudication and mediation. He is accredited as a mediator by CEDR (the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution).

Steven Baylis

Associate solicitor Steven specialises in education and community care law and cases in the Court of Protection involving mental capacity, best interests and deprivation of liberty. Steven represents families in Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disability Tribunals, in challenges against local authority decisions including refusals to conduct education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments, challenges against the content of statements of special educational needs in EHC plans and challenging decisions to cease to maintain statements.He also has experience dealing with claims for disability discrimination against schools and colleges, as well as admissions and exclusions cases.

Steven Green

Partner and head of costs team. The Irwin Mitchell costs team is recognised as the largest in-house team in the country, with 90 personnel. All areas of costs work are undertaken, although Steven specialises in recovering costs in high-value personal injury cases. He is a regular advocate in courts at detailed assessment hearings and at costs and case management hearings. He is a regular speaker at conferences on the issues of costs and funding of civil litigation.

Stewart Stretton-Hill

Senior Associate Solicitor

Stuart Padgham

Director. Stuart is a highly experienced commercial/ IT lawyer. His expertise includes dealing with outsourcing, licensing, franchising, manufacturing, agency, distribution, and management arrangements.

Stuart Henderson

Managing partner for the personal injury division and executive board member on the personal legal services division. Personal injury lawyer and has been acting for clients who have suffered major injury for over 30 years. Has acted for many clients who have suffered brain and spinal cord injury. Now works with a large team of lawyers, specialising in major injury, who work as a team on all cases and are highly skilled in helping clients to access the very best rehabilitation and support, to rebuild their lives and achieve the best outcome for any damages claim. Also the regional managing partner in the Birmingham office and lead partner for the personal injury teams who are regularly acclaimed in independent guides as some of the best personal injury lawyers in the Midlands. Acted in a number of cases involving some of the highest awards of damages in personal injury in the UK including the Leung case (a record award of £3.4m in 1994) and the Luhar case (a record award of £5.1m in 2000). Acting in numerous major group actions for illness suffered by holiday makers against tour operators; has extensive media experience; and lectures in-house and externally.

Suki Chhokar

Partner Suki primarily deals with group actions against UK based tour operators, or single party actions against defendants in foreign countries (often working with foreign agent lawyers).His team currently handles in excess of 2000 clients and handle a range of different cases against major U.K. tour operators. Some of the cases where large numbers of people have fallen ill on holiday are the largest of their kind ever pursued in the U.K. and have resulted in multi-million pound settlements.

Sybille Steiner

Partner and head of employment team; also qualified and admitted as a lawyer in Germany and practising as a German lawyer. Assisting businesses from the UK and abroad (medium, large and listed companies, including household names in the UK and from German speaking countries) as well as individuals, usually on board level, with all aspects of contentious and non-contentious English and German employment law. The advice usually involves international and cross border employment issues and often questions of applicable law, as well as state immunity. Specialities: drafting and negotiating contracts of employment and executives’ service agreements and restrictive covenants, termination of employment contracts and service agreements, negotiating settlement agreements, discrimination claims, collective and individual redundancies, business sales and acquisitions (including TUPE transfers). Legal support provided in English or German.

Tania Harrison

Tania is a Senior Associate Solicitor in the Medical Negligence team in Sheffield. Tania specialises in clinical negligence claims and inquests and have over 13 years of experience in this field. During this time, she have dealt with a wide range of complex and high value cases, including those involving children who have sustained life-changing injuries following birth, such as cerebral and Erbs palsy. Tania has also represented individuals who have suffered brain and spinal injuries as a result of negligent medical treatment. Tania has a special interest in fatal accident claims and inquests, representing bereaved families in the Coroner’s court.

Terry Saeedi

Employment & Pensions

Thomas Pape

Thomas specialises in probate issues, inheritance tax and Probate Registry applications for Grants of Representation. He has 13 years' experience in this field. Thomas' specialty is dealing with complex applications to the Probate Registry such as dealing with unusual family situations, international jurisdictions and missing legal documentation.

Partner

Partner

Partner

Partner

Senior associateSpecialism: corporate crime.

Toby Hales

Partner Toby represents a wide range of people in a variety of situations, from the simple to the very complex. He has been involved in some of the most important family cases of the last few years, notably Vaughan v Vaughan, a case that determined the correct treatment of first wives after a second marriage, and Gohil v Gohil, which made clear the approach the Courts should take when a spouse has lied about his or her assets during financial negotiations. Toby has a particular interest in advocacy – representing clients directly in Court. At the most stressful times, it reassures clients to have a familiar person with whom they already have a relationship speaking for them.

Partner

Partner

Partner

Partner

I lead IM’s Serious Injury national team comprising of over 300 lawyers, sited in 12 offices and including our specialist teams – international, military and CICA. I have personally specialised in a range of injury cases including brain injury and spinal cord injury cases. I also have undertaken fatal, polytrauma and amputation cases. I have extensive experience in cases involving deliberate assault and child abuse. I have represented children, vulnerable adults and adult survivors of non recent child abuse.

Vicki Rounding

Associate Vicki has experience in all real estate transactions, but has a particular focus on development work and real estate finance. Recent highlights include: Acting for a bank in relation to the real estate aspects of a £40m refinancing of two office buildings in central Manchester, one of which was sub-let to a government agency. Acting for a bank in relation to the real estate aspects of a £30m facility to a care home developer. Acting for a bank in relation to the real estate aspects of the £2.2m refinancing of the Aldi supermarket site at Clifton Moor, York. Acting for a borrower in relation to a £2.397m refinancing of a residential development in Liverpool using the CBILS scheme. Acting for a fund in relation to an existing facility in respect of a sale and leaseback to the borrower of part of a student accommodation site in Leeds (which the bank already had a charge over) in order to facilitate the development by the borrower’s parent company of a co-living and work space development on the site adjoining the student accommodation. Dealing with the title due diligence in relation to the purchase of up to 185 acres of land at Thorne, Doncaster which will be developed into a distribution / warehousing site. The project is expected to last for up to 20 years with a project value in excess of £200 million. Dealing with the title due diligence in relation to the conditional purchase of 14.1 acres of land at Fulwood Park, Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire for the development of a 190,000 sq. ft. distribution warehouse. Dealing with the title due diligence in relation to the purchase and development of 5.76 acres of land at Heathlands, Wakefield which is a former power station that has been allocated for housing use. Dealing with the title due diligence in relation to a reciprocal option to acquire land at The Wakefield Hub, J30 M62 which is to be developed into B1c, B2 and B8 uses. Acting for a food manufacturer on its sale of a factory site in Flint (Wales) for £1.5m.

Victoria Ward

Victoria specialises in Court of Protection work, helping vulnerable people and their loved ones make decisions about their property and finances. She deals with the management of day to day financial matters for a large number of deputyship and trust clients, ranging from children to the elderly – including those who have received a damages award as a result of personal injury. This involves assisting with decisions in relation to investments, personal budgets, capital expenditure and coordinating property adaptations tailored to individual clients with disabilities. She also liaises with case managers, personal injury and clinical negligence lawyers, social workers and relatives to establish appropriate care regimes to make best interests decisions. Victoria is experienced in dealing with Court of Protection applications concerning appointment of deputies, replacement of incapacitated trustees for property, making gifts and statutory Wills and contentious Court of Protection applications concerning attorneys and deputies. She is a member of the Court of Protection Practitioners Association (CoPPA) and an affiliate member of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP). She has recently gained a Distinction in the STEP Advanced Certificate in Advising Vulnerable Clients and was shortlisted for Young Practitioner of the Year at the STEP Private Client Awards in 2015. She is also a member of Irwin Mitchell's Parent Carer Forum - a safe online space to connect with fellow parent carers and discuss the issues that matter to you. Join the Parent Carer Forum on Facebook.

Virginia Chalmers

PartnerIn September 2014 Virginia (Ginny) joined Irwin Mitchell as a partner and head of the workplace injury team in Bristol, bringing with her the asbestos team from Lyons Davidson. Ginny is a specialist solicitor with over 20 years’ experience in personal injury and is dual qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales and in Canada. She has recovered millions of pounds of compensation for asbestos claimants and their families. She often speaks at conferences and in 2013 chaired a groundbreaking conference on inquests and post-mortems in mesothelioma deaths. Ginny is named on the Mesothelioma UK National Panel of Solicitors specialising in mesothelioma claims and often speaks at and chairs conferences.

Yogi Amin

I am a partner and the national head of public law and human rights at Irwin Mitchell. My expertise is in judicial review, human rights, medical ethics, court of protection welfare and medical cases, equality law and commercial and procurement public law matters. I have over 22 years experience in conducting successful public law cases relating to a wide range of public functions: social services, healthcare, education, civil liberties including inquests and inquiries. I have worked on successful cases that have reached the Supreme Court and developed the law. I am Accredited by the Law Society as a Legal Representative in Court of Protection welfare cases. I advise and litigate in a wide range of public law and civil liberties work, acting for individuals, institutions and businesses. I specialise in the healthcare and community care fields. My team advise on Special Educational Needs appeals and education law including challenges on behalf of children or schools and colleges. I lead a national team of lawyers undertaking public law, health and community care law work. I have a national leading practice in adult welfare/medical treatment proceedings brought by local authorities and health trusts, acting for the Official Solicitor, advocates, families or as Accredited Legal Representative in declaratory High Court or Court of Protection proceedings, involving individuals who may lack capacity to manage their affairs and decide on welfare, residence, contact and healthcare matters themselves.

Yousafa Hazara

Associate Solicitor Yousafa focuses on complex cross-border succession planning (including the drafting of bespoke Wills for UK and international high-net-worth individuals) and the administration of cross-border estates, in particular the application of international succession law and the tax-related considerations. She regularly works with international families and trustees particularly where there is a requirement for Sharia linked advice. Yousafa has particular experience advising on the taxation of UK residential and non-residential property owned by offshore structures.

Zahra Pabani

Zahra is known for her positive and tenacious approach offering constructive and practical advice which fills her clients with confidence. Clients feel like Zahra is ‘by their side’ throughout their case. Zahra deals with ultra-high net worth cases particularly those with pre-nuptial and post-nuptial issues. Zahra’s strength is identifying the key issues, applying the law and providing pro-active advice to settle cases. Zahra has a commercial and strategic approach with the aim of producing the best result for the client. Zahra is solution driven and offers a bespoke service. Zahra does not shy away from difficult conversations or decisions and will lead and guide clients through Court proceedings if required keeping the client at the heart of the matter. In addition to Zahra’s role as a family partner Zahra is the dedicated Business Development Lead for the National Family Team. Zahra stands alongside her peers and continues to hit the mark as a leader in the Family Law arena and beyond.

Zoe Brodrick

Zoe is a Senior Associate team leader and an experienced case handler who has specialised in clinical negligence cases for over 24 years. She has extensive experience of handling a variety of high value cases, including amputation and neonatal injuries, stillbirth, spinal cases, orthopaedic and fatal claims.

Zoe Round

Zoe is an associate director and partner in the Sheffield family team of Irwin Mitchell. Zoe has specialist family law expertise and deals regularly with complex high-value financial cases involving property portfolios, businesses and trusts. She also led the reported case of GR v DR [2013] 2FLR 1534. Zoe has a particular interest in dealing with same sex marriages and has helped the team develop its expertise in this area. She routinely advises clients on the protections of assets in prenuptial, postnuptial and cohabitation agreements, as well as working with the firm’s Court of Protection team to advise on the complexities of multi-million pound personal injury settlements. Zoe deals with highly complex children disputes in cases where the parents are completely estranged and alienated. She also deals with international relocation cases.

Zoe Williams

Associate solicitor Main areas of practice include: Construction Law (litigation/domestic arbitration/adjudication/ADR) Professional negligence claims for both building professionals and against solicitors High value disputed debt claims including enforcement General commercial contract disputes Shareholder and partnership disputes Breach of fiduciary duty/confidence and restrictive covenants Injunctive relief including delivery up and specific performance.

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