Kingsley Napley LLP

kingsleynapley.co.uk

Abby is a Partner in the Family & Divorce team. She has established her reputation working on some of the team’s most complex and challenging high net worth financial cases, many with an international element. Abby has represented the successful wife in Daga v Bangur [2018] EWFC 91, a significant decision involving trust assets and non-matrimonial wealth estimated to be in the region of £1.3 billion and the Applicant in M v F [2018] EWFC 35, high value Schedule I proceedings, involving a world-wide freezing order and enforcement costs provision. Highly regarded for her capability in complex, HNW financial cases and named in Chambers UK, Chambers UHNW and included in The Legal 500, Abby has also been shortlisted as “Woman of the Year: Rising Star” in the Citywealth Powerwomen Awards and is recommended in the Spear’s Family Law Index. Abby regularly writes and speaks about issues affecting HNW families and she is part of the Next Generation HNW committee for ThoughtLeaders4 HNW Divorce. She has chaired the Divorce Proofing Wealth Planning conference and spoken at Asset Recovery in Divorce and Enforcing a Divorce Award.

Adrian Crawford

Adrian is a partner in the employment practice. His particular interests include TUPE and outsourcing, and issues arising in the financial services industry, including bonus disputes, regulatory issues and partnership issues. He regularly provides seminars and workshops for clients. Adrian’s work includes acting for a wide range of businesses, including well-known law firms and other professional service firms, banks, commodity and financial futures brokers, hedge funds, and individuals.

Alun Milford

Criminal Litigation

Andreas White

Andreas is a partner in Kingsley Napley’s employment team. He has substantial litigation experience, with a particular focus on complex and high value employment and partnership disputes. Andreas’ areas of specialism include: • Senior executive contracts and severance arrangements • Discrimination law • Restrictive covenants and team moves • Redundancies and restructurings • Whistleblowing and internal investigations • Bonuses • Regulated professionals and firms Andreas has a particular interest in international and cross border employment law. He is a former president of the labour law commission of AIJA. Andreas is equally experienced in acting for employers, senior executives and partners, allowing him to understand the issues and tactics on both sides of the table.

Andy Norris

Senior Associate

Anita Gill

Partner

Bethan Owen

Bethan is the Head of the Real Estate & Construction team and specialises in residential property. Bethan advises on all aspects of residential property purchases, sales and mortgage transactions. Her broad client base includes UK and overseas based individuals and celebrities as well as trusts and companies, whether UK based or offshore. Bethan often develops lasting relationships with her clients and their wider families looking after all their residential real estate needs. Bethan has a great deal of experience in dealing with prime central London properties and country homes. Bethan is known for her efficient and pragmatic advice. She frequently has to work within tight timeframes and will work with the other side to ensure the transaction is completed to everyone’s satisfaction. Bethan is the chair of the Charities and Community Team at Kingsley Napley and is a member of the Kingsley Napley LGBTQ & Allies Network.

Caroline Day

Caroline is a partner specialising in complex fraud and financial crime and represents individuals and corporates in complex global investigations. She acts in investigations and prosecutions brought by various agencies including the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). She has extensive experience advising in a wide range of alleged financial misconduct, including serious fraud, money laundering, bribery and corruption, and cartels. Her practice encompasses both domestic and cross border matters. Caroline also conducts internal investigations on behalf of her corporate clients. She has led numerous investigations into allegations of wrongdoing, and has a particular interest in cases with an international dimension. Much of her work is high profile and multi-jurisdictional.

Cate Maguire

Cate advises on matters including divorce and civil partnership dissolution, associated financial issues and issues surrounding children. She has particular experience of dealing with complex jurisdiction disputes, having worked on cases involving jurisdictions as varied as eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Malaysia and Italy. She also has a strong network of overseas contacts, including in Australia and Canada, and spent time living and working in South Korea before beginning her legal career. As a result, she has a clear understanding of the particular issues facing international families, as well as the strategic issues at play in jurisdictional disputes. She also has a wealth of experience in dealing with complex trust and corporate structures and issues of company values, both in relation to domestic and cross-jurisdictional entities. Her high profile cases include representing Pauline Chai in the long-running Chai v Peng jurisdiction dispute, and Michelle Young in the Young v Young divorce.

Charlotte Judd

Senior Associate

Charlotte Bradley

Charlotte specialises in international divorce, finance and children cases (including relocation), especially European cases. She regularly acts on jurisdiction and financial disputes and recently acted successfully for the Russian wife in a case with significant disclosure issues and in several High Court reported cases involving conflict of jurisdiction. Charlotte is recognised for her exceptional client care skills and expertise in high conflict money and children cases. She assists City professionals and HNWIs in resolving financial disputes within and outside the court process. She is a leading expert in Schedule 1 cases and an accredited mediator, mediating high value and complex financial disputes and couples wishing to reach co-parenting and pre-marital/cohabitation agreements. Charlotte is recognised as a leading family lawyer in Chambers UK and HNW, The Legal 500 and Spear’s Family Law Index.

Connie Atkinson

Connie is a Partner in the family team and has experience of dealing with all aspects of private family work relating to both finances and children. Connie regularly assists clients who need help with their separation and the practical and financial implications arising out of this. Most of Connie’s clients or their partners work in the City and many have an international connection. Connie therefore regularly works with solicitors in other jurisdictions. Connie has expertise in international surrogacy cases and helps parents with the parental order applications required following their children’s birth. On these cases, she works closely with members of our immigration team to resolve any issues in bringing the children home. Connie is also a qualified mediator and assists as a mediator for clients in respect of all practical and legal issues surrounding family relationship breakdown. She is recognised as a Next Generation Lawyer in Legal 500 UK 2019 for Family: Mediation and in Chambers UK 2020 as an Associate to Watch in Family/Matrimonial.

Corinne Aldridge

Corinne has specialised in employment law for over 30 years working both for senior executives and employers. Corinne’s practice covers the full spectrum of contentious and non-contentious employment related issues. Corinne has particular experience in dealing with board room disputes, discrimination issues in the workplace including those arising out of Me Too, grievances, disciplinary investigations and acting in tribunal and High Court claims. Corinne works often within financial and professional services but she is active in a wide range of other sectors. Corinne also advises partners, LLPs and partnerships.

David Sleight

David has an extensive criminal litigation background. Regularly acting for individuals and companies in high profile cases, he specialises in providing advice at the crucial early stages of an investigation. Astute and practical in his approach, David’s early involvement in the case can make the difference between being charged with an offence or not. This includes representing clients who are arrested and interviewed under caution, challenging search warrants and other investigatory powers and making pre-charge representations to the police and prosecuting authorities. Should matters progress to court he is meticulous in his preparation and has a high acquittal rate. Case highlights include representing Cambridge Analytica’s CEO in the Facebook data breach scandal and other high profile matters.David’s white collar crime practice includes acting for companies and individuals accused of complex financial investigations involving fraud, overseas corruption and Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA). He specialises in defending tax evasion/fraud allegations brought by HMRC and has developed a specialist expertise in advising in cross border tax litigation involving MLA requests between Member States. He is currently representing two separate companies in the on-going “cum ex” trading scandal in Denmark and Germany.

Edmund Smyth

Ed has a long and successful track record representing individuals across the full range of criminal matters, focussing on white collar matters and acting for HNW or high-profile individuals facing allegations of violent or sexual offending. His white collar and fraud practice encompasses investigations, prosecutions and other litigation conducted by various agencies and includes bribery and corruption, financial crime and money laundering. He has particular expertise dealing with law enforcement applications that seek to freeze or seize assets, including Account Freezing Orders and other applications made under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and of challenging the exercise of search and seizure. He has acted in a number of the most high-profile of such cases, often with an international dimension.Ed also specialises in advising clients prior to, or at the earliest stages of, an investigation with a view to preventing further action. Where his cases engage issues beyond criminal law he engages other teams in the firm to provide a comprehensive solution. He also acts in appeals and applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (instructed post-conviction to identify potential challenge).

Elspeth Guild

Legal counsel specialising primarily in EC law relating to free movement of persons, including the transfer of staff from companies between member states, the right of establishment and the provision of services; wide expertise in UK immigration and nationality law generally.

Emily Carter

Emily is a partner within the public law team, specialising in representing clients in investigations, inquisitorial proceedings and information law. Her background within criminal and regulatory proceedings has provided her with a balance of defence and prosecution experience and a particular strength in dealing with complex, large-scale matters. Emily has been involved in a number of high-profile public inquiries and inquests. She has represented clients in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, Northern Irish Inquiry into Renewable Heat Incentives, Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust public inquiry, Baha Mousa public inquiry and the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. She has acted for a number of professional regulators in the healthcare, security and financial sectors. Emily advises in relation to judicial review and statutory appeal proceedings. She advises upon public law remedies across the areas of her work, including inquests, inquiries, misconduct and disciplinary proceedings. She advises individuals and organisations concerning compliance with data protection legislation, as well as the exercise of individual data protection rights and data breaches.

Eurydice Cote

Eurydice is a Senior Associate in the Clinical Negligence Team. She represents individuals who have sustained life changing injuries. Eurydice joined the department in 2015. She now acts for a variety of claimants, both adults and children, and deals with claims involving delays in diagnosis, surgical errors and patient mismanagement. She has expertise in assisting claimants who have sustained spinal or orthopaedic injuries. She has also advised on numerous ophthalmic claims. Eurydice acts for families in fatal claims where the death has occurred through medical negligence. She regularly secures high value settlements. Eurydice has an eye for detail and ensures cases are thoroughly investigated to achieve the best outcome for her clients. She advises clients in emotionally difficult situations arising from life-changing events. She understands how daunting litigation can be and works hard to reassure and support her clients. She is professional, approachable and tenacious.

Fiona Simpson

Fiona specialises in civil fraud litigation, advising clients bringing or defending civil fraud proceedings, often involving injunctions and often with an international dimension. Fiona regularly advises on freezing orders and asset tracing. Fiona regularly advises directors, shareholders and companies involved in breach of duty disputes or unfair prejudice petitions. She also advises clients in commercial dispute resolution matters including breaches of contract, partnership disputes and professional negligence. Fiona has acted on many cases involving jurisdiction matters where a party is domiciled outside England and Wales and/or where the subject matter of a claim involves other jurisdictions. She has been appointed by the High Court to act as a Supervising Solicitor in relation to the execution of Search Orders. Fiona was a contributing author to Lexology's Getting The Deal Through 2020 - Asset Recovery.

Hannah Eales

Hannah is a partner in the Regulatory team. She is head of the Regulatory team of advocates. She specialises in professional discipline, regulatory, criminal and fire safety law. In the area of professional discipline Hannah has acted for some of the leading regulatory bodies in high profile and complex cases. These regulators include the Health and Care Professions Council, the Teaching Regulation Agency, the Education and Workforce Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Architects Registration Board, CILEx Regulation and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. Having acted for both the prosecution and defence throughout her career, Hannah fully understands the effect that proceedings may have on the individual or prosecuting body. She is known for being a thoughtful and fair advocate, whilst always seeking the best outcome for the client.

Helen Morris

Helen is a highly experienced media litigator who has specialised in this field since 2002. She has acted for claimants and defendants in high profile defamation, privacy and harassment cases including obtaining and resisting injunctions. Helen has provided pre and post publication advice to a broad range of clients including celebrities, politicians, companies, pressure groups, regulators, newspapers and publishers. She also provides advice on intellectual property, data protection and contempt.

Iain Miller

Iain is a Partner in the Regulatory team specialising in legal ethics, investigations, and public law matters. Iain has acted in many leading cases relating to the regulation of lawyers in England and Wales. His experience covers not only disciplinary proceedings but also business structures, investigations, public law challenges, liability and restructuring. He advises a number of large law firms on SRA related issues and provides advice to law firm partners.

Ilda De Sousa

Ilda is a partner in the immigration team with more than 19 years of UK corporate immigration law experience, managing large company clients as well as handling complex matters for individuals, British nationality applications, appeals, judicial reviews and applications under European Law including Brexit related advice. Ilda also has extensive knowledge and experience in all aspects of the Points Based System, including assisting employers with sponsor licence applications, to include advising on their compliance obligations. Equally, she has extensive experience in advising entrepreneurs and high-net worth individuals. Ilda has spoken on matters of immigration law for several distinguished organisations throughout her career. She has also written several articles on a variety of subjects relating to UK Immigration law.

James Fulforth

James is Senior Partner of Kingsley Napley.

James Ward

James heads the Private Client team at Kingsley Napley. He has extensive experience advising families and individuals on wealth protection and tax mitigation. He is adept at managing the succession planning through the generations and often acts for parents, children and grandchildren to facilitate the best results. Often his clients will have international connections; whether they own overseas property or have recently arrived or invested in the UK, or are long term residents who are still non-UK domiciled. He specialises in giving advice on UK tax for these international clients or working closely with accountants on key areas such as UK inheritance tax and UK capital gains tax. James has a broad client base covering people just across the road or located on the other side of the world. He is just as comfortable dealing with the private affairs of a CEO of a multinational business or person in the public eye as he is dealing with a vulnerable elderly client with tricky family dynamics. James is regularly asked to comment in the media, give lectures and provide thought leadership on private client matters.

James Alleyne

James is Legal Director in the firm’s Financial Services Group. He advises clients on the full spectrum of financial services and FCA-related matters, including on authorisation applications, perimeter and supervisory issues, enforcement investigations and cases before the Regulatory Decisions Committee and Upper Tribunal. James has a detailed understanding of the regulatory regime applying to firms and senior individuals under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, Payment Services Regulations 2017, Electronic Money Regulations 2011 and Money Laundering Regulations 2017. James joined Kingsley Napley in 2022 from the FCA where he spent seven years in the Enforcement division, giving him a unique insight into the approach and working of the regulator. Whilst at the FCA James built the framework, and led the dedicated team responsible, for taking assertive supervisory intervention action against firms through the imposition of requirements, freezing of assets, banning of financial promotions and variations of permissions. This gave James a keen interest, and specialism, in the FCA’s use of supervisory intervention powers. In addition, his work while at the regulator within the crypto sector gave him particularly valuable insight into this sector. James also has significant experience of advising on FCA criminal and regulatory enforcement investigations into firms and individuals and conducting related litigation, including in relation to conduct issues, systems and controls failings, conflicts of interest and compliance with anti-money laundering legislation and cases involving sexual misconduct in the workplace. James also has extensive experience in advising on contested authorisations cases for firms, senior individuals and in respect of changes in control. You can see his profile here

Jane Keir

Jane is a Partner in the Family & Divorce team. She is recognised for her expertise in protecting wealth, both pre and post-divorce. In February 2020, she represented the successful wife in winning a compensation award of £400,000 in RC v JC (2020) EWHC 466. She also represented the wife in the leading financial and trust case of Daga v Daga (Bangur) [2018] EWFC. In December 2023 she represented the successful wife in the decision in PS v NB (2023) EWHC 3486 obtaining a maintenance award in excess of £30,000 per month for her client, plus costs. Jane is a very technical lawyer who is known for finding novel and creative solutions for clients. She represents equal numbers of men and women and works closely with accountants and private wealth advisers. Listed in Chambers UK and HNW guides; the 2020 Spears Top Flight Family Lawyers; The Legal 500; Citywealth’s Top Ten Matrimonial Lawyers and Top 20 Women in Private Wealth and in and in Who’s Who. Regular speaker at conferences and contributor to publications including Law Society Gazette; Family Law; Farmers Weekly; The Lawyer; Spear’s Wealth; and The American among others.

Jemma Garside

Senior Associate

Jessica Clay

Partner

Jill Lorimer

Jill is a partner in Kingsley Napley’s Financial Services Group. She has an extensive track record in advising firms and individuals facing regulatory and criminal investigations by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Having recently completed a 12 month secondment in the Criminal Prosecutions Team at the FCA, Jill has particular insight into the organisation’s approach to the investigation and prosecution of serious financial offences. Jill has particular experience in advising those facing insider dealing / market abuse and market manipulation allegations and offences under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). She also advises a number of authorised firms including private banks, wealth management firms and brokerages in respect of supervisory and enforcement issues. More generally, Jill has a broad fraud practice and has involvement in many of the largest Serious Fraud Office investigations. Jill has written widely on cyber-crime and has a particular interest in the regulatory and criminal aspects of crypto-assets and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).Chapter contributor to:Kingsley Napley: Serious Fraud, Investigation and Trial (4th edition, Lexis Nexis)Cyber Security: Law and Guidance (Bloomsbury Professional)

Jonathan Grimes

Jonathan is an experienced criminal lawyer specialising in serious and complex cases. A leader in the field of Proceeds of Crime work, he has particular expertise dealing with law enforcement applications that seek to freeze or seize assets. His business crime practice includes all areas of financial crime and regulatory matters, including corruption, money laundering, anti-competitive behaviour, insider dealing, market manipulation, and fraud, often for HNW individuals. Jonathan also represents companies and individuals during the initial police and Health and Safety Executive investigation, through to the conclusion of cases at inquests or in the criminal courts. He has extensive trial experience over many years across all areas of crime. He acts as independent legal adviser in investigations of all kinds, many in the banking sector, attending numerous interviews with employers and regulators both in the UK and abroad. A number of his cases have involved advising individuals following requests from overseas authorities for UK assistance under Mutual Legal Assistance treaties. He is also Kingsley Napley’s Money Laundering Reporting officer.

Julie Norris

Julie is a partner in the Regulatory Team and predominantly advises in the legal services sector. Her clients include law firms, solicitors, barristers and judges. Julie has particular expertise in advising in internal investigations, on #metoo related issues, in respect of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing and in responding to threatened or anticipated regulatory proceedings.

Julie Matheson

Julie is a partner in the Regulatory Team. She has a breadth of experience in both prosecuting and defending professionals across all sectors, but now specialises in advising regulated individuals and firms in the financial and built environment sectors. She has particular expertise in acting on behalf of accountants and accountancy firms in high-profile proceedings brought by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA and CIPFA; and on behalf of surveyors in proceedings brought by RICS. She regularly advises senior public sector finance officers on their statutory roles and on challenges brought in respect of them. She also advises the FCA in relation to lessons learned reviews, for example the Davis Inquiry and the Connaught review, and the IFoA in relation to cases brought under its Disciplinary Scheme.

Kate Salter

Kate is a Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution team. She regularly acts for individuals in bringing and defending claims against estates, including claims for lack of capacity, want of knowledge and approval and undue influence. She also has broad experience in fraud and forgery claims and proceedings in the Court of Protection, as well as professional negligence claims relating to wills and trusts, and claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. Kate also works on a number of complex and high value commercial claims, including contractual disputes and civil fraud cases. Kate regularly writes on trust and estate issues and developments, her content having been picked up and republished by other publications including Today’s Wills & Probate, ePrivateClient and LexisNexis.

Katherine Pymont

Katherine is a Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution Team who specialises in Trust and Estate Disputes. Katherine’s experience in the field of Trusts and Inheritance Disputes covers challenging the validity of wills, claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, removal of executors and trustees, breach of trust claims, fraud cases involving trust structures and professional negligence claims relating to wills and trusts. Katherine also works in Court of Protection matters. Katherine’s background is in broader high profile and complex litigation. Notably Katherine acted for Genting Casinos in the landmark Supreme Court win against Phil Ivey in which the longstanding criminal legal test for dishonesty was overturned and for the Financial Conduct Authority in successfully defending proceedings challenging the interpretation of Russian sanctions in both the Administrative Court and the European Court of Justice.

Katie Newbury

Katie is a Partner in Kingsley Napley’s Immigration team and she heads up the Private Client Immigration team within the department. She advises on all aspects of UK personal immigration with an emphasis on more complex matters. She also specialises in applications for high net worth individuals and those in the tech industry, nationality and human rights matters and claims for international protection. She has a particular interest in complicated family applications including those with international adoption and surrogacy elements, working closely with Kingsley Napley’s Family & Divorce team and contributing articles on this subject to the legal press. Katie writes and speaks regularly on UK immigration developments.

Kim Vowden

Partner

Kirsty Allen

Kirsty is a highly experienced medical negligence solicitor who undertakes a wide variety of cases with particular specialisms in child cerebral palsy and adult brain injury cases, fatal claims, loss of sight cases, as well as failure to diagnose cancer and gynaecological claims. Kirsty’s expertise in medical negligence work is demonstrated by her membership of the clinical negligence panel of UK charity Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA). Kirsty also undertakes personal injury work with a focus on serious injury and fatal claims, such as road traffic accidents. She has deep experience of complex financial dependency claims involving family owned firms. Kirsty spends time understanding her client’s businesses and their finances in order to ensure the claim is appropriately calculated and supported with good evidence. Kirsty recognises that for some clients, understanding what happened can be as important as financial compensation, so she tailors her approach to her client’s needs. Kirsty is passionate about trauma informed lawyering – an approach that puts clients first by holding the trauma they have suffered in the forefront of the mind when engaging with them. Kirsty’s clients have praised her hard work and caring approach. Kirsty is passionate about patient safety, and increasing understanding between doctors and lawyers around common mistakes leading to a medical negligence. She has previously provided training to medical practitioners in this area.

Laura Harper

Laura advises both UK resident and non-UK resident/domiciled individuals, families and trustees on a wide variety of UK tax, trust law and international estate planning issues. She has a particular focus on the US and regularly advises on issues concerning planning to be undertaken when moving to or from the UK. She also has extensive experience working on cross-border matters and structuring involving family-owned businesses. She has also developed an in-depth charity law knowledge and regularly advises and presents on the benefits of dual registered charities in the US and the UK, allowing national institutions, family office clients and UHNW individuals to structure their philanthropic projects in the most tax efficient and effective manner. She also has experience of cross border power of attorney and deputyship applications.

Lauren Evans

A Partner in the family team with experience of all types of private family work relating to both children and finances. Lauren is also a mediator and helps clients to work through the practical and legal issues arising from family relationship breakdown.

Linda Woolley

Managing partner of Kingsley Napley. Criminal law, specialising in: corruption, fraud, serious and business crime. Acted in large number of SFO investigations/prosecutions, advises companies/individuals in corruption matters.

Louise Hodges

Louise is Head of Kingsley Napley’s Criminal Litigation team specialising in financial crime, corporate investigations, FCA regulatory investigations and serious and complex fraud. Long recognised as a leader in this field, she is commended for her grasp of broader strategic issues and the practical advice she gives clients, both companies and individuals, caught up in complex litigation. She is experienced in advising companies and individuals with regard to internal investigations, frequently representing witnesses being interviewed either by employers or by investigating authorities, including those compelled to attend interviews. She leads the firm’s cross-practice Financial Services team and Internal Investigations team. She currently represents a number of individuals, including HNW individuals and business leaders, in a range of financial crime cases being investigated by the SFO, FCA, HMRC and NCA amongst others. She was part of the team representing Tesco in connection with their Deferred Prosecution Agreement and related criminal matters. Her cases frequently have an international element.

Marcia Longdon

Marcia joined as a partner in the immigration team in January 2014. She has practised in the area of immigration, nationality and European law since 1998. Marcia is a leading expert on corporate immigration covering mergers and acquisitions. She is incredibly knowledgeable with HR policy, compliance and risk analysis; reporting and audit planning; high touch service planning for executives and VIPs; business traveller compliance; cost and budgeting as well as global project planning. Marcia also provides training to HR professionals and practitioners on all aspects of immigration law.

Mary Young

Mary specialises in civil fraud litigation, often with an international aspect.Her clients are individuals, small and medium sized companies, trustees and professionals, including insolvency practitioners often acting on ‘once in a lifetime’ pieces of litigation.Mary has experience in using freezing injunctions and disclosure orders and has acted as a high court appointed supervising solicitor in respect of the execution of search orders.Mary is widely published in the legal press including in respect of developments relating to crypto-assets, is a contributing author to Lexology’s Getting The Deal Through 2020 – Asset Recovery, and has spoken at various national and international conferences on topics relating to fraud and insolvency.Mary is a member of the Kingsley Napley Diversity & Inclusion group and the LGBTQ and allies network.

Matthew Hardcastle

Recognised for his work in pre-charge investigations, Matt has particular experience acting for the accused in high-profile cases. Matt also has significant experience in acting in cross-practice area investigations which include allegations of a criminal behaviour, including sexual misconduct in the workplace.

Melinka Berridge

Melinka is a litigation specialist with expertise in the fields of private prosecutions, professional discipline and Health and Safety. Melinka heads up the team responsible for private prosecutions. She helps individuals, corporates and charities bring criminal prosecutions, especially when the State fails to act. Melinka has over twelve years’ experience of investigating and presenting high-profile fitness to practise cases. She also advises regulatory clients on the suitability of their enforcement regimes. Melinka acts for directors and senior officers accused of committing health and safety offences. She also advises them on what constitutes effective governance over health and safety within their organisations. Prior to joining Kingsley Napley, Melinka was the Head of Licensing for JD Wetherspoon plc. She continues to help operators in the leisure sector to comply with their regulatory responsibilities or respond to enforcement action.

Michael Tyler

Michael is a Partner and the Head of the Costs Team with over 18 years’ experience in the field of costs law. He is the ‘go to individual’ when it comes to Part 36 offers and negotiation strategy of high value costs matters and insurance coverage. Qualifying as a Costs Lawyer in 2010 and as a Legal project Practitioner in 2018, Michael has conducted hearings on behalf of a wide variety of clients and professional bodies in County Courts, the High Court and has achieved success as the advocate on Appeal hearings before varying Circuit Judges. Most notably in the Privy Council of the Supreme Court. Joining Kingsley Napley in 2015, Michael’s practice involves working with insurers, strategic planning and costs budgeting of High Court matters. In particular for media, defamation and privacy cases.

Nick Ralph

Partner

Nick Wrightson

Nick is a partner with a highly regarded specialist administrative and public law practice, focused on three main areas: Judicial review and other forms of public law litigation Public inquiries (supporting core participants, witnesses and evidence providers) Complex inquests (supporting interested persons and witnesses) Nick advises prominent private companies, public bodies, organisations and individuals – often in high stakes, politically and commercially sensitive cases. He also advises on the interpretation of legislation and regulation, professional disciplinary proceedings and freedom of information matters. His experience covers a wide range of sectors including financial services, property, education, energy and policing. He is described in legal directories as “a superstar in the making. Great diligence and intellect with careful client skill." They also say he “sees points others wouldn't even begin to think of” and “his analysis of any given situation gets right to the heart of the issues and his advice is always spot on." Nick’s recent clients include Companies, regulators, a UK political party and senior police officers in judicial review proceedings. Companies, regulators, religious organisations and senior individuals in public inquiries and independent reviews. An internationally renowned university in a complex inquest relating to a terrorist attack. The Prime Minister of Mauritius in an appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Two NGOs in a UK Supreme Court intervention relating to environmental litigation. Publications Nick has written for the leading public law journal ‘Judicial Review’ and is a regular contributor to the ‘New Law Journal’ as well as providing content for Practical Law and LexisNexis. He has spoken at key conferences in his field and is a Solicitor-Advocate (Higher Courts Civil Proceedings).

Nicola Finnerty

Nicola is a leading criminal defence expert in white collar and business crime, general criminal defence, and proceeds of crime and asset forfeiture. Her expertise includes dealing with fraud, bribery and corruption, cartels, insider dealing, money laundering, and director’s disqualification.Over the last 25 years she has been involved in many of the most high-profile, complex criminal and regulatory investigations and prosecutions. She represents high net worth individuals, multi-national corporate clients, financial institutions and professional firms in investigations and proceedings brought by all the UK enforcement agencies including the SFO, FCA, CMA, HMRC, NCA, and other prosecuting bodies.She conducts and advises in internal investigations and is regularly appointed as an independent legal advisor. She also advises on matters relating to Mutual Legal Assistance.Nicola has a wider criminal defence practice and has significant experience of representing suspects during the investigatory stage or while held in police custody and during police interview.

Nicolas Rollason

Nick heads Kingsley Napley’s immigration team which advises multinational clients on immigration and global mobility issues. The team advises high net worth investors, entrepreneurs and high profile clients on all aspects of UK immigration and citizenship, with a recognised reputation for dealing with the most complex UK and EU law cases. Nick is regularly consulted by policy makers in the UK and EU and is actively involved in lobbying on behalf of businesses. He is known as an expert in EU immigration law and has litigated key test cases before the European Court of Justice. Nick is a regular conference speaker and has written chapters on immigration in numerous publications, including ��OUP Global Immigration Handbook’ and ‘LexisNexis Business Immigration Guide’. He was rapporteur to the Euopean Commission on the annual report on free movement from 1996-2005. He has also acted as a consultant to the OECD and International Labour Organisation on highly skilled migration issues.

Nikola Southern

Niki is a partner within the employment team who has a strong litigation practice. She has successfully pursued and defended numerous hard-fought cases in the High Court and Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal, discrimination and breach of contract. Niki combines technical rigour with commercial nous and a pragmatic approach to place clients in the best possible position to avoid litigation, initiate claims or, for employers, provide a strong defence to any claims and reach favourable resolutions. Niki has often acted in complex cases requiring her to navigate overlapping issues such as equal pay, discrimination, harassment, sickness absence, performance and misconduct. She regularly advises on substantial, wide-ranging investigations. She has particular experience of representing employers and employees in the higher education, retail, media, professional and financial sectors. Niki co-edits the employment precedents in Sweet Maxwell’s Practical Commercial Precedents.

Oliver Oldman

Senior Associate

Paul Harbour

Paul is a Partner in the Real Estate and Construction team and deals with a wide range of complex commercial transactions. He has been at Kingsley Napley for over 20 years and built up a good client base over the years. Paul has historically acted for entrepreneurial type clients and is therefore very commercial in his outlook. He will always do his utmost to close a deal as soon as possible and will look to add value where possible. Paul has particular expertise in dealing with: • Commercial and residential development work • Large scales site assembly • Contracts and options conditional upon planning consent/planning promotion agreements and collaboration agreements • Overage agreements • Landlord and tenant work • Investment acquisitions and disposals

Rebecca Niblock

Rebecca is one of the UK’s leading extradition practitioners and heads the firm’s extradition team. She has successfully defended a large number of persons requested for extradition by other states, both inside and outside the EU. Her practice also encompasses other matters with an international component, including sanctions cases and Mutual Legal Assistance requests.Rebecca also advises on a wide range of white collar crime investigations including serious fraud, money laundering, cartel and corruption specialising in cases involving multi-jurisdictional elements. She has many years of experience of dealing with domestic criminal matters, from sexual offences to offences involving violence or drugs.Rebecca is a co-founder of the Defence Extradition Lawyers’ Forum, co-author of Extradition Law: A Practitioners Guide and author of the chapter on Extradition in Abuse of Process by Colin Wells.

Richard Foss

Richard has wide ranging expertise and specialisms and advises on contractual disputes, directors’ duties, civil fraud, insolvency, professional negligence, injunctions and financial services disputes. He acts for organisations in a variety of commercial disputes and also advises private individuals and entrepreneurs. Richard has particular expertise acting for and advising directors and management teams in relation to civil litigation. He is experienced in both obtaining and defending injunctive proceedings, including Freezing and Search Orders. His focus is on achieving commercial and cost effective results and often advises on risk management approaches and strategies to avoid pursuing a dispute through the courts. Richard has been appointed by the High Court to act as a Supervising Solicitor in relation to the execution of Search Orders.

Richard Lodge

Richard acts for individuals who have sustained injuries as a result of medical treatment whether provided by the NHS (within a hospital or GP setting), or in the private healthcare sector. He has a varied caseload with an emphasis on spinal, brain and catastrophic injuries. He is experienced in all aspects of spinal injury claims including, injuries arising from trauma, orthopaedic and neurosurgical procedures, congenital abnormalities of the spine and failure to diagnosis Cauda Equina Syndrome. His extensive experience in brain injury cases include birth and neonatal injury claims resulting in cerebral palsy, and acquired brain injury.Richard blogs and Tweets about his subject and has had articles and opinion pieces published in the Personal Injury Law Journal, trade magazines and the national press, including The Times.

Robert Houchill

Robert has extensive experience of assisting individuals and organisations with their UK immigration and nationality matters. Robert’s experience covers all kinds of immigration and nationality applications but with a particular emphasis on corporate immigration matters and complex immigration issues faced by individuals, such as previous immigration breaches and criminality. Robert often helps organisations with sponsor licence applications and advises on immigration compliance matters. He has also worked with organisations to challenge UKVI decisions following sponsor licence suspensions and revocations.

Ryan Mowat

Ryan is a Partner in Kingsley Napley's Dispute Resolution team, where he leads the highly rated Contentious Trusts and Probate team. He frequently acts in high value and complex litigation, particularly involving trusts and estates. Ryan’s cases often involve allegations of fraud and serious wrongdoing and many of his clients have a public profile. He has enjoyed notable successes in the Supreme Court in the cases of Ivey v Genting Casinos (2017) and Crown Prosecution Service v Aquila Advisory (2021). Ryan also acts in disputes in the Court of Protection and many of his cases are multi-jurisdictional.

Sandra Paul

Sandra has extensive experience in criminal and related litigation. Her practice spans the full range of criminal litigation, with a focus on defending allegations of sexual misconduct. This includes discreet representation of high profile individuals including politicians, bankers, sports and media personalities, as well as working with institutional and individual clients in the UK and abroad, following allegations resulting from the #MeToo campaign.Drawing on her advocacy experience, Sandra is particularly accomplished in preparing witnesses to give an account in settings ranging from the police station and court through to internal and external investigations or inquiries. Her passion and aptitude for working with children and young adults has resulted in her being recognised as a leader in the youth justice field. Clients rely on her proactive, no nonsense approach and sound judgement in making difficult decisions. Her willingness to support clients to achieve the right results, justify her enviable track record.Co-author - Police Station Update for Legal Action and “Defending Suspects at the Police Station” (2020).

Sarah Atkinson

Senior Associate

Sarah Harris

Sarah is a Partner in the Regulatory team, having gained over 10 years’ experience investigating and presenting high profile and complex fitness to practise cases before a wealth of regulatory bodies. Sarah’s attention is focused on harnessing her FTP and regulatory expertise to assist regulators in a more holistic review of their legal processes, policies and systems.Sarah has a particular interest in health regulation, working closely with regulators in this sector to design and implement regulatory frameworks that meet their needs. Her work involves helping established regulators to identify where things are being done well, and where improvements can be made as well as guiding start-up regulators to implement best practice from the outset of their operations.A Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (British Quality Foundation), her unique ability to combine legal advice and process review has been called upon by a number of her clients. In particular Sarah has a keen interest in legal technology, and how it can be harnessed to assist her regulatory clients. She has recently collaborated with leading legal tech innovator Zylpha to develop an innovative new document bundling toolset.Sarah has a particular interest in the Tech field, and in particular how regulators in the UK ensure public protection at the same time as encouraging innovation and the use of machine learning and automation.Sarah has been recognised as a “Next Generation Partner” by Legal 500 (2021).

Shannett Thompson

Shannett has a varied client base which consists of regulators, individual registrants, entrepreneurs, care homes and other businesses. In the healthcare sector, she is regularly instructed to conduct investigations on behalf of regulatory bodies in relation to allegations of a serious nature. In respect of individual registrants, the majority of her defence work is on behalf of doctors, nurses and therapists relating to all the stages of the fitness to practise process from initial complaint to appeal. She also appears as an advocate before both interim order and conduct and competence committees on behalf of her regulator clients. In the education section, she acts in respect of cases where a decision may be made to prohibit teachers from the profession. She also advises and represents students in respect of investigations, largely relating to academic and sexual misconduct. Shannett has contributed to publications by LexisNexis, Lexology, Cannabis Wealth, the Journal of Professional Negligence and City Wealth Magazine. She is an avid commentator and has features in newspapers and blogs. Shannett is also a diversity and inclusion advocate, winning the Chambers Outstanding Contribution Award 2021 – Diversity and Inclusion Private Practice and Judges Choice Award – Women for Africa 2022.

Simon Hardy

Simon is the Head of the Court of Protection team and he has specialised in the property and financial affairs jurisdiction of the Court for over 15 years. His main role is as a professional Deputy but he also advises on all types of Court of Protection cases with a particular interest in complex cerebral palsy and brain injury cases and (often contested) statutory will or gift applications. He also specialises in the creation and administration of Personal Injury trusts and acting as a professional Trustee. He has many years’ experience of working alongside and supporting litigation lawyers in medical negligence and personal injury cases, including the preparation of expert witness statements in support when necessary.

Sital Fontenelle

Sital is Head of Department for Kingsley Napley's Family and Divorce team. She specialises in complex financial matters within relationship breakdown including international jurisdictional cases. She has extensive experience in difficult cases involving off-shore trusts, family businesses, tracing assets, third party interests and inherited wealth. Sital is known for her strategic advice in complex cases, and has great instincts in manoeuvring the case to achieve the right result for her clients. Examples of her cases include: acting for the Wife in complex financial remedy proceedings where the assets totalled £38m plus and the matter proceeded to a 5 day final hearing; acting for the Wife of an American banker with worldwide assets and representing her at the Arbitration; acting for a lawyer in financial remedy proceedings involving complex trust structures and off-shore interests with assets of over £100m. Sital won silver in the "Woman of the Year - Future Leaders (Partner)" category at the Citywealth Powerwomen Awards 2020.

Head of Department

Legal Director

Partner

Sue has over 20 years’ experience in all aspects of commercial litigation for claimants and defendants, with particular expertise in:• Civil fraud involving complex, multi-jurisdictional international commercial litigation (often where criminal, restraint or regulatory proceedings co-exist) including bribery and corruption, collective investment schemes, Ponzi and advance fee fraud schemes.• Pre-emptive relief including freezing injunctions, search orders, restraint orders, civil recovery orders.• Breach of fiduciary duty, breach of trust (including tracing claims), insolvency litigation, directors’ duties and directors' disqualification.• Sport related matters including contractual representation and dispute resolution, disciplinary and regulatory matters and IP rights enforcement.• Reputation management and defamation.

Terrence Donovan

Terry has a national reputation and is one of the most respected and senior solicitors in the field. In his medical negligence work he has always specialised in brain injury cases, particularly children with cerebral palsy as a result of birth injury, but his cases have included many conditions, including meningitis, spinal injury and prostate cancer. Terry’s Personal Injury work is mostly for clients who have suffered very serious injuries, usually in road traffic or workplace accidents. He also acts for the families of people who have died in fatal accidents. He is also very experienced in dealing with inquests, particularly those concerned with suicide, and failings in psychiatric healthcare. Terry’s cases often result in multi-million pound settlements. Terry is also very experienced in cases involving the Court of Protection, and has in the past acted as a Professional Deputy for many of his clients, dealing with things like the purchase and adaptation of homes, and the setting up of 24 hour care packages. This has given him a very real and practical understanding of the long-term needs of severely injured people. A number of Terry’s cases have involved foreign accidents. He acted in the inquest for Horatio Chapple, a young man who was killed by a polar bear whilst on an expedition to Svalbard in Norway. He also represented the widow of Sir Ian Brownlie QC in her 2021 Supreme Court victory - Brownlie v FS Cairo (Nile Plaza) LLC. This is now the leading authority on when the English Courts will accept jurisdiction in cases involving personal injury and fatal accidents in other countries. Please click here for further details. Terry also specialises in claims concerned with sexual abuse allegations. He works closely with our Criminal and Employment teams, and is one of the few solicitors within the field who acts for both victims of abuse and those who have been accused of it. This gives him almost unique experience in this very difficult area of the law. “Terrence Donovan has seen it all; he is unflappable and I am always really impressed with the level of detail he picks up. He is excellent.”

Vanessa Rhodes

Vanessa is a partner in the Real Estate and Construction team at Kingsley Napley LLP and is experienced in a range of commercial and residential property matters. Vanessa advises on the full spectrum of residential property work, acting on the purchases and sales of prime residential property in London and country homes. She has particular expertise in advising on the acquisition, disposal and refinance of complex residential portfolios and clients value her commercial, efficient and pragmatic approach. Vanessa also acts on residential property developments, sales, purchases and portfolio management of commercial properties, and advises both landlords and tenants on the lettings of commercial leasehold property. Her broad practice involves acting for high net worth individuals and families, investors, celebrities, developers and landlords and tenants.

Victoria Lowe

Victoria is a Partner in the Real Estate and Construction Team, with significant experience in a full range of commercial property transactions. She joined us from Memery Crystal in June 2022. Victoria advises on a full spectrum of commercial real estate matters including property development (for residential and commercial use), acquisitions and disposals of freehold and leasehold land, property investment/asset management and landlord and tenant transactions. Whilst Victoria’s practice is broad, she particularly specialises in the acquisition of commercial sites for residential redevelopment. Having worked on several major developments around London, Victoria has a wealth of knowledge and experience in this area.

Waqar Shah

Waqar is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution department, focusing on the resolution of complex tax matters. He acts for high net worth individuals and corporate clients across all sectors in respect of HMRC disputes and investigations across the full range of taxes. This typically includes VAT disputes, employment tax matters (including 'IR35'/off-payroll working), customs/excise duty issues, tax fraud investigations, and more recently, National Minimum Wage enquiries. Waqar is known for his commercial approach to matters involving HMRC and has a strong track record of helping clients settle without the need for a court or tribunal hearing, particularly through the effective use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (i.e. mediation) with HMRC. He also has considerable experience in judicial reviews and group litigation orders and has led high profile matters at all levels from the Tax Tribunal through to the Supreme Court (including referrals to the Court of Justice of the European Union).

Will MacFarlane

Will is a partner in Kingsley Napley’s Family & Divorce team and he advises clients on the full range of family law issues arising on the breakdown of relationships. He has a particular interest in resolving complex financial claims often with an international element. He has over 13 years of experience having spent his formative years at Withers in London. He also advises on arrangements for children following the breakdown of a relationship. On the non-contentious side, he is frequently instructed by families to advise on wealth protection issues and nuptial and cohabitation agreements. Specific areas of expertise include: financial claims on divorce often with assets held abroad or in corporate or trust structures; jurisdiction disputes and financial claims following a foreign divorce; advising clients wishing to vary or terminate ongoing maintenance payments; wealth protection including advising on domestic and international prenuptial and postnuptial agreements to protect businesses, trust interests and inherited wealth; advising on cohabitation agreements to avoid property disputes between unmarried couples; child arrangements disputes and acting for parents wishing to relocate abroad with their children; and financial claims for children brought by unmarried parents. His clients have included professional sportspeople (including premiership football and rugby players), investment bankers, city professionals, entrepreneurs, business owners and landowners. His recent international work has involved other jurisdictions including Russia, Brazil, France, Italy, China, Serbia and the USA (Illinois and California) and he has worked closely with lawyers in those jurisdictions to achieve his client’s aims. Where possible, Will seeks to settle cases without the need for contested court proceedings but he will fight his client’s corner if required.

William Christopher

William is a partner in Kingsley Napley’s Dispute Resolution team, based in London. He deals mainly with civil fraud litigation and asset recovery. William has specialised in commercial litigation with a particular focus on civil fraud actions since he qualified. He has extensive and wide-ranging litigation experience, having acted in cases involving contractual disputes, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of trust, and insolvency-related litigation. William has also acted in many international fraud cases throughout his career, involving the recovery of assets concealed in offshore jurisdictions. He is highly experienced in using freezing injunctions, search orders and disclosure orders in international fraud investigations. He acts as a supervising solicitor in the execution of search orders. William acts for foreign governments,HNW individuals, corporates, and trustees both corporate and individuals. William's main areas of expertise include: • Civil fraud (often involving multiple jurisdictions) • Internal fraud investigations • General commercial litigation (including shareholder disputes) • Contentious and fraud related insolvency litigation William writes extensively for external publications including the Global Investigation Review. He was also a contributing author to Lexology's Getting the Deal Through 2020 - Asset Recovery.

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